By Amukelani Mayimele
As a young woman determined to fight an unjust system that worked against the poor I joined South African Students Congress (Sasco) during my first year at university. The number of people we helped each year did not represent half of the people who needed the help. We spent the rest of the time organising parties, entertaining young people, and then towards the end of the year we campaigned for next elections. Needless to say, I left Sasco and joined both the Young Communist League (YCL) and the African National Congress Youth League (ANCYL), in the hopes that I could actually help people within these organisations.
Initially I participated more in the YCL meetings but even this was short lived. I realised that the leaders were constantly leading a life that was contrary to the theories. They did not practice what they were teaching us; instead they went out of their way to contradict themselves. I realised that I was being taught how to be modest, and how to be comfortable in an uncomfortable situations. We spent more time in the classroom than where the problem was. I got tired of learning I needed more implementation.
I then decided to participate more in the ANCYL. We only met to discuss leadership. We then organised the best parties, of course they had to be the best, comrade Mahoota organised them. I was taught how to master the game of cabals, fractions and Squabbles (the language of the ANCYL). Our primary role was to recruit. Door-to-door campaigns were exciting, it united us. We spoke in one voice, yet all this was reduced to being just T-shirt politics. At the end of the day we all agreed that “the ANC rocks!”.
I joined politics to help solve people’s problems and we never had time for that. I never got the opportunity to devote all my energy towards these endeavours. My experiences have led me to wonder if the political organisations and groups that we have today still relevant? Are they still serving the purpose they were intended to?
All I know for certain right now is that I have been loyal for far too long. I joined politics to change the status quo. Nine years later I am still playing games; people are still poor and the system is still unjust. You risk being unpopular when you speak the language of enhancing peoples lives. People would rather talk about enriching their own lives through tenders. However, the ruling party and its allies are not the only ones plagued problems.
The Democratic Alliance appears to be addressing only the issues of a selected few. Congress of the People is embroiled in its own power struggles and the Inkatha Freedom Party appears to be resistant to transformation. The remaining smaller organisations remain obscure and out of the public eye. Most, if not all, parties seem to have forgotten about the movements and causes we are meant to be fighting for. We defend our leaders to the point of death, even when they wrong. Maybe we should all ask ourselves if we have become part of the problem rather than the solution.
Amukelani Mayimele is BCom accounting honours student and a student of ethical practices. She is also a young leader who is determined to lead her generation to transformation.
How on earth does this qualify as the deep, inciteful and profound insight of a ‘thought leader’? Apologies to the author, the attack isn’t aimed at her but the administrators of this site.
Shouldn’t something called ‘thoughtleader’ contain something a bit more rewarding intellectually then what I get back from hitting the ‘random’ buttom on blogspot.com?
The old adage stands: “Good people don’t stay in politics”.
Professional politics takes our best talents and perverts them; it quickly brings out the worst in us. I’d say use your talents to further your beliefs in whatever way you best can. Join a social movement, or start one, not a political party.
Great, honest article. Thank you.
Fair to ask that last question, but at some point you have to ask what the problem is, and what the solution to it is.
The quality of this article is quite concerning. When the author isn’t even able to substantiate claims like “The Democratic Alliance appears to be addressing only the issues of a selected few”, one is left wondering why we bother with ThoughtLeader anymore…
I liked your article.
You start working with communities. Learning what they want and what their concerns and problems are. Leave party politics behind until you understand the challenges that real people are facing. Find an NGO that appeals to you or a church group or just work in a school. You are asking the right questions – the answers will come.
No doubt – political parties ARE the problem. Look at the reality – the mess these parties are – total ideological rubbish dumps – and what these parties should be. “I then decided to participate more in the ANCYL. We only met to discuss leadership (Not to discuss how we could serve our members) . We then organised the best parties, of course they had to be the best, comrade Mahoota organised them. (Parties hey – not going out and helping the poor and needy, whilst living simple frugal lives ourselves). I was taught how to master the game of cabals, fractions and Squabbles (the language of the ANCYL). ( Struggles for power – not for good influence, not for integrity – for the worst of the worst to rise to the top). Our primary role was to recruit. (Well there’s no surprise – nothing like a bit of collective solidarity and power by numbers rather than by force of ideas) “. Get rid of the parties. They are rubbish. They are parasites.
