Huge task ahead for Visvin Reddy

VISVIN Reddy was elected president of African Democratic Change (ADeC) at a challenging time in our history.

Our country is in turmoil as our entire political system has collapsed. The political parties that were elected to represent us have all forgotten the voters. They are in it for themselves.

Take a look at the various corruption scandals involving senior politicians. At the centre of most of these are ANC members and this party has a track record of failing South Africans in every area. It’s a complete mess and a disaster.

Reddy has a mammoth task ahead of him.

First, he has to convince the growing number of disillusioned voters who are opting to stay away from the polls that they must exercise their right to vote so that corrupt and incompetent leaders don’t get elected again.

Second, he must convince voters that there is hope by voting for his party.

ADeC must be different. I’m glad that Reddy is working with a political party that is already registered with the IEC and has appeared on the ballot paper already.

We cannot have new parties adding to the list because we have to first correct the wrongs of existing parties.

ADeC is a little-known party. Reddy must rebrand this party and present it as non-racial and committed to change. He has the ability and skills to do it.

I have yet to find a present-day leader from the Indian community who is more outspoken than Reddy.

When he left the local government, he never gave up fighting for the community.

He was vocal about fuel prices and his campaign earned him the respect of millions of South Africans.

Some within the Indian community have a tendency to always pull other Indians down. It is for this reason that we are at the lowest point in our history. We cannot allow these armchair critics to keep us there. No one is good enough for them.

Before they criticise Reddy, they must tell us what they have done to improve the lives of South Africans in general, and Indians in particular. Otherwise, just keep quiet.