If you hold power, you bear responsibility

YOU will soon be required, as the president, to deliver the State of the Nation address (Sona) – an annual address that is meant to inspire and motivate the country to do, live and achieve better.

The event is a waste of valuable money and resources. It is merely a box-ticking event meant to exacerbate the pageantry of a parliamentary process and, of course, to parade parliamentarians and guests in a show of extravagant fashion.

Sona is often akin to a bait-and-switch event in which you, the president, tries to sell a product to the nation and which you do not have the capacity to deliver, all things considered.

You will recall your previous Sona address that was dubbed “The New Dawn”. It was inspiring, visionary and hopeful. But since the address, “The New Dawn” was an alternative reality we were never going to accomplish.

South Africa has endured much over the past few years – a declining economy, increased unemployment, a corrupt bureaucracy, an almost unfettered rise in criminal activity, racial tension and, like the rest of the world, an unprecedented pandemic of our generation, and many other ills that darken the horizon.

As the president and with the allegiance to your oath of office, you are encumbered by conscience and obligation to serve all the people of this country to the best of your ability, without yielding to the manacles of party politics.

This means that your responsibility to the nation increases exponentially, and your fidelity to the Constitution must be unwavering, even against those who may appear to be your allies or friends but who seek agendas beyond that of patriotic service and loyalty to the country.

The sad reality is that we have yet to unearth a public representative who puts country before party, who will defy the norms of party allegiances, in lieu of the best interests of all the people, and who will cede personal agendas and aspirations, so that everyone benefits.

The challenges that await you in 2022 will be many and, once again, you will be tested to deliver the kind of stewardship that is so desperately yearned for – not as lip service, but as deliverable and reliable action.

The rumblings have begun, and unless you become decisive and brazen in your leadership, I am afraid we will have to expect much of the “same old” as the year progresses.

Your legacy will be strangled if you do not act boldly in the manner in which you handle the hazards that we were alerted to in 2021 – and also those whose patriotism leaves much to be desired, especially in your party.

It is again with hope, but reservation, that I wish that when you address the country on the occasion of Sona, you will do so with the verve and commitment of a man possessed with one ambition – to make South Africa a country of one people, one nation and one vision.

As Abraham Lincoln observed: “If you hold the power, you bear the responsibility” – it is a truism that is apt. Good luck, and may God bless the people of South Africa.

NARENDH GANESH

Durban North