YEAR OF REVOLUTION ROLLS IN
I get to vote for the first time this year and I am praying that the parties rise to the occasion and stop messing around, writes Mfundo Radebe
AS THINGS fell last year, we all held thumbs in the hope that our beloved country would not fall, with the tyranny held at bay – and yes, we made it.
As a young person, I can honestly admit it was an exciting time to be alive because 2015 was the year of youth activism, something I am proud of.
The #MustFall campaigns were inspiring movements, reflecting something we have not seen since the apartheid era – or, rather, read about, since I am only 18 and somehow a few people think that that invalidates my opinion, but I digress.
Besides these movements and what caused them, South Africans were very tired in 2015 – tired of the load shedding, the hot air-filled parliamentary members and the government’s inefficiency.
The year proved to South Africa that it is not only in Soweto that student activism can bring about “change” in the country in some way.
The #RhodesMustFall movement started simply because a group of students in Cape Town felt white privilege was too protected and to symbolically get rid of it, “the statues of Cecil John Rhodes must fall and only then will we have true emancipation”, a student from the University of Cape Town explained to me.
Apart from whether we agree with these sentiments – I think everybody had his own opinion on this – we cannot deny how important this event was in our country’s history.
The #RhodesMustFall movement was the catalyst for a move from a blind acceptance of the status quo to challenging the institutions most South Africans bitterly complain about over dinner, and for that I salute South Africans.
It’s common in South Africa to complain about privilege and what I feel to be a poor understanding of how race relations work.
Regardless of whether we agree with the #RhodesMustFall movement, this year young people should learn more from what came as a result of the movement and should really continue talking not just about tearing down statues, but about understanding their place today in South Africa.
I have this feeling that we are learning more about our history, understanding where we are, but not willing to let go and embrace the future we can build together.
On another front, until I recently found out I would attend Harvard in the US on scholarship, I was very concerned about how I would be able to afford a tertiary education.
#FeesMustFall was a movement that sought to identify with the students’ struggle to afford a decent higher education. Even if it was a very misunderstood movement, it awakened the country’s leadership to not only the plight of poor students trying to get a higher education, but also to the fact that as a country we were, and still aren’t, investing in education for all.
Whether you agree with the movement or not, fellow South Africans, please prepare your protest boards, because in 2016 the marches will continue.
But now we will march for a government that takes education seriously, across all fronts – from the improvement of school facilities to the creation of more opportunities in higher education.
I was also very frustrated this past year as I witnessed the judicial system being manipulated under the country’s leadership.
Synonymous with that abuse of power would be the entire Omar al-Bashir saga.
For those not in the know, all that simply happened was that the president failed to keep to his constitutional mandate and abide by the Rome Statutes South Africa had willingly signed.
Here’s what happened: Sudan’s president, wanted by the International Criminal Court, for however many “gross human rights violations”, was allowed to leave the country without being detained and handed over to the ICC.
This was a scary moment for us all as it undoubtedly showed President Jacob Zuma’s belief in what I like to call the “African Brotherhood”, an elite system of African presidents who will protect each other’s interests no matter what.
Many people didn’t take this seriously, unfortunately, but I think in the latter part of the year, Zuma’s #RandMustFall stunt critically showed South Africans that where power was left to be abused, havoc would result.
The president’s axing of Nhlanhla Nene saw the rand dive as the international community lost confidence in South Africa.
The country will have to work very hard in the new year to regain that confidence.
Apart from the fact that the president had been largely supported in his quest to create a circus of the most respected state department, his turnaround in replacing that guy (yes, that unknown mayor with a bad track record) with Pravin Gordhan showed that fire is catching in South African politics.
The #ZumaMustFall movement will either intensify or die down. Either way, South Africans are fed up and just having (Deputy President) Cyril Ramaphosa deliver good wishes for 2016 rather than the president, won’t repair the damage that has already been done.
With 2015 behind us, I can still say I am largely confused as to what party I should support – if any of the current ones.
I was behind the #ZumaMustFall campaigns but largely confused as to why a party that stands for the liberation of the people would carry on its back “a liability”, as an ANC veteran recently described Zuma.
I was captivated by the oratory of Mmusi Maimane and his Vision 2029 of a truly democratic and nonracial South Africa.
But then to wrap up 2015 and as a Christmas gift to South Africa, the DA decided to bring back Diane Kohler Barnard, continuing the oft-expressed impression of the DA being a racist white party.
Then the Economic Freedom Fighters again stood in our presence. As much as we try to look beyond the EFF, they wear such bright red coats and, like bulls in full charge looking for a herd (a party) to call our own, we just can’t get them to step aside and let the people who are willing to step into the arena get in.
I get to vote for the first time this year (along with many other young people), and somehow I am still praying that these parties rise to the occasion and stop messing around.
This will be an exciting year. The year of the hashtag has passed.
Perhaps this year will be the year of revolutions and rallies when all South Africans, in our keenness to create a better country with better governance, take a stand.
Lastly, I leave you with this quote from Nelson Mandela: “If the ANC does to you what the apartheid government did to you, then you must do to the ANC what you did to the apartheid government.”