South Africa’s future is in the voters’ hands

It may be all gloom – ANC-SACP political heavies doing everything possible to clear their names from being linked to the R500 billion Unemployment Insurance Fund scandal, crumbling ports, decaying railway infrastructure, bouts of blackouts, soaring crime and graft – but it is not yet doom.

Doomsday – when all comes to an end – would mean that we, as voters, have allowed everything to collapse right in front of our eyes.

As if Nelson Mandela, Chris Hani, Solomon Mahlangu, Ashley Kriel, Steve Biko, Victoria and Griffiths Mxenge did not pay the heaviest price for us to be a free from the bondage of apartheid. Now a constitutional democracy, we continue to bemoan the declining state of our country and poor service delivery.

If a heavy dose of ANC populism once again succeeds in pulling the wool over voters’ eyes in next year’s polls – expected to be closely contested – then we should not be throwing our hands up in despair over potholes, porous borders, youth unemployment and general decay.

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Reaping what we sow is what will determine our future outlook after the 2024 national elections.

Equally, the Democratic Alliance (DA) cannot be revelling in being “a centre of excellence and good governance” in the Western Cape, where all that resembles “good” can only be seen in Cape Town, Table Mountain and rich suburbs along the coastline.

This at the expense of the neglected Cape Flats, Gugulethu, Langa, Nyanga and Delft.

The squalor and poverty in these areas is something the DA government never mentions to the many tourists who daily flock to the Western Cape for the amazing scenery, beaches, hospitality and more.

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If it wants to woo black votes in the upcoming polls, the DA must come clean on its nonracial policy in choosing future leaders, if the exodus of the likes of Mmusi Maimane, Lindiwe Mazibuko, Makashule Gana, Mbali Ntuli, Phumzile van Damme and Herman Mashaba matters to the party wishing to take over from the ANC.

In its governance of the Western Cape, it must show what has been done in black and so-called coloured townships – helping to bring the situation to the same level as Soweto.

Today it’s preferable to live in Soweto than in Hillbrow, Yeoville and parts of Kempton Park, where drugs and prostitution of girls of school-going age are the order of the day.

As in the US, UK and other established democracies, voters have the power to scrutinise policies and vote politicians out if they do not perform as promised. These polls should not be different.

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Ganging up against the ANC – for the sake of it – is also unlikely to yield any desired results.

Most worrying has been overtures made by the Afrikanerbond – successor of the apartheid-era Broederbond – endorsing the Multi-Party Charter’s bid to oust the ANC.

A broad church being publicly supported by far-right-wing conservatives will be a liability and will run into credibility problems in gaining traditional black voters’ support.

The biggest dilemma for voters is finding a credible alternative, which could be a new voice or independents.

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To close a pothole with speed in my street, to borrow from Madiba: “I don’t care whether the cat is black or white, as long as it can catch mice.” What matters is clean governance, efficiency, accountability and the moral high ground. For any real change, the country needs real leadership – not narrow populism or good English.

Today, the country yearns for Thabo Mbeki’s unwavering leadership.