Do not gamble with your future

There’s not a single day these days I don’t thank the ANC for revealing its true colours before our fourth democratic elections this year. Had most of us not been extremely troubled by what we saw since its Polokwane we’d still be among those who believe its problems are just an internal matter, teething problems of a transformation process from Liberation movement into a political party. It is now clear as a goat’s behind that South African politics have fallen on evil times.

The setting rot within the ANC is touching every facade of our democracy and eroding the institutions that are suppose to guard our freedom and human rights. Our justice system is under extreme strain because of the ruling elite’s determination to keep Jacob Zuma outside of court to answer allegations of corruption, racketeering, money laundering and tax evasion. COPE’s popular song since its founding has taken deep meaning:

Ndashiya lambutho I left that organisation

Najoyin’ iCOPE To join COPE in fear of being corrupted (X2)

Ndoyika! Ndoyika! I fear! I fear! Corruption!

Not so long ago you would have been suspected of crying wolf in pointing to the Zanufication of our politics, or worse still called of being of following the imperialist mind set. But the present ANC leadership is doing everything in its power to convince us by moving from blunder to obvious intended violations of the structures of our institutions of good governance. Most of us are getting convinced that Polokwane revolution was more about the ANC leadership structure being hijacked by men who have learnt to sublimate immorality for compound group and individual interests.

New agenda for change and hope for all

Most of us have given up the idea of objective journalism as a pipe dream. We are all, to some extent, bias to something; that’s the price we pay for the history of our existence. But we still demand from good journalism a fair portrayal of facts to avoid being manipulated into unsound reasoning. We farther expect journalistic arguments to see beyond emotions and habits. In my humble opinion, Dr. Xolela Mangcu, fails to meet these standards in most of his arguments.

Dr. Mangcu’s piece last week at Business Day, ‘Give Zuma a chance after the intolerance of the Mbeki regime’ is typical of spin-doctoring himself and ‘me, me,’ argumentative style. He takes up his favourite past time, Mbeki bashing and ties it with his cynical attitude towards what he calls “the thing called the Congress of the People”. What baffles me is that he keeps mentioning how oppressed he and his cabal were under Mbeki regime, yet if I remember well they freely used vitriol (democratically entitled) to criticize the former president all the time. The worst that ever happened to them was to get different opinions from what he calls the bloodhounds of Thabo Mbeki. Was that the sign of an oppressive regime?

COPE – GROWING THE ECONOMY

COPE – GROWING THE ECONOMY AND INCREASING PRODUCTIVITY TO CREATE DECENT WORK

1. COPE will strive to ensure that trade and enterprise development becomes a priority.

2. COPE recognises that –

(a) employment, is the principal route for our people out of poverty,

(b) workers have rights

(c) workers should have social protection to safeguard income and underpin health and

(d) dialogue is crucial to ensuring the joint participation of employers’ and workers’ organizations in shaping government decisions.

3. COPE is painfully aware that many South Africans are unemployed or currently losing their jobs, and that families face increased hunger and poverty because of the difficult global and local economic conditions.