Blind loyalty and a blind eye to a nation’s suffering

IT CANNOT be overstated that former presidents FW de Klerk, Thabo Mbeki and Kgalema Motlanthe have equal stake in the affairs of the country like every citizen.

So no amount of red herrings and obfuscation would render them nonentities in the broader struggle to build a prosperous South Africa.

This country was built on the ethos of reconciliation with a quest for a better life for all who live in it. Without doubt, the call for a dialogue is not misplaced.

There’s a need for the collective wisdom to resolve the challenges facing the country. Certainly, a constructive engagement will pave a way forward.

Then again, there would always be anarchists, populists, and scoffers in our revolutionary effort because such “distracters” just want to distort history. They have no appreciation of the sacrifices of others but think only of themselves.

Lest we be like them, it’s always wise to listen to others who have something to say. It’s equally wise to engage the issue raised and not the person raising it.

An obsession with personalities clouds one’s judgement and retards maturity, growth and development, and not only of a person but rather the society. It further promotes a cult figure with a backing of loyalists who turn a blind eye to the lives of ordinary people staying in slums that dot the settlements like isolated squalors dotting landfill sites. Their blind loyalty is for material gain from the public purse.

Why is it that the majority still live from hand to mouth, while those entrusted to improve the lives of the poor loot limited resources?

And when the wrongdoing is exposed, with evidence of their hand in it, they use taxpayers’ money to defend themselves in courts. This vicious cycle must end – the rot is up to maggots. MORGAN PHAAHLA Vosloorus