The 30 years celebration of the democratic dispensation in South Africa under the theme “Democracy, Partnership and Growth”, allows Social Cohesion Advocates to reflect on the journey of liberation.
History reminds that the liberation came after a political struggle that claimed lives of many heroes and heroines that held the fort during the hard times of the apartheid era. Thus, this means that, the South African dispensation is not only living human beings great honour is also aligned to those that never lived but whose lives are recognised as an offering to what is currently inherited by present generations.
The South African democratic dispensation has “Ancestors”. The struggle is indebted to them as it also believed that they nod when things go well and they dismay when democracy is contested.
The pilgrimage of the liberation shares bitter sweet history. The dawn of the liberation depicted an envisage future by the historically marginalised. The first casting of votes by electorates in 1994 symbolised breaking away from the knuckles of the apartheid regime and a cross over to land of social equality, mutual recognition/nation building and economic emancipation.
It was the first time when the majority excluded felt that they had a vote and freedom on their ancestral land. Enacted policies were meant to rehabilitate, unite, reconcile and transform South Africans from the brutalities of the apartheid regime and that was what South Africans needed as their uncontested inheritance. The historic timeline of recorded incidences reveals that the South African democratic dispensation has been engulfed by endogenous and exogenous factors.
These factors include an influx of migration patterns that led to xenophobic attacks in the province of KwaZulu-Natal, in Gauteng and in other provinces in South Africa between 1994 and 2021. The democratic dispensation also suffered a huge contestation due to poor governance which signalled corruption, maladministration, attacks of the National symbols including the anthem and the flag, socio-economic hardships, recession, junk status, poor service delivery, land issues, state capture, public riots, looting and high crime incidences.
Social and health endemics and pandemics including gender-based violence and femicide cases are also listed as part of the geo-political challenges that have challenged the emancipation and intended objectives of the democratic dispensation. The South African Constitution (No. 108 of 1996), the judiciary system and the rule of law has been deemed weak in protecting South Africans both as citizens and electorates because it has not elevated voters from the injustices of the past.
Provisions of the South African Constitution as an overarching supreme law are deemed a panacea because the gap between the haves and the have-nots has widened instead of narrowing. Recorded incidences have muddled the realisation of social cohesion and nation building as a capsule of strengthening democratic dispensation.
Amid recorded geo and economic hardships, South Africa has also had a fair share of good times and victorious episodes. South Africa has been represented in international and continental spaces through sports, cultural activities, the celebration and preservations of national symbols, music as well as in discussions of international and peace buildings talks. The South African flag has been flown amongst countries that are progressing but unresolved domestic issues compete with the momentum of such victorious waves.
The National Department of Sport, Arts and Culture and its provincial departments is acknowledged on the basis of ensuring that Social Cohesion intervention projects are emblemized as an inheritance that rehabilitate South Africa from its historic hardships.
The appointment of Social Cohesion Advocates since 2012 after the Kliptown summit in Soweto is the realization of Priority six (6) through which South Africa is healed from its sufferings.
While it is acknowledged that a lot needs to be realized in South Africa, the conviction of Social Cohesion Advocates programme is that government departments provinces and local government should prioritize activities that fosters Social Cohesion and Nation Building as traits of the democratic dispensation.
South Africans should also embrace the responsibility to defend the price of freedom and democratic gains as the only game in town. The consolidation of a democratized South Africa should be the responsibility of all South Africans including reliable governance and accountability. The forthcoming millennium of the democratic dispensation should be about advancing the lives of people not for political selfish gains which comes through corruption, state capture and maladministration.
The incoming South African government should commit all resources in ensuring that all South Africans are economically viable and this will lessen the dependency on social grants, socio-economic inequalities and public riots. The legitimisation coupled with the consolidation of democracy in South Africa is deemed the best inheritance that should be the benefit of future generations to come.
The position of Social Cohesion Advocates is that “the government that will be unable to correct[MT1] tragic errors committed at times with the best intentions will remain an antiquarian covered with dust and in fool’s paradise”.
Social Cohesion and Nation Building are pillars of a sustained democracy. A healed and rehabilitated country is anchored on these pillars. The 30 years of democratic dispensation should be considered as baseline of a better South Africa, better Africa and better world that we all yearn to be part of.
Happy Freedom Day. Social Cohesion Advocates envisage free and fair elections on the 29th of May 2024. The future will judge South Africa for missing the opportunity of defending our freedom and democracy.
Aluta Continua.
Dr Balungile Zondi, Spokesperson for Social Cohesion Advocates on 071 606 5062 or balungilezondi@gmail.com
[MT1]I would replace with “address”
