Freedom fighters did not fight for sub-standard leadership: iLIVE

22 April 2014 - 15:50 By Mamphela Ramphele
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Dr Mamphela Ramphele. File photo
Dr Mamphela Ramphele. File photo
Image: SYDNEY SESHIBEDI

In the mid-1970s, a handful of brave students decided to fight back against a system that was designed to make them feel inferior, worthless, and without aspiration; a system that was designed to take away their future, freedom, and dignity.

It was a fight to be what they knew they were, people of dignity and worth, capable of greatness.

By any account, it was fight they had no hope of winning. Yet today many South Africans enjoy the freedom they fought for.

I was part of that struggle, and the lesson it taught me was a simple and powerful one: never underestimate the courage and determination of a small band of individuals who fight a just fight.

Whenever I hear people say to me that a vote for Agang SA is a wasted vote, I remember the struggle years, the fight of small group of individuals, and I wonder, where is their sense of history?

I know that struggle is hard and that victory can take time. But a just struggle sustains you. It energises you. It picks you up in the morning, and gives you sleep at night.

When the unexpected happened and our beloved Madiba was released, our joy was unconstrained.

For many of us who were in the struggle, it was the end of an era. I went on to realise personal goals, but always goals linked to the struggle – how to continue to contribute to deepening and strengthening the democracy we had fought so hard to achieve.

Sadly, as the years have passed, I have seen that bright future we fought for disintegrate and like sand slip through our fingers.

Now our children die in pit toilets; our women live in the shadow of ukuthwala; citizens hurl faeces against government buildings; parties march on each other and hurl racial insults at each other in the name of democracy, even as they electioneer making empty promise after empty promise to despairing citizens.

Politicians anaesthetise voters with food parcels, RDP houses, and some prey on the vulnerabilities and desperation of the young to win votes with impossible to implement promises.

And then there is corruption – it escapes people that the amount of money that simply vanished from the national account last year, according to the Auditor-General, amounts to an Nkandla every three days!

That small band of fighters in the 1970s did not fight to achieve a climate of fear, patronage, almost non-existent economic growth, sub-standard education, failing healthcare systems, impunity among public servants, cronyism, dependent citizens, and tenderpreneurs.

Nor did we fight for an ineffectual official opposition that cannot attract millions of black voters who see its preoccupation with preserving the privileges and interests of mainly white communities.

I am forced again into the spirit of the 1970s, fighting again for dignity, freedom, and democracy.

As in the 1970s, citizens must stand with real patriots to protect our democracy, to struggle again against the old enemies of tyranny, corruption, the refusal of accountability, and theft of resources and dignity from the people of this country. We must break the DA-ANC status quo that is taking us nowhere and reignite hope in the millions of South Africans who are without a political home. 

Critics say we can have no impact on this status quo, yet Agang SA’s words and policy positions are constantly being copied by other political parties. The Democratic Alliance that once spoke of creating millions of jobs now speak as we have done all along of “creating a conducive climate for business to create jobs”; where we have always spoken of hope and belief in active citizens, now other parties use the same language. Agang SA has brought effective land reform to the table, the notion of a professional public service, and free education for all. Other, listen carefully, repeat our lines.

Why did they not articulate these solutions in their own words long ago?

In their copying, other parties recognise that Agang SA’s message resonates with what we fought for back in the 1970s. But in their self-interest they have not been able to voice the dreams and vision we can.

Our fight to reclaim our future is worth fighting. It is a fight I have fought before; and it is a fight citizens have won before.

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