‘Citizens must retake democracy’
HUMAN rights activist and former head of international environmentalist group Greenpeace, Kumi Naidoo, has called on civil society not to sit back but instead reclaim democracy by tackling real issues and using the courts to win justice.
“Civic leaders must be honest, even if it makes them unpopular,” he said at the inaugural lecture hosted at the weekend by the Kharwastan Civic Association to commemorate its 50th anniversary.
“The project of democracy, which so many people gave their lives to, has been hijacked by a handful of people who occasionally throw crumbs to the masses to keep them quiet,” said Naidoo, who was secretary-general of Civicus, an international alliance for citizen participation, from 1998 to 2008.
Referring to the Nkandla debacle, he said it reflected badly on the liberation movement (the ANC) whose leader “builds a mansion in a sea of poverty that dehumanises people”.
“Should a leader be allowed to take more than R200 million of taxpayers’ money to build his private home when millions of people must contend with lack of decent housing, water, electricity, health facilities and education?
“Structures within the ANC have failed to keep corrupt elements in check,” Naidoo said, while calling on civil society, which includes ordinary residents and members of trade unions and faith-based organisations, to address policy gaps that would challenge injustice and exclusion.
He said communities must “think and act both locally and globally”.
Using the nuclear deal as an example, he said people must mobilise locally against the secret deal, which would include international bankers.
Naidoo, who has led the Global Call for Climate Action, urged the community to become part of the “renewable energy revolution” and to pay heed to peaceful co-existence with nature and the importance of sustainability.
He reminded the audience that nature does not depend on human beings and the Earth would restore itself once humans had succeeded in exterminating themselves.
Naidoo also called on suburbs such as Kharwastan to consider rooftop solar power that would provide for domestic needs while also feeding into a power grid which would earn residents an income.