TESSA DOOMS | We must dream big, far and wide to make SA the kind of country we want

SA is due for an upgrade. In 1994, SA version 1.0 was introduced to the world. A shiny, brand-new democracy was born in a social and political climate of hope and on the back of massive political victories, including the release of Nelson Mandela and the referendum that officially ended apartheid.

Liberation activists were heralded as heroes. Street committees, communities and unionised workers and students soldiered on the streets through the bruising protests and state of emergency made one final mobilisation effort in the lead-up to the 1994 elections, creating mass voter education and registration campaigns to ensure that enough people showed up at the voting stations on election day. They hoped this would be the final lever pulled to activate a new democratic SA.

Millions showed up on April 27 1994, and through the ballot a new version of SA was endorsed. A version that not only came through decades of struggle and bloodshed, but also through strategic thinking, bold leadership and a long and grinding negotiation process.

The new SA did not happen by chance; it was crafted by design. Even beyond the transition and the election, in the first five years we saw the work to craft a new constitution and policy debates about defining and refining the kind of SA we wanted to live in and what we all needed to do to deliver on it.

Unfortunately, the promise of that first election and the constitution and policies it produced has been eroded. The hope of those who stood in endless queues to cast their first democratic vote has been shattered, and the institutions and systems of democracy are in crisis.

Even worse, people have lost trust in the democratic project. The version and vision of the new SA that drove millions to the voting station is no longer sufficient for a country that is more unequal, more divided and more desperate than we have been since the dawn of democracy. If SA were a mobile phone, we are currently trying to use a Nokia 3310 to face the challenges of a modern, fast-paced, complex world that needs the functionalities, sophistication and speed of an iPhone 7.

It is time to upgrade to SA 2.0.

We need an improved and fit-for-purpose version of SA and its democracy that meets the challenges of our time. We deserve a country with a constitution actioned in daily practice and a parliament and executive that work for and are directly accountable to people rather than simply their parties. We deserve a country that values dignity, where a decent quality of life is not the preserve of a few with jobs, but one where infrastructure like housing, water, sanitation, land and electricity are the minimum package of public goods rather than private services, provided to all to create a base for economic and social wellbeing.

We also need to reclaim our power and ability to dream bigger and organise for better.

On Saturday, October 8, at the Rivonia Circle event dubbed “South Africa 2.0: Mobilising People’s Electoral Power”, Lukhona Mnguni reminded the over 150 activists and change-makers present that we need not allow the failures of incumbent governments to limit our imagination of what is possible. Mnguni urged everyone willing to be part of SA’s change to “Dream as big, as far, and as wide as you can about the kind of country you want to live in”.

SA can no longer afford to fixate solely on analysing the problem. We must in parallel create a political culture of casting collective vision and taking collective action. The design of SA 2.0 does not need to wait for the rise of an iconic leader like Mandela. Drawing inspiration from our rich liberation history, we need thoughtful effort and action on many fronts.

We need ideological imagination akin to what the PAC under Robert Sobukwe’s leadership produced. We require the type of leadership and energy that characterised the Soweto uprisings by the youth of 1976. We can draw inspiration from the street committees and communities in the United Democratic Front who organised and mobilised around civic education and direct community action.

The most critical success factor to the making of SA 2.0 is co-creation. Democracy demands that the making and re-making of our common life be an act all who are willing and well-intentioned can have a role in. We can no longer leave democracy building to a few people or parties. Going far beyond unity and inclusion, co-creating SA 2.0 requires a historic act of solidarity.