Hopefully there are sufficient Mandlas

JOAO SOUSA of Bonaero Park writes:

Wow! I was totally blown away by a wonderfully perceptive letter in Kempton Express by Mandla Radebe. (“The time to think about 2016 elections is now”).

Mr Radebe is obviously a very deep thinker who, like many of us, is somewhat disillusioned with the current political landscape of poor service delivery, rampant crime and corruption.

Government arrogantly turns a blind eye to disgraceful travesties like the SABC COO Hlaudi Motsoeng earning an obscene R3,8-million a year while presiding over a woeful organisation that showed a R4-m loss this financial year and dishes up pathetic TV shows that no half discerning intelligent viewer would watch.

South Africans in this troubled democratic era certainly have limited political options and a chronic lack of deciding individuals which ultimately leads us in the highest offices of the land. Many of us are depressed that there isn’t any viable alternative to the disappointing ANC (mis)rule after the majestic Mandela leadership.

We are taken for granted by self-serving political parties. Even before 1994 various parties across the spectrum made personal house calls to me prior to elections to attempt to secure my precious vote by explaining their official mission policy.

These days I merely get a party promotional pamphlet disdainfully shoved into my letter box. Not one party considered my vote important enough to personally persuade me to vote for them!

Mandla Radebe mentioned a famous Madiba quote. I add another one from the great man: “The day the ANC does to us what the Apartheid government did, we should do to the ANC what we did to the Apartheid government. Kick them out. Corruption, greed and the rising discontent in our society should have us very worried, and more so the ANC.”

The rising discontent Tata spoke about is evidenced by a reported angry service delivery protest every two days in SA, many of them seriously violent. I am not a fan of the warmongering America but they do have a wonderful system of holding main office bearers in their country to account.

Mayors and police commissioners, among others, are directly elected by the public, and are thus thoroughly accountable for their performance track record while in office. If they don’t show admirable results they will certainly be booted out of office in the next election, unlike our system where dead wood cadre appointments proliferate.

That system of “Yank” accountability by elected officials resulted in New York’s mayor Rudy Giuliani and police commissioner Bill Braxton transforming that city from a crime cesspit, which made our drug den Hillbrow seem like a Sunday School, into a model haven of tranquillity.

The South African system of the public directly voting local government politicians into office doesn’t even work to our benefit as the elected politicians are still under the iron discipline of their party bosses. It’s a great pity that non-political representation in the form of community ratepayer associations has never gained traction in our country.

By eradicating destructive partisan party politicking, elected politicians and officials who are unencumbered by the major party allegiances would far better serve and be accountable to the interests of citizens in both local and national government.

Anyway, its reassuring there are quality individuals like Mandla Radebe in our midst, who are obviously dissatisfied with being treated with disdain by fat cat politicians and are not afraid to speak truth to arrogant power.

Hopefully there are sufficient Mandlas in our communities to ensure a bright future for this wonderful country of boundless opportunity. If Mandla led a non-aligned community ratepayer/taxpayer party I am sure that many South Africans would vote for that inspiring South African.