Last Thursday, on Freedom Day, April 27, I found myself asking many questions about the state of my country.
Are our lives better now than they were before 1994? The day took me back to when I voted 29 years ago in my village. Back then I was a young man full of enthusiasm, and hope for a better future.
I still remember the long queue of men and women, some in full gear of the now ruling African National Congress (ANC) and other progressive parties like the Pan Africanist Congress of Azania (PAC) and Azanian People's Organisation (AZAPO) oozing with confidence for the future.
I was a party agent. We were so happy. My expectations and those of the villagers were so high. I remember we had a meeting at some point where seniors were trying to show us the way and warning us not to be too enthusiastic about the promises made by the political parties. The seniors with all the wisdom they have were shot down by the radical youth. We thought they were against change. We were naive. We thought, here are these people who have been carrying the dompas, fighting the system that is going to unchain them. The seniors were sceptical. Most would tell us that these promises were nothing more than that, so we should treat it that way.
Today I can easily apologise for that naivety. I regret having said some of the things to the seniors because most of what they warned of, I live with them on a daily basis. Among those were corruption and lawlessness.
Today I feel that democracy has failed me, the entire country and itself. Despite some gains, corruption is deeply entrenched in all sectors of government and society.
I believe that our lives would have been better than before 1994 had it not been for gravy trains. What exactly do we have since democracy? We have freedom of speech, we can go wherever we want to. Yes, we have access to education. Has it helped young people for employment? The access to education is not assisting young people to get jobs. We have graduates sitting at home that are not employed. If you go to some of the supermarkets, you will find young graduates as tellers. Something that many of them have not studied for.
The government is not the only source of jobs. There’s no entrepreneurial help. We have young people that are creative, who can be good entrepreneurs. We need them to create jobs. Now everyone is looking at government jobs. That to me says this government is failing to create jobs. The unemployment rate is persistently high in my country. Most of us are struggling to make ends meet. The crime rate is high. Where is our government?
Again I feel there's brazen impunity, little political appetite, none to prosecute the criminal masterminds. We should have been talking about Thabo Besters in that time and age. We should not be discussing corruption from the government ministers and members of a political party after 29 years of democracy.
But I am still hopeful that come the 2024 national elections, things will be better than they were in the last 29 years. I foresee less corrupt elements in the government. I wish for better leaders to lead us this time around.
The coming year must not be the year where the only discussion is corruption from the ruling ANC party but it must see development, job creation and other positive news.
Whoever wins the election should consider us first. What happened to the Batho Pele principle? Whoever comes to power should revive that. But for now if I were to rate the government of the day, out of 10, they will get a two from me. I am not sure about you.