Reduced to stooges
WHENa ruling party abrogates the right of individual MPs to act according to the dictates of their conscience, democracy is dealt a fatal blow. If there is no democracy within the ruling party, there will certainly be no democracy in Parliament and definitely no democracy in South Africa. That is where our country now stands.
The warning from Luthuli House that it will not tolerate any dissension from ANC MPs, as reported on one of the TV stations, is truly alarming and disconcerting. Every ANC MP has no option but to toe the line whatever the circumstances. The order from above has to be executed without challenge.
Minister Lindiwe Zulu, speaking in Parliament, reminded dissenters about what the party had previously done to those who had stepped out of line. Certainly. Her point is well made. Those who were tortured at Quatro Camp will remember what happened to them. Minister Zulu’s warning was as stark and frightening as it can get.
Every ANC minister and MP who was not in the House was named on one TV channel. Apart from a deputy minister recovering from an accident, the others are marked men and women.
An important clue was given by the same media house about the sudden axing of Stone Sizani. Its TV station reported that Sizani was failing to protect No 1 in the National Assembly.
If MPs are being so totally dragooned into pressing the right button, what right do they have to call themselves the people’s representatives? They are reduced to being mere stooges asked to defend the indefensible. When there is no freedom of conscience left in politics, tyranny prevails and there is no moral platform left to occupy. The ANC is morally bankrupt.
Matthews Phosa, a committed ANC leader, continues to warn about the looters and their unwillingness to stop looting.
As the ruling party MPs are tightly herded into a kraal, the looters can have a field day and leave nothing in the coffers. South Africans must see what is happening and they must involve themselves in saving South Africa from becoming a failed state. Dennis Bloem