A dangerous discrepancy muds African politics. Does the political elite steal the will of the people? In Africa, it is believed that a sitting president cannot be defeated in a general election. Look at, for example, the late Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe who ruled the nation for 37 years. Even when it is so obvious of the people’s choice the outcome always turned against them. The late president Moi of Kenya ruled the nation for 24 years. This is despite several attempts by other candidates to take over the power. The election results were always being doctored in this scenario. Although no evidence has been put forth. The current president of Uganda Museveni who is now in his 35 years as the president is still reluctant. His closest competitor Kizza Besigye was frustrated politically, till he decided to surrender. The current competitor Bobi Wine has also undergone the same humiliation. This is a clear indication that democracy in Africa is just but a term.
In South Africa, there is a huge rhetorical fidelity by the government to the advocacy of the people, which is then interpreted meaninglessly by the growing detachment of the people from the levers of power.
The explosive possibility of this irony is starting to reveal itself. It is supported in part, by a lethal misconception of power.
In the latest years, the fabrications of political dialogue have lamented the moderate death of democracy in South Africa. This language shows how inadequate dominant political curiosity has become, peculiarly in academia and the media.
Sincerely, speaking, I do not think that democracy is dead. To say that democracy is dead depends on the deception that it ever dominated any outstanding vitality initially.
Generally, there is a tolerant consent that stipulates democracy as a manner of prominent self-rule, where the will of the people is approved by their voted representatives. Resting alongside this base, the fundamental characteristic is fairness before the law, civil freedom, and political contention.
It is the manifestation of democracy we have been aware of in South Africa since 1994. From the 1990s across the universe, there has been a fast-accelerating implosion. Nationalists’ suppression in India, joint coup d’état in the United States, the rightwing autonomous propagated across Europe, and the continual rob of state wealth by dictatorial leaders throughout Africa.
One would ask themselves, how would those who are expected to act as agents of the will of the people, again and again, show unashamed neglect or intentional subversion of it?
In the context of South Africa, the apathy of politicians to the regard and requirements of citizens must be viewed as inherent and not just an endemic shortfall in a specific government. The rejoinder from the office of the president to the latest events across the country unveiled the lethargic way with which the government implements its duties and responsibilities. Worse, the response from the public shows how many of us are prepared to take part in political sterilization.
All over the past week, women have been marching beside their couple in protest, rejecting to further undergo the terror discharged by men on their bodies.
At the same time, the public was embarrassed by leaders throughout the continent as travelers again became victims of misguided fury and annoyance.
Strangely the hall of Luthuli House went on their silence. The auditorium of Parliament appeared free. Where are the leaders of the government? The head of state himself, Cyril Ramaphosa, whose jovial face filled our TV screens and newspapers, was loudly absent from the public sight.
The president’s ultimate speech on national TV was not satisfactory. The judicial solutions put forward to finish gender-based violence was futile to challenge the systemic nature of the matter. Ramaphosa’s criticism of xenophobic violence made the normal weak plead to the African Unity. Saddened by the mild flavor of government solutions, a usual question terrifies the minds of the people. Will our elected leaders do something?
Thinking about this question, a resentful realization tormented my mind. We have been there before. The outrange of Nkandla, Marikana, state capture, and gender-based violence. A specific problem will become hard to solve and will be followed by scandals and demonstrations. Justified demands for responsibility and answers from the government will be made. Politicians will reply with the usual declaration and empty promises, accompanied by a few legislative changes of the policy measure.
The heartbreaking sarcasm is how we as the people, assume earnest concern and effectual answers from institutions that frequently worsen our socio-economic concerns. This is by its gross carelessness or at times holds direct accountability for the malformation of our society.
Not a week passes without political commentators complaining about the lack of ethical leadership in South Africa. This complaint is valid. Unethical leaders are a hindrance to the advancement and success of society.
Even though the moral shortcomings of the people do not survive in a vacuum. One may wonder what structure or structures bring a surrounding that permits such operations? What encourages it?
Open-minded democracy rests on the confidence that when people take control of their own lives is a virtue and political need. And I don’t doubt that. A society should be ruled by its people. Nonetheless, this belief is weakened by how it has been enforced historically. In an at the shell, a very minimal vision of the government for the people by the people is approved. The authority to make tangible the will of the society’s people, by state resources and institutions, is obtained and focused in the hands of a political minority.
For a huge part of the society who are not well educated and engaged with endurance in a hostile economic environment, the media is not easily accessible.
The gain of substantial liberty and equality is opposed by democracy’s limbo in youth. Its development is blocked by a belief that the next election holds saviors for us. Therefore, the principles of democracy are not permitted to advance to their evolutionary reasoning. Individuals can only endure so much insolvency. If power follows the regard of those who maintain it, then let it rests strongly in the hands of the millions who want to better their lives.
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