Heinous events at Sona like apartheid era acts
FIRST, never did I feel so ashamed to be a South African as when watching the unfolding of heinous events of the forceful evacuation of EFF MPs from the National Assembly chambers on the evening of the state of the nation address. This left me cold and I felt like crying as I asked myself endless questions about the nature of democracy that so many of us sacrificed for and were willing to die for.
Second, much as the arguments raised by the EFF and other opposition parties were genuine, that President Jacob Zuma did not deserve to address parliament due to incompetence of upholding his oath of office, it would have been the most sensible act for him to step down.
Struggle veterans have also raised the matter with him so as to protect the integrity of the foundation of democracy already laid by his predecessors.
Once more, the storming of parliament by security forces reminded me of the brutality of the apartheid security forces in enforcing the policies of their slave masters.
The narrative of the events in parliament is indicative that the ruling party is continuously losing ground and the ethical morals to be a leading party in this country.
In addition, it came as no surprise that even the struggle veteran, the respectable Andrew Mlangeni, did not hold back any punches to castigate the deviant and brutal behaviour of the ruling party in relation to the manner of resolving its differences when dealing with the opposition parties.
I shall not be surprised if the ANC, that I have been voting for all these years, loses the next national elections in 2019 due to things like these.
But my greatest fear with this type of behaviour, as demonstrated in parliament, is that in turn this cascades into the society and it inculcates a sense of an orderless society wherein even the young ones will view a violent action as something normal when dealing with government authorities in resolving issues.
Hence, it is no wonder that even in our own tertiary institutions, there has been unprecedented vandalism and destruction during the last spate of student protests.
All this emanates from actions similar to those witnessed in parliament because every abnormal action that affects an influential micro-society directly affects the larger society.
Last, I would like to make a humble appeal to the clerical organisations such as Idamasa and SACC, that used to be vocal during the height of our liberation struggle, to stand up and join the fray that calls for the restoration of the moral and ethical fibre within our parliament, government and the society at large or else our country will perish.