South Africans anxiously ponder what their future will be under an ANC government that claims it will be in power forever. In essence, this regime has managed to stay in power since 1994 for two crucial reasons – firstly, the state’s welfare payment to eighteen million people every month and, secondly, the bogey man of apartheid which is parroted relentlessly by the ANC during pre-election periods.
President Cyril Ramaphosa is no slouch at this ruse – he’s been heard making threats about the “boers” ruling again, coupled with predictions of dark days under a new apartheid if the ANC is replaced. The fact that under today’s ANC, these hapless voters are ten times worse off than under the previous government is never mentioned.
When the poverty under which millions of South Africans live is taken into account, that payment at the end of the month is literally a matter of life and death. It should also be remembered that 20 million South Africans go to bed hungry every night. (Alan Browde, CEO, SA Harvest, 29.4.21)
Compare this small monthly pittance with the profligacy of the ANC elite who have used their positions of power to enrich themselves. What became of their promises to “our people” that there would be “a better life for all”, the ANC’s pre-election clarion call? South Africa is falling apart: the functioning infrastructure in place during the handover to the ANC in 1994 is crumbling and, in some instances, has disappeared. This parlous situation directly affects millions of this country’s black citizens: the economy has crimped and millions of jobs have been lost. Even the most starry-eyed liberal now admits that the ANC regime is busy stealing the future of our children and grand children.
This is particularly noticeable within the cultures of the country’s ethnic and racial groups. The values inherent within these groups, particularly with regard to the youth, are being snuffed out. We ask: are the country’s traditional leaders content to watch the ANC blur and smudge that which is unique to their culture? There is tension and fear within these groups that the ruling regime is trying to extinguish the particular traits and norms inherent in their culture. Socialism is the ANC’s goal and they are working hard to attain this. If the ANC is allowed to proceed along this path, then within a few generations there will be little left of the cultures that make South Africa the distinctive country it is.
INTERTWINED
The South African economy is so intertwined and interconnected that nobody can escape the ANC’s corruption and mismanagement. The result is a junk status economy which existed well before the Covid crisis, often used as an excuse by the president to cover up yet another catastrophe. Unemployment under the ANC is endemic. The economy sinks and the lack of growth is daunting. We don’t want to think of the day when SASSA cannot pay the 18 million welfare payments on time. Already the queues are on the street further into the month instead of at the beginning, and this is ominous. Many families live on this single payment, and it doesn’t go far when the country’s rail transport has been plundered. Workers now pay expensive taxi fares to get to work.
Many of the country’s once successful state-owned enterprises (SOE’s) like Denel, South African Airways and the SABC, are bankrupt. Eskom trundles along with a huge debt albatross around its neck. Even at the ANC’s own head office in Johannesburg, staff do not get paid on time, if at all. Thus growing the economy is the only way out of the current morass, where competent human capacity must be utilised to break the descent into the well of bankruptcy. But we don’t hold our breath! Despite his pronouncements about “releasing the country’s human potential”, and that “race shouldn’t be an issue in the job market”, President Ramaphosa still talks with forked tongue.
On May 9, 2021, job advertisements in the Sunday Times for government posts are still carrying the qualifier that “we are an employment equity company” or “we are an equal opportunity employer” (a misnomer if ever there were one!). This means whites may not apply for these jobs. In the Sunday Times, the following groups’ advertisements carried these racial qualifiers: The Housing Development Agency (National public sector development agency); The Western Cape government Department of Health; The University of Cape Town; the Eastern Cape province; the University of Venda; the National Heritage Council; the Department of Communications; the Department of Fisheries and the Environment; the Film and Publications Board; the Independent Police Investigative Directorate; the Umzimkulu Municipality: and the Gauteng Office of the Premier.
It would be interesting to follow up on who is appointed to these posts and whether the country’s Qualifications Authority actually checked out their CV’s.
The president is defrauding the people. He promises to “build a new economy”, but we must build it with the same incompetents and thieves we have endured for the past 27 years! He rushes off to Durban Harbour and promises that it can again become “world class”. But it always was world class until the ANC got their hands on it!