I posted this on The Revolt Against The ANC, by Sandile Mamela on 20 Feb 2011. It applies here too:
Sandile this is a really well written piece, but it has one major flaw! It’s the same problem the entire world is experiencing as a result of a lack of leadership and a lack of discipline. People have grown to place their expectations in “the party” and “the leader” and it simply does not work! It never has and it never will! The ANC is failing SA and so is JZ!
There is only one reality for all of us! But we avoid it like the plague! Some put their trust in “the party”, others in “the leader”, and then there’s wealth, houses, cars, entertainment, sport, gym, sex, drugs and rock ‘n roll!!! You tell me if any of these alone satisfy man’s needs! If you are honest, you will eventually admit, they do not!
Whether you are an atheist or a believer, the reality is that all sane people strive for meaning and purpose! Some struggle all their lives, some never find it and others are blessed with their finding!
We will not find meaning and purpose in “the party” or in “the leader”! The ANC and JZ could be our purpose, but until they submit to a greater purpose and serve the people as all humans are intended to, they remain insignificant and purposeless! We all have to seek long and hard to find reality! It’s a difficult and lonely path at times, but when you find reality, you will be blessed for life!
Another applicable post on 7 August to The Chief Dances to The Herder’s Tune by Willian Saunderson-Meyer:
William, all the suspects mentioned in your article have no real concept of servant leadership. They have huge ego’s! Discipline is something they confuse with what the masses want to see. Leadership is something they confuse with their positions and titles.
They have all lost the plot regarding the purpose of public life. A real servant of the public is like a good referee! They ensure the laws are in place and effective! They apply the laws competently! They discipline offenders! They keep time properly! They are not the center of attention! They guarantee a fair contest! They congratulate the competitors on completion of the match! They move to the sidelines once the contest is completed and allow the competitors to take the glory!
Let me suggest they Google “Mother Theresa” should they actually want to understand their purpose in public life!
I’m on leave with time on my hands, waiting for Dave Harris to chirp, so lastly:
I also posted a response to another MG posting on the value of political parties but my Google search hasn’t uncovered it! In a nutshell this is what I suggested, that we disband all political parties and run the country like a business, focusing on needs, markets and excellence NOT the ideology, rhetoric and self-praise that political parties generally love!
I also suggested that the ANC of today is rapidly slipping into the bad habits of the NP of old, pre ’94. There are strong allegations of looting and theft from the national piggy bank then and there is no doubt it’s happening again! There have been a few fall men, but the vast majority have gone unpunished, so the practice has almost become acceptable. It happens at all tiers of government and in most political parties! Many will never be exposed, hence more will try it! It is not unique to South Africa, hence my conclusion that we run SA as a company and disband the concept of constitutional democracy! It’s a myth! It protects the powerful and evil, and banishes the poor and weak to the sidelines as has been the case since Christ’s times!
To hell with politics, all of them, bring in simple logic!
Good post!
To each their own – I found this “deep, inciteful [sic] and profound insight of a thought leader”
And I agree – political parties are part of the problem. But an equal (or even larger) part of the problem is SA’s voters… It seems that the voting masses will either vote for a liberation party, no matter how corrupt, or not vote at all…
So how to change that? I also agree that the status quo cannot solve the existing problems.
But think about this – if all the eligible voters that refuse to vote, could be convinced to vote for anybody BUT the incumbent majority political party, then their lot in life would be RADICALLY altered.
How?
