The cringeworthy testimony by deputy minister of transport Dikeledi Magadzi at the Zondo commission is a sad reflection of our politics and a confirmation of our new status as an idiocracy. Magadzi was testifying on her role as the chairperson of the portfolio committee on transport in 2016 when the ANC instructed its MPs to vote against an opposition motion to investigate the Guptas’ role in state capture.
It took Deputy Chief Justice Raymond Zondo three attempts for Magadzi to finally concede that the committee might have been in dereliction of duty by not exercising its oversight function.
Asked whether knowing what she now knows about the Guptas had altered her perceptions, Magadzi insisted that it was correct for the ANC to have voted against the motion. In justifying this stance, she opined: “I am not in Parliament as myself, I represent the ANC, and I will always ensure that I toe the party line, and that is what I did.” She added that she did not ask for reasons why the ANC members had to vote against the motion by stating: “I believe when my party says we are not going to support the motion, I do exactly that.”
That says it all. The ANC does not encourage its MPs and, by extension, its members, to think and reason. There is after all a grain of truth in the EFF’s taunts directed at the ANCs MPs as “voting cattle”. It is clear that with the calibre of ministers such as Magadzi our democracy has indeed morphed into an idiocracy – which is defined as a society or group that is controlled by or consisting of people of low intelligence.
It was Lord Byron who said: “Those who will not reason are bigots, those who cannot, are fools, and those who dare not are slaves.” Clearly, Magadzi and her fellow MPs were and still are slaves to the party line who dare not follow their own conscience. The ANC has managed to entrench a culture of anti-intellectualism in its ranks with the party serving only as a vehicle for the enrichment of loyal cadres. The party and not the country, is supreme under these conditions.
At this stage it is appropriate to cite this quote from Ken Peters, professor of economics in the Czech Republic during the presidency of Jacob Zuma: “The danger to SA is not Jacob Zuma, but a citizenry capable of entrusting a man like him with the Presidency.”
It will be far easier to limit and undo the follies of a Zuma presidency than to restore the necessary common sense and good judgment to a depraved electorate, willing to have such a man for their president. The problem is much deeper and far more serious than Mr Zuma, who is a mere symptom of what ails SA.
Blaming the prince of the fools should not blind anyone to the vast confederacy of fools that made him their prince. The Republic can survive a Jacob Zuma who is, after all, merely a fool. It is less likely to survive a multitude of fools such as those who made him their president.
With the Zuma nightmare refusing to go away even after his removal from office, it is clear that the greater problem our country faces is the ANC. Here is a party that has feasted on the misery of the downtrodden masses.
A party that has institutionalised corruption and whose secretary-general chooses to use PW Botha as our standard for propriety. The ANC has become the antithesis of our democratic aspirations expressed through the valiant Struggle against apartheid. This is unsustainable and a dent on the legacies of the likes of Mangaliso Sobukwe, whose name was recently dragged into the mud by Zuma.
So what has to be done? Speaking in Philadelphia recently, former US president Barack Obama had this to say: “No single American can fix this country alone. Not even a president. Democracy was never meant to be transactional, you give me your vote, I make everything better. It requires an active citizenry.”
This is what SA needs urgently – an active citizenry. South Africans have to jettison their apathy – especially when it comes to the act of voting. According to the IEC, registered voter turnout has been steadily declining since the 1999 elections with the 2019 general elections registering a 66% turnout.
This is a trend that has to be reversed to ensure we can pull our country from the toxic grip of the ANC. Our maximum participation will ensure that we are properly governed and not suffer one of the penalties of not participating in politics, which according to Plato “is that you end up being governed by your inferiors”.
Think Zuma and Magadzi.
All sectors of our society need to join hands and work towards fixing what is wrong with our country. Our homes, schools, churches and civil society movement should serve as catalysts for a new ethos. It is also imperative for citizens to vote wisely and not for those who will sell their souls for 30 pieces of silver to the highest bidder. As for the ANC, it has become a lost cause, if ever there was one.
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