We need a Mandela Day to revisit the qualities that hold us together as human beings, especially now, in a time of great need.
As a country, we are overwhelmed by a number of challenges. We have load-shedding and rising fuel prices that overlap to make the cost of living far too expensive.
Groceries, data, school fess and clothing are all becoming too expensive for poor working-class families.
Added to this problem is the crisis of an unresponsive government that still cannot pull together all the crucial stakeholders to start an economic recovery.
The legitimacy the government had at the beginning of Cyril Ramaphosa’s term is now slowly fading away. The leadership of the president does not seem to be solving our major challenges as quickly as it should, and according to our expectations.
The excuses — to blame the consequences of state capture and Covid-19 — are not being well received. The current leadership is not taking society into its confidence by explaining its recovery plan.
These challenges have left people increasingly despondent about their country, to the extent that they are not only planning to vote the ANC out of power in 2024 but they are questioning the purpose of our democratic system itself.
As a result, some are beginning to consider the possibility of running for public office as individuals, while others are on a mission to start social movements that will lead to a nationwide revolt similar to the one in Sri Lanka.
In essence, the people are tired of the systems and leadership in front of them as nothing seems to be working according to their needs.
But here’s an interesting issue. Our history as a country tells us that we have been here before. There was a point where our society was at a lull and seemed to be defeated by the weight of hopelessness. The period after the Rivonia Trial in the 1960s was such a time.
It was the spark of the youth and communities that rose up by themselves that provided direction to the country. People themselves decided to do the little they could in their own spaces to liberate their country and make it better off.
Communities and young people fixed their own schools. They built their own clinics. They combined their wages and all kinds of resources to build sustainable businesses and co-operatives that boosted their collective development on their own terms.
This was the spirit of black consciousness.
Today, we commemorate Mandela Day at a time when we as ordinary people are faced with a challenge to lift our own society by ourselves. Let this day not be lost to futile NGOisation.
We must give it purpose. It must make us renew our individual civic duty to our own communities. It must culminate in the greatest gift of leadership — to serve humanity to the best of our ability without expecting anything in return.
People have lost jobs in this economy. The youth cannot find work. Women depend on social grants as single mothers to raise their kids. The country is under a silent humanitarian crisis that is ready to blow up at any moment.
So, if you are to embark on a Mandela Day programme today, make sure it seeks to provide food security. Poor households out there need cash, food, and jobs to survive in this economy.
The best demonstration of leadership today would be to target the deepest needs of the people. To come together to fix black education and stop our youth using drugs. To feed our children. To love our families and our neighbours. To serve humanity in our immediate local spaces for the purpose of shaping a better SA for ourselves.
• Dr Pedro Mzileni is a research associate in the faculty of humanities at Nelson Mandela University
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