Restore dignity to win votes

Every election cycle has seen one party or the other accused of cheap political tricks, especially if they arrive for an election event with food parcels for those attending the event.

When the ruling party give people food parcels, they are accused of “buying votes”, and if the opposition did the same, the accusation would be they are disrespecting poor people and stripping them of their dignity.

Not anyone has ever stopped to ask this: how do the recipients of the food parcels feel about the whole situation?

Are they more concerned about the hunger they face, or do they care more for their dignity that is allegedly being wiped away when they receive food parcels?

Songezo Zibi’s Rise Mzansi kicked off the 2024 election campaign madness by choosing to launch their election manifesto in the 4 000-seater Heartfelt Arena in the City of Tshwane.

ALSO READ: Mr President, failures are not mistakes

The chosen venue was a safe and aesthetically wise one as it gives off the town hall meeting ambience and is easy to fill up.

In this era of “mine’s bigger than yours” fillup-the-stadium election rally competition between the big old boys (ANC, EFF and DA), Zibi and his start-up managed to stay intellectually separate. But what mattered was their message, their vow to end hunger.

They did not bring food parcels to the manifesto launch, but they promised whoever is going to vote for them that they’ll strive for food security and to end hunger.

South Africans are a proud people and that is probably why many households in the townships and rural areas do everything they can not to look like their problems.

Signs of hunger and starvation are covered up so well that the neighbours do not see the extent of the problem.

ALSO READ: Do not forget that foreigners are also human

A 2021 Wits University survey shows a direct link between higher Tuesday 12 23 January 2024 stress or anxiety levels and begging for food. People prefer not to beg.

And this is part of the reason the ruling party has missed the signs that people are desperately screaming out about being hungry.

There is nothing dignified about going to bed hungry and that is the reason poor people are willing to set aside their dignity and go to collect that food parcel at an election rally.

Even with the ever-widening social grant net, the last census indicated that up to 15% of South African households experience hunger and food shortages.

While it might be easy for adults to avoid experiences that appear to wipe away their dignity by avoiding begging at street corners and such, organisations like Oxfam have reported that medical conditions like stunting and developmental problems in children are increasing due to inadequate nutrition and food shortages.

ALSO READ: Faith: South Africa’s miracle lies in its hope

If Zibi and his leadership can adequately communicate their plans around how they are going to end the hunger problem, then they stand a very good chance at the polls.

While the ruling party is embroiled in ideological internal debates about what has led their former president to back a party that threatens to hurt them, South Africans are waiting to hear about plans to end their hunger problems.

There is no proud adult who wants to plan their life around activities like funerals and open-invitation weddings because they will get a guaranteed plate of food without the accompanying societal judgement of being a beggar.

That is the dignity that people want restored at the polls.

The time to argue about who is to the left or right of the ideological divide in South African politics is over, people want jobs so that they can put food on their own tables without the indignity of begging from others.

ALSO READ: Zuma’s move might just fix South Africa