Votes will bring change

DEAR SIR — In his seminal work, On Power (1938), Bertrand Russell wrote; “... a democracy is easily corruptible by politicians with agendas. Also, a democracy may easily slip into popular apathy which allows for corrupt politicians to go unchecked.” He could well have been describing our own democracy this year. The key concepts he raised in respect of corruption are “political agendas” and “popular apathy”.

The political agenda that drives our democracy has deep roots in the impoverishment experienced by the majority of South Africans under apartheid. Self- (and crony) enrichment is the core agenda that drives and feeds our corrupted polity. As Phillimon Mnisi (Letters, March 13) so aptly put it, we have replaced job reservation for whites with job reservation for African National Congress cadres.

Where Russell’s thesis fails to describe our situation is the concept of “popular apathy”. In one sense we could expect apathy from recipients of the state’s largesse, whether by way of social grants, state employment or rigged tenders. Such “apathy” is to be expected. Another sign of apathy is to be seen in the declining numbers of voters.

We are also seeing a sharp rise in visible activism. This includes service delivery protests, wildcat strikes and popular support against road tolls. The unexplained R21bn of wasted state expenditure, Nkandla, Hitachi-Medupi (and many others) increasingly attract critical publicity. Our cities and towns already suffer from withholding of payments for electricity, water, refuse removal and rates. SARS has embarked on a “schmooze” campaign in anticipation of a more general taxpayer’s revolt. Business is not investing (or is divesting); a form of activism, in itself.

Nothing will change unless we vote for politicians whose agendas encapsulate good governance rather than greedy enrichment, justified by citing past wrongs. Tim Bester Parktown