In a democracy, it is not normal for a political party to rule for more than two terms. Yet in South Africa, which is a democratic country, the ANC has been in power for more than 25 years. It will still be in power in the next 10 years or so.
The problem is that citizens vote based on sentiment, not policy and performance. This is what keeps the ANC in power. Citizens are blind to the governing party’s shortcomings because it has played a leading role in liberating us as a country. That’s blind loyalty.
Things are not looking up for South Africa. The economy is down and unemployment unprecedentedly high. Corruption and mismanagement are also the order of the day. Courtesy of the ANC. Yet it remains comfortably in power.
If we are waiting for the ANC to self-correct and take us to the Promised Land, we will wait forever. By the time we wake up, it will be too late, if not already. The country will be down and out. And it will take us years to re-build and uplift it.
In the past, we knew how to fight apartheid. However, we don’t know how to fight the ANC, which was democratically elected in 1994. We regard it as our own. This makes it difficult to take it out of power. Yet it is busy destroying our country.
After 1994, we took a back seat as citizens and gave the ANC space to govern. By so doing, we outsourced our thinking and power to the governing party. Now we don’t know how to claim it back.
By now, we must be realising that giving too much power to politicians or political parties is suicidal. So, we must take responsibility as citizens for the state our country finds itself in. We are as much to blame as the ANC.
It is time we claim our power back by voting right and holding politicians accountable. It is also time politicians know that power rests with us, not with them. If we fail to do that, then our country is going to be a basket case, as indicated. Is that what we want?
