It does seem that many members of our society in the media and others who write on social media and phone talk-show radios are incapable of seeing the world outside the ANC. As a result, discussions about the ANC's woes appear to these writers and callers to be discussions of SA society’s problems.
The ANC is not SA society. The ANC is a political party — a group of like-minded people who have organised themselves into an entity that can present itself to citizens and contest elections for a mandate to run the affairs of the country, nothing more nothing less.
As in countries that originate from colonialist constructs, its origin is the moral aptitude of fighting for freedom. At present the ANC is elected by a majority of SA society into government to run the affairs of SA society which includes solving society's problems.
It is not elected to solve ANC problems. When you hire a plumber to fix your burst pipe you do not spend time discussing how he does not have the right tools and what he could do to get the right tools while your burst pipe remains unfixed.
Your burst pipe will not be fixed by your engagement in the problems the plumber has. Neither can it be solved by the right tools in incapable hands. The only way you can get your burst pipe fixed is getting a plumber that has the capacity and will to solve your problem.
Statements like “there are still good people in the ANC but circled by RET hyenas” do not bring any value to SA society.
The message extolling the presence of “heroes” inside the ANC should be raised in the consciousness of its members so that they can make right choices as to who they deploy to serve society — if such people exist within its ranks. But that is if they are capable of recognising talent. However, it appears they are more astute at recognising loyalty to the ANC than recognising or caring about capability and commitment to the people.
The presence or absence of RET or other conflicts between the two inside the ANC, real or imagined, is not a problem of SA society. It is a problem of the ANC. Whether there is integrity in the ANC’s integrity committee, whether Ace Magaushule is stepped aside or not, is not the problem of SA society. It is the problem of the ANC.
Yes, it affects SA society. But it only impacts on SA society because SA society has given and continues to give the ANC a mandate to run its affairs. If SA society had not given the ANC a mandate it would not be affected by internal problems of the ANC. The easiest and most plausible solution is for SA society to dissociate itself from the ANC.
SA society should recognise what its real problems are — absence of safety, rampant crime, citizens living in fear of criminals, absence of easy accessibility to healthcare, mostly below par public facilities manned by uncaring “health” workers, absence of quality accessible schooling with a huge dropout rate churning out adults who may not be employable, being unskilled, neither is it producing creative, innovative individuals who would drive industrial development through new products etc And other hosts of inconveniences such as potholes, deteriorating infrastructure, costly energy, unemployment, corruption, etc
Only on recognising these as well as the capacity to identify capable people among themselves will SA society be able to solve its problems by placing capable people in government. Surely the problem cannot be solved by mandating the very people who caused them to run your affairs.
Being in awe of people who clearly have no passion for the safety of citizens by whose mandate they occupy the corridors of power is mind boggling.
It is difficult to understand why media would focus predominantly on an official (minister) from the president’s office as well as members of the president’s cabinet and political party to comment on the president’s Sona speech. I'm not sure what the media intends imparting to society by so doing.
Where are ordinary people? Was the president not addressing the nation? Why source a reaction from those working with him and not those he was addressing? One can only conclude that such media is tunnel visioned and oblivious of the wider world.
• Dr Mosalakae is a Sowetan reader
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