Forget politics, East Cape needs collective responsibility

Last week Eusebius McKaiser wrote a searing column for TimesLIVE, Not an Oscar-winning performance by the ANC, about Eastern Cape premier Oscar Mabuyane’s reelection as ANC Eastern Cape provincial chairperson.

It did not make for pretty reading as he laid bare the daily humiliations residents of our province have to endure.

His essay made me think deeply about the real nature of the problems that afflict the Eastern Cape, in addition to ANC incompetence and corruption.

It also made me think about my responsibilities to the province, since I still call it home and it is where my family lives.

I also expect to be buried there, so I care much for it.

The fabric of the province has been corrupted for far longer than the ANC has been in power.

The homeland governments were profoundly corrupt.

The cadres merely found a machine that was already steaming ahead, expanded it and gave it more energy.

It is now a juggernaut that cannot be stopped by those who are its stewards.

An integral part of the corruption is the denial of opportunity to those who have skills, competence and ethics.

They are sidelined, called names and victimised, and so it has become a norm for many of them to look for greener pastures outside the province.

People born in the Eastern Cape often have positions in the private sector and government, but outside the province.

Those who remain and do their best to serve the people often have to do so under very difficult circumstances.

Unwarranted suspensions on account of refusing to facilitate corrupt activities are not uncommon.

In their place, people who are willing to wink and nod to political superiors are rewarded with more powerful posts, where they proceed to make some of the most dire decisions and appoint some of the worst people, even when there is no corruption.

This situation sounds hopeless, and maybe it is, but not to the extent that many may think.

The province has such an abundance of talented, ethical people that it is sometimes difficult to believe it is the wreck it is. What is missing is willingness to imagine a different future, to harness the collective power of its people and put different leaders in place.

This requires political contestation. Civil society action does not go far enough because it is fruitless to elect the same bad apples in the hopes that there will be enough organised protest later to stop them from further wrecking the province.

Organised protest needs to turn into concerted political action to influence the outcomes of the 2024 elections.

It is unacceptable that the lack of delivery and ill treatment has led so many to lower their expectations and accept a fate in which they get less than they deserve.

Among these are siblings, cousins and parents.

This is not what liberation was supposed to look like, and it can look different.

We must also make every effort to influence the moral fabric of our province.

Cronyism and corruption are so deeply entrenched it is often taken for granted that whenever someone grows in business or their career, it is due to patronage rather than the sweat of their brow.

Yet there are many who work harder than they should to make ends meet while navigating an environment in which they are forced into corrupt activities just to survive.

The first step towards redemption is a stronger sense of collective responsibility for the future of the province, which demands we take on the responsibility of leadership.

In this context, those who have managed to find success elsewhere, like me, must contend with the reality that our province cannot be fixed by remote control. We have to get our hands dirty inside it and collaborate with those who fight the daily struggles in the province to fashion a different political and socioeconomic future for her people.

Second, the abundance of skilled Eastern Capers outside the province must be prepared to return to follow through on the wishes we all have for the villages and townships that raised us.

I am aware that different political conditions would have a significant impact on the extent to which people are able to make such a commitment, but such political change does not happen by chance.

It must be part of the critical steps that now need to be taken.

Finally, it is important to draw inspiration from the pioneering role the province has played in the overall development of SA — in education, politics and culture, among others.

The province that gave birth to Nelson Mandela and Oliver Tambo cannot wither on the vine because its best do not have the fighting spirit to make it a better place.

I cannot think of a better way to honour the spirit of the warriors who fought nine colonial wars and led a most brutal, difficult struggle for liberation than to realise its full potential.

In this vein it is perhaps OK to leave Oscar Mabuyane and his comrades in the ANC alone to fight their factional battles and instead focus on the task of rebuilding without them.

The result may be faster and better progress.

● This piece first appeared on Sunday Times Daily