Executive is failing our democracy
One wonders where we would be sans our constitution, chapter nine institutions and over-utilised judiciary.
Although our judiciary still needs to transform and harbours judges who upheld (and voted for) apartheid and its unjust, Draconian laws, it deserves a standing ovation. It seems the only thread by which our near-collapsing democracy is still hanging.
Our democracy is disengaging and cracks are widening, especially in the wake of events that led to the finance minister (and his deputy) being sacked under questionable circumstances, causing an uproar, even among the ruling party’s loyalists and led to the downgrade to junk status by S&P.
Our country is being mostly run, literally, by chapter-nine institutions and the judiciary, which has hindered looting (well, to some extent) by the incumbent government, which is rotten to the core, with its leader lacking insight and mired in scandal.
We cannot, in the long run, afford to run a country in this way. This stretches, cripples and weakens their much-needed oversight role to uphold, promote and protect the constitution.
We have a patriotic duty to vote in selfless, altruistic leaders (of Ahmed Kathrada’s, Robert Sobukwe’s, Steve Biko’s, Joe Slovo’s, Thuli Madonsela’s calibre) who have the vision to advance our country and tackle crucial issues – poverty, land expropriation, inequality (race-based and the highest in the world), porous borders and corruption – with diligence.
We need out-of-the-box approaches for our unique challenges. For instance, we could engage experts (who will go through stringent tests, including polygraph tests) and universities to come up with innovative models to render optimum, effective utilisation of land after expropriation.
These can be effected through a tender process, thus ensuring factbased, result-driven outcomes.
We need a government that won’t dismiss the masses genuine concerns as xenophobia and acts of criminality when they protest against illegal immigrants (exacerbating crime and unemployment) and lack of service delivery. Patrick Mphuthi Sandton