Parties must have a mandate from citizens to govern
A political party is supposed to be an organisation of like-minded people who believe their ideas can carry their country forward. In order to implement such ideas, they need the mandate from the rest of the citizens.
Therefore, for a party to have power citizens must give it a mandate. The citizens are therefore the “boss” from whom the political party applies for employment.
Media obsession with the goings-on inside a political party rather than what is happening among citizens, their frustrations and aspirations as well as what they are thinking in terms of solving their problems, is a deservice to society.
May I add that citizens must firstly be highly conscious of the fact that they are themselves stakeholders in the general welfare of their country. They pay taxes, therefore contribute to funding of the running of the country. They should be aware that they themselves are entitled to offer themselves to run the affairs of the country.
Citizens are not a separate class from politicians where they have to look up to those termed “politicians” for occupation of corridors of power. They should view all citizens including themselves as stakeholders and be aware that it is their sacred duty to find among themselves the best suited/committed to running the affairs of their country.
Politicians are themselves ordinary citizens who for a variety of reasons decided for themselves to offer themselves to run the country.
A citizen may offer himself, one, for the salary and the perks, particularly the lure of being seen as “important.”
Two, as some group citizens may offer themselves because they claim to have made it possible for the people to choose who should run their affairs.
Three, some may offer themselves out of a feeling that as a superior race they have better capacity to run the affairs of the country.
Four, some may offer themselves purely because they feel they have the best ideas which when implemented would uplift the people and boost the country.
Citizens should be vigilant in identifying the underlying reason for a citizen to offer him/herself to run the affairs of the country. Human beings differ in their capacities. Others would be fulfilled in the practice of law, or teaching, or medicine, or accounting, or playing sport, etc, and in all those spheres the excellence in the performance of their calling determines the extent to which they benefit materially.
There are also people whose calling is in seeing the rising of their society and prosperity of their country as a life or death issue. The responsibility of citizens is to identify such people and place them (through voting) to positions of power.
Not to assume that only those called “politicians” are exclusively entitled to be elected.
But then citizens rely on the media for information and the media in SA seem not to be capable of seeing any other thing in the country except a political party – the ANC – going to the extent of treating its internal disputes as a national issue.