Colleen Makhubele
"Never, never and never again shall it be that this beautiful land will again experience the oppression of one by another, and suffer the indignity of being the skunk of the world."
There was a time when these heavy words gave us goosebumps and tears in our eyes.
South Africa has irrevocably changed. The ‘"New Dawn" finally saw its orange sunset delivered by several buffaloes worth $580 000.
I believe that with the Phala Phala gate, we have definitely crossed the Rubicon.
It’s almost as if Nelson Mandela left without a will. We have inherited from the dysfunctional ANC factions a president prepared to lead South Africans on a road to abdication of values, morals and ethics to lawlessness and lack of accountability.
Backed by the minority and their financial, judicial and media influence, and driven by “the President beyond reproach and above the law”, the country has rapidly plunged into factional strife, chaos and is descending into a global skunk of what is termed a "typical African state", a failed state.
Indeed, there can be no turning back.
The minority interests are at stake; the burning country can wait in the queue, the Constitution will be massaged to suit the day and the man.
There are times when a leader must put the flock ahead of himself, follow in the big shoes of uTata Mandela, move out ahead of the flock, and provide courageous leadership. President Ramaphosa has failed himself, the nation and uTata Mandela, together with all our founding fathers.
In any normal democratic state, without consultations, President Ramaphosa should have respected himself and the nation and simply resigned.
The nation is also caught between the ANC's factional crisis and self-interest. The ANC and its cadres are acutely aware of the fast-plummeting prospects of 2024, but it lacks the internal cohesion to make fundamental adjustments and have lost completely the capacity to change course. The new dawn was indeed the last benediction.
They know very well that they are heading towards a collision, but in their malicious nature they would plunge the whole country and continent into it, if needs be.
What do we take pride in as South Africans, and celebrate with heads held high, when the centre can no longer hold? Things have scattered... everywhere you look. Our heads hang in shame as the sun sets on the false new dawn.
*Makhubele is a COPE councillor and speaker in the City of Joburg