2016 will see more dramatic changes

EDITOR _ As the year draws to a close, it is interesting to reflect on the situation in our city and our country, and what the New Year will bring. As the Chinese curse goes, “May you live in interesting times.” Well we certainly are living in interesting times.

It is so easy to be negative and despondent. When we started this organisation in September 2013 we could never have anticipated how bad the situation really was. Corruption has permeated every aspect of our local, provincial and national government. Our taxes are being stolen and squandered at will. Nobody involved in the ruling party can be indignant at this accusation; regardless of how honest they think they are. It is the duty of every single elected official to speak out against the corruption. There is no middle ground. You are either brave enough to speak up against colleagues, or you are not. Your silence makes you complicit.

One cannot forget the famous Edmund Burke quote at times like this. “The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.”

One of the worst forms of corruption is the negative affect of cronyism and patronage that are clear to see, especially in the parastatals like SAA, SABC, Eskom and Prasa. Where incompetent people are selected because of their loyalty to a leader rather than their ability to do a job. This evil has a twofold affect. Firstly, the job does not get done, and secondly one is given the impression that there are no people of competence in this country. Nothing could be further from the truth. We have a country that has a proliferation of highly talented people, of all races, quite capable of taking on any quest.

But maybe the worst of this corruption is the use of the police and the prosecuting authorities to further the aims of selected people in government. And I say worse, because the incompetence of these appointments put the average hard-working policeman and woman, at physical risk which in turn puts us all at risk.

It is frightening to see a President and his cronies, oblivious to the fate of the people of this country. The vulnerable go without basic human needs and as we limp from controversy to controversy there is not even a hint of embarrassment from those in power.

The rhetoric would be hilarious if it were not so sad. Blame is heaped on everything from Van Riebeck to colonialism but the irony of this seems to be missed as we welcome the new colonial power of China and the Guptas are given more of the cake than any South African.

The question we must ask however, is should we be despondent about 2016? We believe the answer is a resounding NO. We South Africans are a resilient lot.  People have started to rise up and the Zumamustfall campaign has taken off. We think the coming year will see more dramatic changes as the average South African says enough is enough.

We cannot afford, however to sit on the side-lines as spectators, and become serial whingers. We need to act. It is the duty of every citizen to speak out and act.  When we first started Save Our Berea we used the quote from American cultural anthropologist. Margret Meade, “ Never believe that a few caring people can’t change the world. For, indeed that’s all who ever have.”

2016 is the year of activism. It is the year of the honest, competent South Africa to take control. It is the year that we need to care about those that are vulnerable and have been forsaken by government. To not do this will be unacceptable to anybody who wishes to be seen as a decent human being. We need to find the common decency that binds us all together regardless of race, regardless of religion and show each other love and respect.

2016 must be the year that we commit ourselves to the dream of The Rainbow Nation, to the vision of the late Nelson Mandela.

Let us commit ourselves to that ideal and take forward the words that our organisation has adopted. “ The power of the people, is much stronger than the people in power.”

Kevin Dunkley

Cheryl Johnson

SAVE OUR BEREA