Corrupt, tenderpreneuring cadres would be pushed out. Incompetent deployees who do not know (or care) that political party and government are separate would be out. Non-service delivery would stop, as all the lazy, corrupt, thieving councilors/ministers, etc would be ejected…
The resulting broadly aligned opposition parties would make sure to dismantle the ANC corrupted structures and hopefully properly investigate the arms deal and other scandels. So that SA can start again after 20 years of “democracy”, but this time hopefully include everybody…
Continued…
Tax, not nationalize, the mines and use the money to build universities/technikons for free/cheap education. That would be free if you bring your part and achieve a distinction, or cheap if you do not. Tackle unemployment as well – for every hundred thousand employed, tens of thousands of other people can work as well. We have almost a million high-level vacancies in SA! Even if you have to fill them with non-AA people, just fill them to get the country working!
Also give the unions funding and the mandate to help create jobs – as at the moment most of them are not really doing anything useful! They will have to account for the money spent by giving monthly reports on jobs created vs money spent. The more jobs they create, the more funding they’ll get.
Tackling unemployment and education should start bringing down the crime rate as well…
Then tackling the justice system – building more prisons will make sure we have place to put all the criminals that an efficient police and justice system will catch and prosecute. And help solve the overcrowded crime “universities” that is our prisons…
But… There has to be massive voter education before 2014 AND a critical mass of voters that are not satisfied with their lot in the new SA… And at the moment it does not look if that will be improved anytime soon…
Unfortunately whether or not there was looting of the coffers by the Nats pre 1994 can neither be proved or not proved because the ANC (not the Nats, please note) has classified that information.
Other than the Information scandal, and sanctions busting, I doubt it.
Who has looted the coffers and sold off all the assets, including state, parastatal and municipal land, and income generating parastatals, is the ANC – all of which capital asset sales have been treated as income, not capital sales, in the annual ANC budgets of Trevor Manuel.
@ Lyndall Beddy – the ‘looting’ of coffers is most evident in the lack of infrastructure development in traditional non-white communities.
Whilst this may not have published by the newspapers of the day, as after all this was acceptable practise remember; spend R500 000 on a new white’s-only school and R35760.00 on three non-white schools.
The ANC led government have much to answer for, however to imagine that somehow SA is worse off – is typically always a viewpoint upheld by those who found themselves in a position of privilege during the pre ’94 era.
A question worth asking sometimes – did our peaceful transition not perhaps make light of past injustices and maybe a Nuremberg style trial, instead of TRC would have been a more fitting approach? If we look at other countries who had to endure civil wars –perhaps the bloodshed was required to create a sense of relief and gratefulness, once it ended, that propelled better policymaking and citizenship?
At least the writer took the time to experience the various options in her search for an higher goal for her personal life. I wish you luck and wisdom.
Political systems are not necessarily aimed at providing “a better life for all”. The outcry for this is merely hot air. Looking after the “poorest of the poor” is another empty promise but sound “lekker” from behind a microphone in a stadium full of supporters. The noise of approval must be an orgasmic experience.
“Charity starts at home” seems to have become a platitude, but nothing is closer to the truth than this. Political parties do not start at home; they do not have a home. Politicians are mostly power-hungry prima donnas who seem to spend most of their time making sure to be re-elected at the next elections.
The US/UK model of democracy (winner take all) is in fact an elected dictatorship. Many countries around the world do have multi party governments. The English call it “a hung parliament”. Not that it is ideal but at least it caters for some public discussions in parliament on controversional issues. Such a system also allows for build in controls on cadre deployment and related administrative irregularities.
The democratic dictatorship is more prone to corruption from outside lobby groups such a suppliers for large government contracts for arms, infrastructures, services and consumables.
How to achieve this? Voter education by non-politically aligned people! The advice in SA: “vote for any party but…
Lyndall, I understand why you want to believe all was above board under the Nats, because we tend to develop a mentality of the “good old days” as we age. I don’t know how old you are, but I’m on the wrong side of 50 and I speak for myself.
I know people who were in senior positions in government agencies in the good (bad) old days and what they know would scare you! Don’t fool yourself that those stiff upper lipped, church going, suit, tie & hat wearing, stern looking, non dancing, lily white Nat politicians, were straight laced and did not speak with forked tongues.
