We want our nation back
South Africa no longer belongs to the people but to the rich few. The hopes of the liberation struggle have evaporated. Only a new leadership that is guided by the interests of the citizens will save the nation.
This is the land of our fathers, grandfathers and mothers, the land where some sacrificed their lives to make sure that everyone can enjoy their life without any discrimination whatsoever, where diverse cultures united. But that is not yet achieved. It is so bad to still listen to the same very sad scream we heard before 1994.
South Africa is the country where the leaders are not keen to attentively listen to the voices of the people. South Africa is a country where leaders are only willing to feed their friends and their families. Those who gave them the right to be in power are forgotten. How can our government waste so much money instead of uplifting the lives of the poor?
South Africa is facing job losses, hunger and many social difficulties. Outside countries export their products to our country and that is leading to more job losses that haunt our country. Is there any need for an economic system that makes our people poor? Why do we continue to support a system that only allows the elites to enrich themselves? Are these elites really proud of South Africa or they just are using our country to get rich?
Look at Rainbow Chickens. Now that the cheap imports from America are coming in our people are losing their jobs. Where are all these PEOPLE going to find jobs? What is our government doing to protect our people? We are so unlucky because of the government we have. It is a ‘yes yes’ type of government.
The veteran freedom fighter Solomon Mahlangu promised everyone that his blood would nourish the tree of freedom! Is that the reality? Why are people not even feeling guilty for exploiting the sweat and blood of those who died for this country? Why is there so much corruption from the head to the toes? Why are we being told that this corruption means ‘economic freedom’ when it is only making the elites richer and the poor poorer?
For sure the people who died for the struggle are not sleeping in peace. One day they will show us that they are not happy and their anger will target those who are enjoying themselves while other people sleep on the roads. Oliver Thambo, Solomon Mahlangu, Martin Thembisile Hani, Clarence Makwetu and Steve Biko send your powers to emancipate us from this corrupt government!
Everyone sees what is going on but they don't want to come clean. That is why there are camps all over. They protect their ambitious behaviour. That really destroys our country. We need a president with a real backbone, somebody who will be led by the interest of the people, who puts the interest of the people first; somebody who is not going to defy our humanity. We need somebody who is not going to hide with apartheid but who is going to face the challenges facing us.
We need a country where women will feel safe, where there will be no poverty, where jobs will be created instead of destroyed. We need a country where there no one will come to our country to nominate ministers. Oh, shame on those who are nominated! They are traitors of our beloved country!
Domestic workers and security guards are working tirelessly but with no proper remuneration. Some companies don't pay their labourers on Sundays. The government is quiet about all that. We need people who are not recommended by their husbands or relatives nor their political parties to lead us. We need this country to be under the people of South Africa, not under just two families who are only interested in becoming richer and richer with the people’s wealth. We need this county to be free from ethnic tension, not where when somebody does wrong some say its because he is from this or that ethnic group. We need our food producers to be encouraged to produce more and not to vandalise what they already have.
We need a country where everyone will be equal and the economy will be shared amongst the people.
* Lindela Mashumi Figlan (Mayibuye Peoples Movement, Eyabantu) is a long-time activist from Durban, South Africa.
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