Save SA, business leader urges voters
A SOCIAL justice activist has called for minority parties to contest the 2024 elections under one banner. Sulieman Patel said this would be one way of crippling the governing ANC in a bid to save South Africa from further turmoil.
Patel, who is also a Johannesburg-based management consultant in the information and communications technology industry, was a keynote speaker at a business forum hosted by the Minara Chamber of Commerce on Friday.
The focused session was to facilitate options for addressing the current political climate for minority groups.
Patel said the country faced a myriad grave issues.
“The power cuts are forcing small businesses to shut down. It is crippling the economy and many livelihoods. In Durban, residents have an ocean they cannot swim in; infrastructure is collapsing due to vandalism, theft, criminal acts of sabotage and poor maintenance.
“The economy is in negative growth due to capital flight as well as a skills flight, where we find that young people are finding better jobs overseas.”
He said the failure of the SAPS had led to a decrease in safety and security.
Patel also said there was a lack of foresight. “The state is on autopilot, and there is too much collusion.
“For instance, the way our stateowned entities (SOEs) are run is in a very reactionary manner. There are more than 500 SOEs and all of them are problematic or have challenges in some form or the other.”
Patel said South Africa was becoming a failed state without credible leadership.
“The new norm has become nepotism, cronyism and corruption. There is a lack of moral conscience and our basic needs, such as water, safety, sanitation and education are being degraded.”
He said more competent leaders were needed. “We need to re-engineer the state and base it on merit. We have to move away from populism … Integrity and accountability are needed.
“To fix this country, we need to shift the political dynamics.”
He called on leaders in the business and political sector to come together.
According to the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC), voter turnout in the 2021 local government elections was just more than 50%.
Patel said residents had become apathetic about participating in the voting process.
“A broad front civic movement similar to that of the Mass Democratic Movement is needed. We need to work as one, as a coalition of forces. Long ballot papers don’t help, as they only serve to keep this government in power by splitting our vote,” he said.
Solly Suleman, Minara Chamber of Commerce chairperson, said it was crucial to influence as many people as possible through discourse.
“We all have the same problems
as South African citizens, no matter the skin colour. We need to include the black majority in this mobilisation. This will benefit the majority and help them understand that they can make a change as well.
“The number of people who actually vote compared to those on the voters roll is vastly different. We also need to get the youth involved and help them understand that they have the right to make a change, too,” he said.