And yes, it does continue today, to the extent that certain people will use their public positions (already) of entitlement, to influence decision makers to secure tenders and contracts, awarded with public funds, for their personal benefit. It is rife in all 3 tiers of government. Many honourable ANC members know it is happening and are against it, but there is a despicable principle upheld by the ANC, which unfortunately they adopt to maintain the secrets! That is the principle of mass stupidity which forced ANC members to vote for the secrecy bill and which may bring censure to the 2 who left the chamber for a pee! I know who some of them in local government are, and I’ve asked their colleagues why they don’t expose them, and have them face the music openly. They would rather the ANC does not lose face, than expose their corrupt and thieving brothers! This is the sad & ridiculous face of…
It’s called “dirty hands” and all politicians are guilty. Minister Hendrick Hanekom, on an Afrikaans radio station explained very clearly that the lack of integrity in the ANC is a big concern to the leadership. The leadership is aware of the flaws within the party. Any political party requires its members to abide by their policies regardles of their flawed nature. He argued that it is better to fight for integrity from within the party rather than rather than walking away – this is the life of a politician and this is why the majority of people with a brain choose not to be involved.
I have personally seen this phenomina at local municipal level where the candidate with the most potential is overlooked for the one who can win the ward. This in a DA ward. This is not what Ms Zille would have you believe.
Great article and you have no idea how many think like you.
I suppose it is a hopeful sign that some young people are beginning to understand that politics is a generally dirty game. Every generation learns it sooner or later.
Chris2.0 is quite correct in saying that the people need a strategy for voting just as political ‘leadership’ should need strategies to win the vote. At the moment, it’s ‘no contest’ and the longer it stays that way, the less will get done each term.
It isn’t really about who the people give their loyalty to, but more whether the ruling party must compete to keep the vote. We are going to be taxed out of our cotton socks until the ANC loses its arrogant assumption that taxpayer money is its to play with.
It takes only relatively basic maths to work out how the vote needs to be split to shift the power base into service delivery mode. Please could someone work it out and write a general article: what numbers of any community need to change their vote to what to get oversight moving again? That’s a tool opposition parties could use to shift the balance into balance.
Khoisan
Vast amount of taxpayers money was given to the Bantustan leaders to DEVELOP including roads, hospitals and schools – the leaders wasted and squandered it, like they do now for all the taxpayers money.
Ask Bantu Holimisa why when he ran a Bantustan he had 500 people on the staff of foreign affairs for a “country” not recognised by any other foreign country (ref: F W De Klerk autobiography).
Also pre -1994 ALL income AND expenditure of parastatals were in the national budget, and they were under the control of various ministries and the cabinet.
NOW Eskom’s vast borrowings are out of the state budget, where they should be reflected as contingent liabilities, as they are state guarenteed, and Eskom is state owned.
Ask any accountant.
Khoisan
The TRC was a one sided, farse. Bishop Tutu, who was in control of the debacle, never allowed any investigation into the 20,000-30,000 black-on-black deaths in the townships – apparently to Tutu some black deaths are more important than others.
He also had no legal basis for sentencing Derby Lewis to imprisonment, or, for that matter for pardoning Winnie Mandela.
Tutu has never admitted to any of these errors, nor apologised for any mistakes. Apparently apologies are not required of priests.
Surely it was a court of law that sentenced Derby Lewis not the TRC? Of course the TRC did pardon Winnie Mandela. The TRC probably was flawed in the sense that Nuremberg was flawed. I mean, the Soviets sat in judgment at Nuremberg, and were just as guilty of wars, aggression and crimes as the Nazis. It’s just a reality of history, and not that surprising – unless one expected the TRC to be entirely unbiased.
Where do you get the idea Derby-Lewis was sentenced by the TRC? He was sentenced long before hand, his death sentence was commuted to life imprisonment once the death penalty was found to be unconstitutional.
