Politics and politicians aren’t the solution to SA’s woes

Hence politics and politicians are not the solution to South Africa’s challenges.

The biggest debate going on in the US right now is about religious freedom.

There is a call that politicians should be prevented from interfering in religious affairs. This is partly motivated by those campaigning for the recognition of samesex marriages and other interests.

Those who are opposed to the state making a ruling on these matters argue that politicians are meant to be modest in scope. But history shows us that churches, non-governmental organisations and the family are meant to mediate where politicians are found to be lacking.

In South Africa, however, the influence and the weight that these institutions used to enjoy has declined.

They are unable to take their rightful position of being mediators in our society where politicians have failed for one reason or another.

If these institutions were strong and stable, they would have played a mediating role and even helped Zuma to see why he needed to pay the portion of that which he owed as recommended by the public protector.

But since the public protector, is perceived in some quarters as having political motives, she cannot be allowed to win.

That said, however, the public protector has at times been found wanting because of her overzealous reaction whenever there has been a storm around Nkandla. She always reacts when the wind is moving towards the president and Nkandla. Hence, she cannot play her role of mediating.

She ought to have known that politicians cannot accept defeat. And, therefore, failure by our social institutions means that they are not even in a position to tell Malema and his team to look for a better approach in their campaign of “paying back the money”.

Fortunately our legal system is the only institution that seems to have been able to stay above politics and political whims. Hence whenever there is a crisis everyone runs to the court.

A case in point is the crisis within Cosatu. The National Union of Metalworkers of SA (Numsa) went to court as they sought to participate in the scheduled July special congress. The intervention of its largest and influential tripartite partner, the ANC, could not bring together the fighting parties because it is seen by some as having taken a side in the crisis. Political outcome outweighs what is right.

South Africa needs institutions that can play a mediating role.

Currently the family, the church and NGOs have failed. The family, which was destroyed during the apartheid era, has not recovered its rightful place. Churches are seen as having a political agenda.

South Africa has lost NGOs with moral standing. During apartheid, NGOs were the only reasonable voice against the brutalities of the regime. Following the demise of apartheid they either took a step back or became involved in politics instead of taking their rightful place of being mediators in society.

Politics and politicians are not the solution and yet they dominate all aspects of our lives. This is something that must change if South Africa is going to get its act together to progress in eradicating the legacy of apartheid.

Worse still is the fact that the majority of our people look to politicians for solutions to their challenges despite these politicians proving time and time again that they are incapable of doing so.

Khumbulani Mdletshe is an educationist.

AS WE commemorate Youth Month, spare a thought for the millions of young people among us who are unemployed and many others destined to join their ranks. Youth Month, which is meant to celebrate the historic role that young people played in the fight for democracy in South Africa, comes at a time when millions of our youth remain in the majority of the economically excluded population.

Over the last few years, we have seen the national unemployment figures continue to soar with little signs of abating. This is despite significant efforts from the government, private sector, NGOs (nongovernment organisations) and other stakeholders to curb this trend.

Recent Statistics SA figures have put South Africa’s unemployment at 26.4 percent, with about half of that number consisting of people under the age of 35. These sobering figures provide fertile ground for social unrest. A multi-pronged approach is required to increase the levels of employment and support inclusion and social cohesion. A part of this approach lies in fully exploring entrepreneurship as a possible solution. It is an alternative to formal employment that still needs to be adequately exploited to grow the economy and get more young people into jobs, especially given the slow job expansion in both the private and public sectors.

For this to happen, it is important for young people to first understand that, just as their previous counterparts were able to play a significant role in the fight against apartheid, current generations can also play an equally important part in tackling the challenge of unemployment. One way of doing this is for the youth to start considering entrepreneurship as a career choice, instead of looking to be absorbed into the already constricted job market.

Creativity

By choosing to be entrepreneurs they would be able to create wealth and in turn employment. This way, young people can contribute to effectively curbing the rising levels of unemployment. Given the number of people who, out of necessity, have established small enterprises, there is little doubt that the drive, energy and creativity among our youth are all there. All that needs to be done is to harness them.

Of course, this is not to suggest that entrepreneurship is the “silver bullet” to solve the country’s unemployment crisis. It is one solution that will require massive support from a variety of stakeholders as well as a commitment to change in public perceptions, attitudes and culture. For its part, the government needs to create an enabling environment for young entrepreneurs. This includes ensuring that our education system is good and does not only

At Absa, for example, apart from providing the finance for business start-ups, we have also started a range of initiatives in support of entrepreneurship that young people can tap into. In the past few years we have established entrepreneurship development centres throughout the country with the objective to encourage the development of small businesses across a wide spectrum of sectors, such as agribusiness and franchising. This is being done by not only training their owners in financial literacy, but also by mentoring them, providing them with networking opportunities, guiding them on business infrastructure and offering expertise in areas such as human resources management.

Such initiatives stem from our understanding that the small business sector requires us to play a meaningful role by supporting entrepreneurs beyond just their financial needs. For example, one of the largest obstacles facing small businesses is not financial, but rather access to markets.

Unique to these centres is that small and medium enterprises (SMEs) have access to our procurement portal, which is a virtual marketplace that links SME suppliers with blue-chip companies and government bodies, to encourage corporates to buy more services and products from SMEs. To date, there are more than 30 000 SMEs and more than 3 500 corporate buyers registered and actively using the portal. Happy Ralinala is head of business banking at Absa.