Political parties are like an envelope.
If you open it and find a millipede, embrace it and support it because it is harmless, and can help you to realise that the party will bring the government of the people, by the people, and for the people.
But if you open it and find a snake, you have to look for alternatives to remove it from your life forever. If you allow it the space to move through your blankets, it will not only kill you, but will leave your children with no future for the rest of their lives.
Being a journalist is a funny adventure sometimes, but it can also be dangerous. If you open the wrong envelope and go through sharpened knives, pretending that as long as the envelope is not meant for you, but rather for the masses who struggle to make ends meet on a daily basis, there is nothing wrong.
This marathon of thoughts came to mind after two opposition parties launched their election manifestos in Tembisa recently. Both stressed the fact that the African masses are under siege from imperialists, and conditions in the country are worse than before 1994. Some even went on to say that more people were employed during the ruthless apartheid regime than now, and that South Africa was a better country to live in during that era. But, let me remind those who try to twist the truth, nothing can be compared with Apartheid under the sun.
In those years, the majority of the people were regarded as second-class citizens. Africans were not allowed to share toilets with their white colleagues in the workplace. Students were expected to carry their school reports each time they visited their parents in towns.
In newsrooms, only the ‘Yes Boss Boys’, who also worked as informers, were promoted to senior positions. Editors used to apply the divide-and-rule policy, in order to manage journalists and psychologically destroy them forever. Other journalists, like yours truly, used to sit near the kitchen, and were not allowed to use company mugs for fear that they may use citizens’ cups.
Getting a ‘warm klap’ for failing to bring in good stories was the order of the day. Lastly, Africans were not allowed to vote. Then how can the so-called political gurus say life was better then when they did not even know what a ballot box looked like? You be the judge