As far as the legal basis for amnesty goes, you’ll find that in the Interim Constitution. “To this end, Parliament under this Constitution shall adopt a law determining a firm cut-off date, which shall be a date after 8 October 1990 and before 6 December 1993, and providing for the mechanisms, criteria and procedures, including tribunals, if any, through which such amnesty shall be dealt with at any time after the law has been passed.” So it is a lie to say amnesty had no legal basis.
@ Thorne. Incase you haven’t noticed the article was written from an experience point of view. I’m sure you are aware that in politics it is a taboo to jump ships. Which has instilles fear in peoples lives to an extent whereby you would rather not be associated with anyone than move from one party to another. I therefore do not have experrience of the DA, and could not write from an experience point of view. However, I do not see much being done to help Gugulethu, Langa and Cape flats in Cape Town. The DA always comes out in public to tell us how they can be better than ANC. Not all systems of the ANC are functioning well. Are they then trying to tell us that they will better than the ANC at failing policies? If not, can they tell us what they can do differrent.
The question of the revelance of political parties, hails from the point whereby for a democracy to work we ought to be participative citizens. How does one participate in decisions that affect they daily lives? You join political parties because decisions are made by politicians on behalf of everyone. Which organisations does one join? The one that best serves your interest. What if none does? You don’t participate in politics. How then does democracy play out in such a case. Some say you join a party that best serves your interest and you fight to change it. The problem with that route is that you can’t join something to go and change it, wouldn’t you rather start your own and make it what you want it to…
Continued…if we all are to start our own parties and what will ever be achieved with a divided voice?
I don’t think political parties are solutions to todays challenges. They are counter-revolutionary. How can we expect everyone to have same views, think in a particular way and be guided by a set of rules that channels your thinking. Are we in a constant race of freeing to enslave.
Yes, I should join an NGO and other groups that seek to bring change to peoples lives, but what happens to the poor who have been misled to join parties in order to find solutions. Wgat happens to them they can’t join NGO’s they need help themselves. They have no solutions for themselves they standing in a queue for tenders. One of the reasons why people keep voting for corrupt leaders, to better they chances of getting tenders. With corrupt leaders the focus is not bettering the lives of others but of individuals. We clearly running in circles. Why keep political parties if they not serving the purpose we expect from them.
Well done. I wish more people would see through the self serving bureaucracies of all the political parties and we can move to real democracy. One where we can choose the public servant AND hold them accountable for their actions, one where we vote on the issues in referenda held at least once a month so that we get to choose what happens in our community, one where the citizens in an area are INVOLVED in a true sense Ubuntu, one where the GINI factor is reducing, one where the public servants are that and in real fear of the voters.
Not the institutionalised imperialism system based on the outdated British Westminister system that smacks of feudal rights and privileges and stuff the poor, where the politicians consider themselves immune from the laws of the land, the constitution and do not suffer from a conscience and the in crowd get the money and bugger the rest – I would call that a banana republic – the UK, the US,… and unfortunately SA. We fought so hard for freedom and democracy to be denied it by the politicians and the political parties. Time we took back control and sensibility.
Shirley
No – it was not a court of law but the TRC that refused to accept that Derby Lewis had given full disclosure, and pardon him, based on no evidence whatsoever, and that sentenced Derby Lewis – while pardoning Winnie Mandela (who never even asked for pardon) and Robert MacBride.
Bishop Tutu will have to account to God for every day Derby Lewis spent in prison.
And a day to God is not confined to the 24 hours of our solar system.
” She is also a young leader who is determined to lead her generation to transformation. ”
What does that mean.
Anyway, this is the problem all the people on the planet are facing, and it is especially clear in South Africa, and it’s dependence on the trillionair Rothschild dynasty owned gold and diamond mines.
The problem is that there are a few trillionair dynasties around the globe who are consuming all other businesses, and want to control the global economy.
