Written by Izibele Maloyi
"The champions of the free are prisoners still,” is how Hip Hop veteran Stogie T brilliantly contextualizes the woeful political leadership that South Africa finds itself with. That's on Love And War – the Lucille Slade-assisted single on The Empire of Sheep EP.
The liberation movement demanded a sacrifice; for most men and women, it was the unfortunate loss of life that left many families without closure, while some were lucky enough to only spend long periods of time in prison. I use ‘lucky’ quite strongly because, the brutality of the apartheid circus was so unfathomable, that spending your life away imprisoned for the crime of just being who you are, seemed the better option.
I bring up all of this because a few days ago we remembered the late Chris Hani. Many of our struggle icons called a prison cell home, while the delusional government made attempts at crushing their soul.
How dare they be born black? How do they choose to risk (and potentially lose) their lives to liberate the oppressed? Who did they think they are to choose imprisonment or even death in defiance of the ‘imperial’ rule?
It is sad to observe how the intentions of today’s leadership are in direct contrast of those of the aforementioned. The liberation movement leaders – Steve Biko, Chris Hani, Mama Winnie Mandela – had one goal in mind, and that was to give back to the people of colour their identity, dignity, and freedom. Heck, Solomon Mahlangu was even hanged in prison for that fight!
What do we have today? Maladministration, and the looting of state resources, as though they were tabled at a buffet. We have spineless leaders who are afraid of taking decisive action. Today’s leaders are slaves to greed, and they are definitely held captive by the need to cling on to power.
The charade of commissions of enquiry is a farce. It is really a ruse, to trick the public into believing that something is being done. Name me one person who has been arrested after being implicated in the misuse of state funds from any of these commissions of enquiries. I’ll wait.
It is a shame that we’re a country that's vastly wealthy with wisdom from the great yodas who stood at the forefront of our liberation and yet we do nothing with it. We have allowed the ruin and decay of a country, that's also rich in mineral resources and a diverse population.
We allow the fat cats to continue dipping their filthy hands into public funds without accountability or any repercussions. Ace Magashule has been fingered in multiple counts of corruption, including the Estina Dairy Farm project, yet the (dis)honourable Magashule continues to serve in their highest decision making body of the governing party.
I think as citizens, we are partly to blame. We continue to let incompetent governance happen as though the leaders are doing us a big favour by doing what we elected them to do.
Hopefully, we will remember soon that we (as the citizens) are the ones who should be calling the shots, and therefore start acting like it.
* Cover image: showme.co.za.
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