Always hope and despair in South Africa

We need to stand together and march against corruption; we have a history of change by protest

HE THING about South Africa,” I passionately explained to my Ethiopian partner, “is that we constantly hover on the brink of hope and despair. All is not lost, yet all is clearly not well; and just when one is tempted to sink into a mire of absolute disillusionment and discouragement, something happens to give you hope again… one more time.”

In uttering these words, I was expressing a truth that the average South African who feels deeply and cares passionately about the future of the country, is acutely au fait with. We all know what we long for and would like to see.

Like Alan Paton, we lament and cry for the beloved country. We long for a country of strong and visionary leadership in all spheres, a country with a people who embrace an ethic of responsibility.

We long for the South Africa that the formative years of our budding democracy, which gave us dreams and intimations of a South Africa whose people, immaterial of race, gender, sexual orientation, colour or creed, are defined by the embodiment of civility and civic citizenship, and an ever deeper understanding of a common destiny and shared humanity.

Yet, the sad reality is that on many levels, we often feel impotent in respect of our individual and collective ability to fundamentally and radically influence the future trajectory of South Africa.

How do we play a significant role in shaping and determining the most critical paths of the road that South Africa should, could and must travel?

Those of us who can, are already doing something in our individual corners, in order to be counted as part of the group of people who are building and leading South Africa – as opposed to just whining, whingeing, and complaining.

In any event, the rules of the game have already been set on a macro level, and all we can try to do is to positively shape our micro spheres of influence, right?

Wrong. This is why I am taking part in the Unite against Corruption march on September 30.

I am marching because I am deeply persuaded about the fact that “something other” must happen on a macro level in South Africa, in order for fundamental transformation to occur.

I am marching because I choose to continue to believe in the possibility of realising the dream deferred of the South Africa that our hearts and deepest parts long for.

I am marching because South Africa, at this trajectory of its history, must develop a fully awakened civil society that is organised into a coherent and responsible social movement.

I am marching because the levels to which corruption has infiltrated the manner in which we engage in politics, the manner in which we do business, and the manner in which we live life, are no longer sustainable. I am marching because, as clichéd as it might sound, corruption is an insidious cancer that eats away at the fabric of a society, harsher and quicker than gangrene eats away at flesh.

I am marching because we have to start somewhere as civil society, in our experiment of working together in thoughtful and deliberative ways, on causes that count.

I am marching because a march is doing something more than engaging in coffee or table talk. It is doing something more than tweeting, or sending a post to Facebook, or phoning a radio station.

A march means that I am getting off my backside and doing something about the problems our country faces.

I am marching because South Africa has a history of marches and demonstrations positively changing its course, and I believe that history is a thoughtful guide and a wise teacher. I am marching because I want to be able to be counted as part of the group of people who awakened the slumbering giant of civil society, because we as a people took seriously the words of rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel when he observed: “In a society, some are guilty, but all are responsible.”

South Africa, let us draw a line in the sand, and take a firm, united stand against corruption. Let us march on September 30.

Gumede is a lawyer and an entrepreneur practising as a public sector legal adviser. She was the first Young South African Women in Dialogue chairperson and also represented South Africa as

Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination Against Women representative at the UN in New York in 2006. She is a Trustee of the Thabo Mbeki Foundation

and a Young Global Leader