The solution: nationalize or heavily tax the mines, without getting killed (Lumumba, Kennedy, Trujillo, Kabila come to mind). Or having your economy sabotaged like Zimbabwe’s dollar was torpedoed by isolation from the international financial system (through Section 4C of the Zimbabwe Democracy and Economic Recovery Act of 2001). Or having budgetary support yanked for seemingly minor infractions – Malawi for extending a loan to Zimbabwe (through the Zimbabwe Vigil and it’s Europ MP Brigadier General Geoffrey van Orden). Or as the IMF/World Bank threatened to do to the country of Zambia in 1991 if it’s didn’t call multiparty elections that it’s neoliberal stooge would win, or again in 1999 if they didn’t privatise their mining industry (guess who did the paperwork on that one – NM Rothschild).
(Continued…) People should read Naomi Klein’s The Schock Doctrine, which has an entire chapter on how the ANC in South Africa was coopted into the neoliberal way of thinking. Which is why the mines in South Africa are still not working for the people or the economy of the entire country, which with the apartheid era land grab, is at the hart of poverty in South Africa.
That is the struggle everyone on the planet is having, whether it is Greece, Iceland, Ireland, etc.
We are witnessing a global economic coup, and because wealth is being concentrated in fewer and fewer hands (in the US, 6 banks control 60% of GDP), the main players are becoming ever more easy to identify.
Coalition politics is an inevitable practice in any parliamentary democracy. South Africa’s multiparty system, with more than a dozen parties in National Assembly, provides greater possibility for coalition formation but coalition fails dismally.
But then again, how can coalition be successful in this our county South Africa when every each party will uphold its party’s political mandate before all else as the most “authoritative and liberal form of action for the Republic” above the rest and other parties mandate – well that doesn’t matter. Unfortunately that is the case in the context of our political landscape. Two days ago now, the Minority Front leader, Amichand Rajbansi, passed and later the DA leader, Helen Zille, sent condolences to the family and actually referred to the alluded “Tiger” as “the master of coalition politics”; and I really wondered where’s there pragmatic truth in that… So yes. I say, It’s either these political institutions straighten this concern of coalition — which, in my opinion, is the only optimum way for moving forward by political-party representation — or otherwise, OUR CURRENT AND HENCEFORTH GENERATION LEADERSHIP WILL DETER POLITICAL PARTIES AND NOT FIND THIS GOVERNMENT SYSTEM AS RELEVANT.
The reason that Derby Lewis was not pardoned was that the TRC could not believe that a WHITE man could kill a BLACK man because he was a COMMUNIST and not because of his skin colour. They therefore, based on no evidence, said he was part of a white conspiracy against the black leader,Chris Hani, and had not given full disclosure.
No such evidence has survaced in 17 years to support the TRC biased ruling.
Which demonstrates why Tutu should not have been in charge of the TRC
@ MLH – I got the following from the IEC’s website…
So if the voters remain stable, then we just need 50% of the “Can vote/Did not vote” group to vote for ANYBODY but the AN€ to bring about a 100% improvement in the political spectrum in SA…
That’s not even if the loads of 1st time voters do not vote for the AN€, or if the DA support grows further.
But that’s still 2.7M people… How does one go about giving voter education to that many people? Where would the money come from? As I’m sure one would have to go the mass rallies / printed pamphlet / t-shirt route to bring about voter change… And all of that costs money… Or sms’s / MMS route?
If anybody has any (better) ideas, let us/me know? I’ll be willing to sponsor a few hundred Rand a month at least for something like this… Consider it an investment in the future of SA…
Voters Voted Can/did not
23M 17,68M 5.4M
2009 Party Votes %
ANC 11,650,748 65.90%
DA 2,945,829 16.66%
ID 162,915 0.92%
CoPe 1,311,027 7.42%
IFP 804,260 4.55%
21 Others 805,950 4.56%
Total 17,680,729 100.00%
@Chris….Another solution to get a better democratic representation could be to represent “non voters” by empty seats in Parliament. This could bring Parliament into a better balance of the “voted in” parties.
5 million non voters represent some 20% of the voters and would then make 20% of seats in parliament, cutting ANC majority over the rest dramatically. It could lead to a insufficient quorum to vote on any issue or passing a vote of “no confidence” with new elections as a result.
Could be one way to achieve an real change despite the votes of the “loyal” majority.