EDITOR – What amazed me this past week is the proposal by the National Minister of Arts and Culture, Mr Nathi Mthethwa, that South Africa be renamed because in its present form it does not reflect the history of the country.
This he does when he realises that he needs some attention given that his name appeared on the ANC Youth League slate for the new office bearers to be elected at the ANC’s elective scheduled for December 2017. It can be likened to Roman Emperor Nero twiddling his thumbs as he witnessed Rome burning.
With revolutionary fervour sweeping the country, South Africans watch with trepidation as the ANC struggles to maintain a precarious balance. What happens in South Africa will affect not only the future of 55 million South Africans but also the stability and prosperity of the economy of the continent and to some extent the world. For nearly 24 years, a succession of ANC leaders have traversed the balance beam, skilfully maintaining control of a deeply divided, distrustful and increasingly dispirited populace, by cunningly exploiting those divisions, dispensing millions in social grants, welfare and free housing, and above all, bending every principle and value to serve the ANC’s political needs.
Now, as we reach the moment of truth, with the thousands of emails leaked, endemic corruption, allegations on a daily basis of State Owned Enterprise tender fraud and endless court battles between civil society organisations, opposition parties and the state, it leaves one mind-boggled. To cap it all South Africa was shocked with the revelations of the Public Relations Company, Bell Pottinger-inspired “white monopoly capital” conspiracy. It has become evident that the ANC is pushing the Bell Pottinger narrative to its limits. The unfortunate part of this strategy is that it comes a little too late given that the census reflects that our population is getting younger with the high birth rate and unemployment has left this young cohort of our population bored, restless,
disenchanted and angry. The young and restless are a ticking time bomb for the country.
Sicario
Durban
Letter shortened – Editor
