The politics of the Underdog

When did our political system become such a joke? 

There has clearly somewhere already been a decision made that Zuma should not pay back the money from his massive Nkandla Estate, built with millions of tax payer money. These ad hoc committees seem to clearly be going nowhere slowly, with MPs walking out because witnesses cannot be called in to give account to this spending and with the ANC members being solely left at the table to decide the fate of the man who inevitably signs their pay checks. Why are we giving one party so much power; I thought we lived in a democratic country where the "people" in principle rule through the parties that we vote and place in power. 

I am also a tad confused at how many committees and reports are in circulation at the moment on this Nkandla Estate. Do we really need that many and to waste more money. In my head it is rather simple, the president committed a crime so he should return the money. I am sure he, his many wives and children (with all those lucrative jobs) has the money jointly to return it to the government coffers. 

That money could have been used to improve our education system-transport those damn textbooks, it could have been used to pay for 3 years of University for approximately 34 underprivileged students, it could have probably fed 24 500 and more families who live under the poverty line for a few days. It could have been used to refinance some of our dormant industries and would have in turn created the much needed jobs people between 18-40 yearn for in communities. 

I am grappling to understand the notion of unquestioned power which is clearly what we give these political figures. 

Make it COUNT

Since the election season is in full swing one cannot help but marvel at how talented politicians or at least most of them are at the gift of the gab. They all want to sell something for that seat in parliament, be it their party campaign or manifestos which are all laced with promises. They all in one way or another speak housing, speak unemployment, speak education, safety and family playing on the hopes and dreams of ordinary South African men and women who will march out in droves to voting stations on May 7 to cast that ballot for change.

My issue is not the campaigning per say, it is the falseness of it all. I cannot help but wonder if these politicians know what being unemployed is like for the ordinary men and women who on a daily basis need to search, beg and borrow in order to feed their families that next meal. I wonder if they know what its like for a child to sit in a class room not having eaten a meal the evening before.

I wonder if any of their immediate family members are on those housing waiting lists that have been floating since the 1980's. I wonder if they know what it's like for those who want an education but cannot get it because in all honesty there just isn't enough bursaries or educational loans out there that caters for individuals regardless of their racial merit or biography, in addition there are also just not enough seats in our Universities to cater for every single person regardless of how desperately they yearn for it.

As Archbishop Desmond Tutu indicated a few days back as a nation we should vote with our heads; we should not falsely be led by loyalties that we cannot understand, we should look at all the facts, review all of the information and then vote. It is your vote after all, so make it count!