Kenneth Moeng Mokgatlhe
In his classic work, “Race Matters”, the American philosopher, and public intellectual, Cornel West, defines nihilism as a state of hopelessness and absence of meaning. South Africa and its people find themselves in a place of hopelessness as it leaps from one crisis to another.
Our politicians, leaders/activists of political parties, invest a lot of time competing on describing the problems that our country is facing.
None of them invest their time in talking about the probable or available solutions to the problems people are facing on the ground. Politicians use a particular “language” to attract a “target market” for the purpose of elections.
As a country, we have been subjected to crisis after crisis but solutions are never presented, instead people are quick to blame one another.
The ANC has proved that they are failing to run the government, but to their luck, opposition parties are not offering any tangible solutions to the problems facing the people.
What have the opposition parties suggested to fix the power supplier, Eskom? Like the ANC, they do not know what needs to be done.
A country does not collapse overnight, people put in more effort to destroy something as meaningful as a country. The path to destruction started in 1994, or before, during the negotiated settlement (the process itself could have been corrupt).
If human beings were not as sophisticated as plants or animals, we would ask scientists to observe their thinking or brain in the science laboratory, however, that is not probable. We would want to know why people would go this far to destroy a country with so much potential.
It does not need a rocket scientist to establish that the general public has lost confidence in their own government.
It will also be untrue to suggest that it began under the ANC’s current president, Cyril Ramaphosa.
The ANC-led government has been facing a legitimacy crisis when Jacob Zuma made his way to the Union Buildings, the country’s administrative component. It has worsened as people continue to lose hope and confidence.
We have a dysfunctional local government in the country, it is very rare to find a functioning municipality, especially those led by the ANC.
The evidence is well-documented by the annual findings of the Auditor-General (AG) and, of course, the daily media reports on how municipalities are used as cash cows for political parties.
At times, municipalities in the North West province are unable to service salaries or pension funds on time as they have to desperately wait for equity shares from the national Treasury. If they find it difficult to pay the staff and councillors, how will they be able to render basic services to residents?
The national government is aware that all municipalities under the ANC are not well functioning but nothing has been done to address this important issue.
All attempts or interventions said to have been made in those municipalities facing challenges were to advance certain factions of the ANC -- and had nothing to do with the interests of the residents of certain municipalities.
It is very difficult to point out the success of the ANC government since it took office in 1994, especially in black communities.
Black people had hoped that their livelihoods would be improved through quality, dignified education, and inclusive economic policies which would help to curb the widening inequalities.
It is embarrassing to see students protesting when they should be attending their lectures in the year 2023.
Accessing the gates of a higher education and training institution should not be a luxury or commodity afforded by the rich or elite; every qualifying young person should be allowed to further their education or training at the institution where they have applied. If we want to build a better country we should prioritise education.
If we are serious about introducing ethical leadership and setting the standard higher we have to do something about the current leaders who are promoting moral decadence.
In government, we have leaders who explicitly lie to defend a position, perks, or profit for supporting a particular individual. It is time now that we support a new crop of leaders who will espouse good moral values which will completely change the shape of our society.
It does not augur well that in 2023 we still see many protests regarding the demand by communities to be supplied with clean, drinkable water.
In 2023, we are supposed to be talking about the 4th Industrial Revolution and how best to apply it to solve our current problems. It does not end there, we are told that we should have a conversation about the energy crisis which is completely the making of the ANC.
As we are approaching the general elections in 2024, it is wise to remember that the brain that is destroyed cannot be the same one that fixes.
The ANC will not be able to fix its own mess, they have been given chances for more than two decades, and people will have a chance to make a choice.
* Kenneth Mokgatlhe is an independent writer and political analyst based in the North West