SA doesn’t need pouting politicians

The words of the American revolutionary, Angela Davis, are particularly apt for present-day South Africa: “What this country needs is more unemployed politicians…”

The unseemly political campaigning of the 2024 polls – and the emergence of scores of hopefuls trying to get their snouts into the troughs of power or state resources – showed that politics is this country’s growth industry.

Most of these hopefuls are not people who care much for the plight of their fellow man or woman and they regard politics not as a calling or a duty to the nation, but as a career.

No surprise, then, that at this critical juncture in the history of our country – hovering between a slow recovery and a precipitous descent into failed state status – the political interactions this past week were characterised by grandstanding, posturing and bad moods.

With the ANC at its most vulnerable in 30 years, the vultures circled what they perceived as its carcass, demanding this, threatening that and generally acting like bickering playschool kids.

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We have a window of opportunity – and one which will not last long – where we can all genuinely pull together to get the country back on to an even keel.

A government of national unity (GNU) is the chance to shelve differences, both petty and major, and start the process of reconstruction.

It is far more important than what party gets what ministerial or parliamentary post or, indeed, which party wants to remain outside the democratic system entirely.

Sadly, though, we must acknowledge that our selfish politicians would rather see chaos if they don’t get their way. We’ve seen that in the tragic joke of municipal coalitions over the past two years.

Perhaps our allegedly God-fearing politicians should heed the words of Jesus: “And if a house be divided against itself, that house cannot stand.”

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