ANYTHING BUT THE WHITES
Why did the president approve the ludicrous importation of civil engineers from, of all places Cuba, to sort out South Africa’s water supply catastrophe? The ANC’s cerebral dislike of whites manifests itself more and more. Who are these engineers who don’t speak English and who come from a third world communist country that hasn’t developed even to second world status? The Cuban visitors are of course laughing all the way to the bank. They know in their hearts SA’s engineers are world class and they ask themselves what sort of minister would choose them over the more capable SA professionals? They of course are aware who caused the water system breakdown in the first place, but they stay mum. Even if the ANC government’s thinking is completely unfathomable, the money is good for these visitors. Does Minister Sisulu really think the Cubans don’t realise how useless is the ANC when they can’t even fix a tap?
Law and order as we knew it no longer exists. There are myriad examples of this, from the lack of farm protection (but not president Ramaphosa’s farm where it is allegedly guarded by police 24/7), to runaway stock theft, the murder and mayhem in our cities and towns and on our farms, and the burning, pillaging and destruction of infrastructure about which president Ramaphosa says virtually nothing. Has he visited the dusty earth on the West Rand where train tracks used to lie? Has he seen the no-go areas in Jeppestown, Johannesburg where foreigners have taken over and where the police are hesitant to enter? Does he know how many Nigerians and Pakistanis have taken up residence in South Africa? Who controls the crime syndicates in our country? Does he even know the correct population figure of the country of which he is president? South Africa can certainly no longer afford the ANC.
WHAT TO DO?
It should never be forgotten that every voter has a sword in his hand. Imagine that the country’s traditional leaders decide to form a political party which puts the people of South Africa first, a Federal Cultural party whose programme of principles embodies the recognition of the diversity of cultures in the country, instead of the hegemony of the catastrophic ANC. This new party should make clear from the start that the continuance of the payment of social grants by the new party is of singular significance and of great consequence, given the crucial role this payment plays in the lives of millions of South Africans. The fairy story put about by the ANC and its president that their party is the only party which would pay this grant must be negated forthwith. The ANC uses taxpayers’ money to fund this welfare payment and any other party can do the same. Indeed a functioning and honest party could guarantee this funding with confidence, something the ANC will not be able to do soon if they continue to empty the cookie jar.
Within a sound economy, with honest people in government, South Africa would flourish again. The country’s budget could make sense at last, instead of carrying the current debt burden. In 2019 already, every SA citizen owed R55 000 as part of the country’s overall debt. Opportunities to plunder and steal would hopefully be ameliorated and those caught with their fingers in the till would be brought to book timeously, not ten years later, if ever!
Political parties already exist in South Africa based on cultural group rights, such as the Freedom Front Plus and the Inkatha Freedom Party. There is no reason why this concept cannot be extended so that other cultural political groups could be represented in a federal system in Parliament.
The country’s traditional leaders must realise that they can no longer be held hostage by an avaricious, power-hungry ANC which is determined to push ahead with the creation of a socialist, nihilistic society, with themselves in charge. We all know how socialism/communism operated during the twentieth century and what a terrible legacy it left. It is farcical that the ANC calls itself democratic whilst at its heart it embraces members of the SA Communist Party. The fact that these charlatans have never actually lived under communist rule is not ever mentioned.
If South Africa’s traditional leaders could engage and merge with other like-minded traditional groups to form a functional political party, this could place South Africa on a winning path. A Federal Cultural party would succeed based on a programme of principles to which all would agree: each cultural group would outline its priorities which would not interfere with other cultural groupings’ ideals and goals. These would include the recovery of the country’s economy with particular concentration on the fiscus where funds would be freed up for development. Each cultural group would have access to the state’s funding in accordance with their needs. Social grants will continue for the needy and there will be strict, regularly audited control over this money. Poor people will not have to wait in line for days for this money upon which they so much depend.
Whatever one thinks of this new suggestion, the alternative of continued ANC rule is too terrible to contemplate. The country cannot go on much longer with these charlatans and thieves at the helm. We are doomed if their control is not terminated. Their path of destruction, corruption and lies to the public must end.
