Mangosuthu Buthelezi’s Weekly Newsletter to the Nation
My dear friends and fellow South Africans,
In my letter last week I wrote that President Kgalema Motlanthe’s government has its work cut out to restore confidence at home and abroad in the integrity of our institutions; particularly in the independence of our judiciary and executive transparency and accountability. Such confidence, I said, thrives upon truth, obligations and protection. I said the government must move quickly and that we, South Africans of goodwill, can only wish them well.
Then last Sunday, Sunday 28 September President Motlanthe addressed the nation in his first television address. The address was statesmanlike, generous – rightly – in its fulsome praise of Mr Thabo Mbeki’s record and was marked by a sense of both certitude and humility. The text provided an anchor in a turbulent sea, as the winter clouds continue to billow over our beloved loved.
I believe it was a particularly important marker in setting the scene for “free and fair” elections in six months based upon legitimate political competition and I was greatly encouraged by the exhortation to South Africans to turn out for the polls.
He began by observing:
“Our country is emerging from one of the most difficult weeks in the history of our young democracy. It has been a week of uncertainty and doubt, hurt and anger. Yet, it is at moments like this that the true character of our nation emerges.
It is when we are tested, that we demonstrate our resilience and determination. We have shown in the past that though we may at times experience difficulty, we have both the will and the means to rise above the challenges of the moment.” To this, we, including those of us who sit on the loyal opposition benches, can only say “Amen”.
The President then crisply enunciated the complex, interrelated and pressing public policy challenges facing SA: to reduce unemployment and poverty by half within 10 years; to provide the skills required by the economy; to ensure all South Africans are fully able to exercise their constitutional rights; to provide compassionate and competent service to the people; to massively reduce cases of TB, diabetes, malnutrition and maternal deaths, and turn the tide against HIV and AIDS; to effectively reduce the number of serious and priority crimes, with a programme that also addresses the social roots of criminality; and, to position South Africa strategically as an effective force in global relations.
I welcomed the President’s refreshing candour about the magnitude of the Mount Everest public policy incline SA faces. The Motlanthe administration, however, will have to move quickly to paint in the specific details of public policy interventions. Will they, at last, introduce a Basic Income Grant? How, in fighting the HIV/Aids epidemic, will the government and new health minister show greater openness, and opposition to stigma; with improved treatment, self-protection through education, prevention and counselling for behaviour change? Will the government now, in view of the crushing tide of crime, consider decentralised policing and a zero tolerance approach to juvenile criminals? Will we see an end to the pervasive centralisation of power in every nook and cranny of our country’s life? On the economic front, will the government tighten or relax fiscal policy and seek to invest in large-scale job creation programmes? Will the government honour its previous promises to traditional leaders? These are just but a few random questions we eagerly await answers to.
I was perhaps most encouraged by President Mothlanthe’s peroration. He said: “In everything that we do, we are guided by the vision of the Freedom Charter, which said that:
“South Africa belongs to all who live in it, black and white, and that no government can justly claim authority unless it is based on the will of all the people.”
This vision is all-encompassing. It does not exclude any single South African. Nor does it allow that any person has any greater claim than any other to being an integral part of this nation.
Just as we all have an equal claim to this country, we all have an equal obligation to build a society that is united, democratic, non-racial, non-sexist and prosperous.
This is a task for all of us – for government, for communities, for non-governmental organisations, for workers, for business, and for all sectors in which our people are organised.”
I was relieved to hear the evocation of the Freedom Charter, as the ruling-party, I am sorry to say, have indulged in the last decade, since the end of Mr Nelson Mandela’s rule, in a narrowly defined ‘African’ nationalism characterised by the cleavages of race and division.
And, of course, as the President said, a nation and our great task are bigger than the government of the day. Echoing those immortal words of John F Kennedy, let us all resolve in our own way to “ask not what your country can do for you—ask what you can do for your country”.
Yours sincerely,
Prince Mangosuthu Buthelezi MP
Contact: Jon Cayzer, 084 5557144
