Freedom Day needs to be rescued from the politicians

South Africa’s democracy turns 27 today. On this day in 1994 South Africans joined meandering queues to vote in the first ever democratic election in this country.

The optimism and hope for the country’s future was so palpable that anyone who would dare suggest that the wheels would come off the rainbow nation’s train would have been committed to a mental institution.

The violence that had wreaked havoc in many areas of Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal had been brought under control, the nation’s Founding Father, Nelson Mandela was a president-in-waiting even before the first vote had been cast. Anglican Archbishop Desmond Tutu had characterised the general mood of the country then as being so beautiful that it was like ‘falling in love’.

Today, 27 years later, the country awaits its first citizen to testify before the Commission on State Capture.

President Ramaphosa will not only appear as South Africa’s first citizen but will also appear as leader of the ruling party to shed light on his own role and the ruling party’s role in state capture. He will appear before the commission just a few days after the man who became the Premier of Gauteng after that first general election has accused him and some ministers of his government of turning a blind eye to the theft of trillions of Rands from the country’s Reserve Bank.

To add to his woes, the General Secretary of the party he leads is hanging onto his position by his nails after being accused of corruption and being asked to step aside by month end. His predecessor, Jacob Zuma, is in the process of defying the constitutional court, the highest court in the land.

There is also the not-so-little matter of a pandemic that has been wreaking havoc the world over. South Africa has not been spared and despite promises of a comprehensive vaccination programme, not even a million out of the country’s 60 million people have received the jab.

In 27 short years, the wheels have indeed come off the country’s Rainbow Nation train and the feeling of falling in love has been replaced by one of continuous skepticism and pessimism, creating a fertile ground for the likes of Tokyo Sexwale to be afforded the platform to weave fantastical tales of stolen loot donated by faceless well-wishers from the East.

Should South Africans throw their hands up in the air in face of so many seemingly insurmountable problems facing the country? Should they not celebrate the country’s 27th birthday?

The answer is a resounding No.

The country has been through far worse in the past decade. The country’s constitutional structures have been put to the test and some outright deliberately collapsed by those wishing to steal the country blind. To an extent they succeeded in looting the country’s coffers, hence the need for the country’s president to appear before the Commission on State Capture.

But it is also for that reason that the country must celebrate its young democracy, that even its first citizen is not exempted from accounting for his actions and those of the party he leads.

It took South Africa over three centuries to arrive at a democratic dispensation. That experiment with democracy was arrived at after the blood, sweat and tears of many men and women who did not give up when the end seemed completely out of reach.

As Frantz Fannon said: “Each generation must, out of relative obscurity, discover its mission, fulfil it, or betray it in relative opacity”.

This generation’s mission is to save South Africa’s democracy, so future generations can celebrate Freedom Day with meaning.

Sydney Majoko.