MF has faith in grooming young leaders
The Minority Front launched its manifesto at the weekend ahead of the 2019 national general election on May 8. Party leader Shameen Thakur-Rajbansi had a frank discussion with KZN political editor, Kuben Chetty, about the party’s legacy and its expectatio
Kuben Chetty (KC): What is the legacy that you are hoping to leave behind at the Minority Front? Shameen Thakur-Rajbansi (STR):
Now is the time for my legacy. Obviously we can’t ignore or forget the legacy of Mr (Amichand) Rajbansi but as the leader of the MF for the past seven years we can only build on that legacy. I have also taken the party to another level and have given it a slightly different ethos.
I have also added my own branding. My pictures will be on our election posters. In 2014 we had Mr Rajbansi’s picture and we had the slogan “Do it for the Raj”, and opposition parties and the media criticised us saying we were depending on Mr Rajbansi to win.
It was the right thing to do at the time. The election came very soon after he had passed on. You could not ignore his legacy and our culture is not to ignore ancestors or founder leadership. Unlike politically bankrupt parties today who use their noble leaders when things are not going right, we used his legacy when things were going right.
dramatic change over the past two years. How do you see the position of the party now? STR:
The detractors in our party have left. They may still criticise us from the outside but they are of no value to their current party. I am very content with the type of young and middle-aged people that we started grooming a long time ago in preparation for this election.
I feel that I may have another 10 years to continue my political lifespan, to take care of the community and to lead.
In those 10 years the current crop of young leaders who I have groomed will be more than capable to take over the reins. There will be no vacuum in leadership.
KC: Is there a place in the current democracy for a minority party? STR:
If you look at minority rights at the level of the United Nations, you will find that it is important to have minority movements. Mr Rajbansi started the Minority Front because he understood its relevance in a young democracy.
Today when you look at the mushrooming of smaller parties you can see that these parties are issue based. Issue based parties are primarily minority parties. It is because their needs are not being met in the democracy. People fight because of their issues and every right they are fighting for is a minority right.
Unless our democracy matures and becomes absolutely inclusive, which it is not currently, the MF will always be relevant. We are a tried and tested party and every time we get to the ballot box, we never get wiped out.
KC: There is concern over voter apathy among young people. How have you targeted young voters? STR:
In the last three years I have been heavily focused on youth movements. I have been funding them and grooming them politically. Not only to become politicians but also to become politically aware.
Through all these initiatives we have been making them aware that they have one fundamental free right in the Constitution which is the right to vote.
I have gone to the universities and have done work with the students. We also speak to youth leaders in other parties to exchange ideas because we want to bring our youth into mainstream politics and the first step is to get them to register to vote.
KC: Do you believe that councillors are as accountable to their constituents as they should be? STR:
Accountability has been thrown out of the window from the time Mr Rajbansi passed on. The first thing our former councillors did was to grab that freedom to cross over to parties.
They thought that I was a dictator but I followed exactly the same rules that Mr Rajbansi followed. This was part of their propaganda again. Today, from 21 councillors in 2011, we have one councillor.
This is not easy for one councillor and you have so many councillors who lack accountability.
People have become so desperate that they contact us and I use a WhatsApp group to make these councillors account.
It’s hard for me to make them account. I try to do what I can do.
There is weak leadership in other parties when it comes to having a firm hand like Mr Rajbansi did.