South Africa faces a general election, most probably in May. An edgy nation trembles at the prospect of an upheaval when the count is over.
Victory will be celebrated, defeat will probably be declared, and the losers will be vanquished and sent into political oblivion. A new leader will be crowned amid the mayhem and uncertainty. It was John F Kennedy, who said; “Victory has a thousand fathers, defeat is an orphan.”
Abstaining or not registering as a voter will be a fatal mistake. Our fractured country is in societal and political turmoil as answers are sought for inequities, monumental poverty and dangerous economic imbalances.
Many of us will accept the results of the election, pained by the division and polarisation of our beloved country. As the political tempo settles down, it becomes imperative that we forge new pathways to the middle ground and engage in new conversations about how we can build bridges, close gaps and defend our democracy together.
We are caught in a partisan hyper-conflict that divides politicians, communities and even families. This polarisation has become so intense that people no longer trust anyone with a different perspective.
This nation will be shocked this year when the majority of its beleaguered citizens toss out unceremoniously the current political order.
It is glaringly obvious that the nation is urgently looking for a new political messiah.
None of the current leaders of the big three political parties is worthy of leadership qualities. They are namely, Ramaphosa, Steenhuisen and Malema, who are political chameleons with no political spines. Three stooges who should not be trusted to guide our destiny.
Social and political tensions have metastasised into a dangerous ideological contest that seriously threatens our fragile democracy. What divides our nation goes much deeper than politics.
Regardless of which side of the political divide you are on, every knowledgeable person would agree that our country is at serious risk. When we look at the political and economic divisions cleaving South Africa, we consistently find extremes of inequality and deadly imbalances adding fuel to these fires. These diabolical contrasts bring anxiety, fear, distrust and resentment.
The mayhem and destruction in July 2021 served as a catalyst and a foreboding signal that the current political order is flawed. When millions of people out of 28 million registered voters refuse to vote, this is an ominous reminder that time is running out, we are on the edge of a precipice, with no viable solutions for our monumental problems that have remained unsolved for over two decades.
South Africa has only two years left to urgently rectify an escalating social and economic crisis. We need visionary leadership to avoid a catastrophe. Time is a luxury we cannot afford and 2024 will be recorded in history as the year South Africa leaped into (real change).
* Farouk Araie, Gauteng.
** The views expressed here are not necessarily those of Independent Media.
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