President misses point, SA’s mood
When President Cyril Ramaphosa led Freedom Day celebrations this week, the main focus of his speech was on ANC successes since 1994, missing the general mood in the country.
The theme was “Consolidate our democratic gains” symbolising SA’s conversion from apartheid to democracy. He said South Africans had tasted the “fruits of freedom“, noting that, among other things, the quality of life for citizens had improved.
“In democratic SA, 81% of people live in formal housing. Nine out of 10 South Africans have access to clean water and more than 85% have access to electricity. basic education and health care is no longer the privilege of a few, but available to all,” he said, proudly.
Sadly, a whole 28 years into democracy Ramaphosa was using the governing party’s wins in a bid to highlight the apartheid regime’s failures. In doing so he completely missed the point as the apartheid government cannot be used as a standard to measure achievements of a democratic one.
That more than80 % of the population live in formal structures, has access to water and electricity is not a laudable success after close to three decades of democratic rule. It is a bare minimum as enshrined in our constitution.
Listing the above as successes and measure of freedom, shows he is not in touch with his people. Freedom in the eyes of many citizens who are languishing in poverty has lost its meaning.
People are hungry shown by snaking queues of people to receive the R350 social relief of distress grant in the past two years
just to put food on the table. They are angry at corruption in government, load-shedding and high levels of crime which all affect their lives negatively.
Ramaphosa said eradicating poverty, unemployment and inequality was leading his government’s agenda; that was worth unpacking, if he understood his citizens’ frustrations.
His highlights indicated he did not grasp that for young people born politically free but economically enslaved, the idea of celebrating freedom is meaningless because they are not seen, heard or provided with opportunities to reach their potential. And this is potentially the biggest threat to our national stability.