Governing party needs to cleanse its contaminated soul
IS THE ANC sliding towards extinction? For most of the country’s history since the dawn of democracy more than 25 years ago, such a question verged on the preposterous.
The ANC is on the verge of a cataclysmic split that could change the face of our politics for decades to come. Our politics today is dominated by leaders who are accomplished liars. How can lying demagogues find traction in a society with a proud history of democracy and empiricism?
Are the masses in our corruption enmeshed country insensitive to falsehoods? The governing party needs to cleanse its contaminated soul. Toxic leaders who cling to power to evade accountability must be jettisoned into oblivion. These shameless populists, explicitly pit a mythical people against an equally mythical elite, and blatant disregard of facts underscores their authenticity in the eyes of supporters.
Lying is one of the most controversial abilities that politicians possess. Our current leaders are accomplished liars.
People generally dislike being lied to and are keen to interrogate why liars lie. Sadly as a beleaguered country, we are drowning in a tsunami of lies as politicians with deep pockets crudely intimidate anyone who attempts to bring them to justice.
To reclaim our nation, we must revitalise politics at every level. We must shun manipulative political advertising and self-aggrandising celebrity politicians and nullify the undiminished role of tainted money in our politics.
Our political discourse and current trajectory are now dominated by carefully scripted images and fiery rhetoric – most of which benefit the shameless and their unscrupulous allies.
Today, we face a tyranny built upon political practices that devalue personal and communal responsibility as well as overall participation in the political process.
Critical and pivotal issues are now limited to a virtual world of illusion and coercion. No political party has so cynically wielded these manipulative political practices, as have certain factions within the NEC of the ruling party.
Be wary of scoundrels who can rise to invoke patriotism, project themselves as populist leaders, debase our political culture by demonising genuine leaders, and whip up tribalism and crass nativism.
Under this race for supremacy, we have politicians whose reaction to genuine criticism – however mild – is to pull the proverbial trigger and fire crude and threatening insults against real and imagined enemies.
Such scare strategies will leave in their wake the wreckage of a dysfunctional political process steeped in deception and deceit, while the rest of the political fraternity is engaged in political shadow dancing. Turbulence lies ahead. Be afraid, very afraid.
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