I and the majority of those whom know are not overly concerned with or interested in politics.We might have light politics oriented chit chat from time to rare time but never seriously engage ourselves the way we do when discussing husbannds, boyfriends, money, sex, children, careers_ certainly not to the extend of actually laying down goals and action plans.
Why? I can't answer for others and I'm not sure if I have a very suitable answer even for myself but whenever I listen to reports about what going on in that area I feel like it's little girls and boys who never grew up playing kindagarden with our lives or more accurately, our very hard earned tax money. Nevertheless, here is my politically motivated thought today:
Two things that I came across today are making me think about politics:
1- Snippets that I got of Redi Thlabi's show on 702 this morning
2- A beautiful article I came across just now on the net about Sophiatown and which initiated this post, something I wouldn't normally read but I promise it is worth going there, it is a beautifully written account and not clustered with details for those who have attention spans to rival a gold fish like myself.
Back up.......On her show this morning Redi and a caller were passionately explaining that our responsibility does not end with the X on the ballot and that we have to hold councillors and others in positions of power to account if we want a prosperous future. What really hit home was when he (the caller) quoted the figures for unemployed youth given in Jay Naidoo's Sunday Times article titled: The Cracks are Already Showing. His question was, what bright future can we expect if a quarter of the population (half the youth - our said future) is uneducated and/or unemployed whilst in our hands today.
I know this is not the first time this has been asked and every time we hear it we take a moment to accommodate a deep wistful sigh and lament depressingly over the uselessness of our government for about 30 seconds and then conveniently find something to distract ourselves into "happiness" or another more familiar "comfort zone". I personally don't feel comfortable with this strange, insidious thing popularly referred to as government and politics. I don't know about anyone else but as much as I listen and keep abreast with what's going on, I feel as helpful and empowered as used toilet paper. So I just bury it in the business of life and bury the pangs of concern & guilt which hit my sub and concious mind now and again with it.
However, I as anyone who has children, am always beset with worries of the future, so today I find myself asking again:
What can I, the one with the power of X do, pragmatically, to add my bit to ensure a secure future for our "beloved country"?
What can the SouthAfrican in you and I do to initiate a move that will result in an immediate resignation of any corrupt and/or non-performing official, as do officials in other civilized countries no matter who your bedmates cronies friends are, once their deeds or lack thereof have been brought to light?
What can we, as the "man"who walks in these shoes, do to give our children and their children a fighting chance?
Are we to end up as another African state that showed promise but 30 years later could not deliver?
Are we to one day follow yesterday's Egypt and the 70's, 80's and 90's Souh Africa and yield to the streets and violence again in order to slay another dragon morphed as corruption this time?
As Redi so correctly pointed out, we cannot forever be fed the democracy diet (they won our freedom for us - misquoting Redi), for some odd reason, hunger pangs are more demanding of attention than sentiment or ideology.
I am not saying this to offend or insult anyone, I am saying it because we have to start feeling for the "have nots" and start standing up for our children's future. I know and perhaps you also know that we can't just keep going about with life as if there is no tomorrow, as if no one suffers as a result of the resounding, conspicuous silence. Doing ini mini miani mo - cross the ballot and keep fingers crossed is not working. Question is, where does one start?
Let me know what you think, but more importantly please tell me your answers to the questions plaguing my parking lot, maybe just maybe, they plague some one else's as well.
PS!
This post was really meant to be about Sophiatown but then I remembered Redi and all went to hell, so I hope even after this tantrum, you'll still visit: Sophiatown | South African History Online for a bit of a history lesson.
À bientôt...
Wendy Ewurum
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