Western Cape needs a new politics that puts service of people above quest for power
2003-05-26. Twenty-four percent of registered voters cast their vote in the recent by-election in Grassy Park. Seventy six percent saw fit to stay home. While the DA may celebrate a 'famous' victory, this victory rings hollow with the silence of the 9511 voters who felt no need to cast a vote in a constituency that was deprived the right of a formal political voice under colonialism and apartheid.
Something is wrong with our current
politics. Something is wrong with politics in Cape Town and the Western
Cape. We need to take politics back to the people, and our policies
need to get back to basics.
Since 1994 politics in the Western Cape has been characterised by the base exploitation of ethnic and class divisions among the people of the province. Politicians from across the political spectrum have exploited the fears and ambitions of the electorate for cynical political gain. People have cast their ballots only to be abandoned by political parties who have traded their electoral mandates for coalitions of expedience, alliances of political profit and unprincipled, patronage politics.
It is as if power has become an end in itself. In the last four years this province has weathered three ruling blocs as politicians have invented and circumvented their ostensibly principled politics. In four years, four mayors have shuttled through the executive office of the city. And while the politicians have played their games, the people have patiently waited for housing, for the provision of basic services, for more effective policing, for jobs, and for the human dignity the politicians promised.
The seventy six per cent of registered voters who stayed home in Grassy Park on the seventh of May have had enough. We need to take back the power from the smoke filled back rooms and whispering grey-suited men. We need to take the initiative back to the people, to the foundations of this democracy, and to deliver real change in the lives of all of the people who we represent.
This year I took the painful decision to leave my political home in the Pan Africanist Congress to pursue a new and exciting project with a new party: The Independent Democrats (ID). Central to the ID is the aim to get back to the basics: to take politics back to the people, to listen, and most importantly, to deliver change in the lived experiences of all South Africans.
ID will not make promises we cannot keep. We may make some mistakes, we are human. These mistakes we will admit, and correct. ID is a party of the new South Africa, for the new South Africa. ID has no secrets, no skeletons in our closet. We will be what we say we will be, and we will deliver what we promise. The government and the ruling party must be engaged when it is in the best interests of our members, and we will oppose them too, when that is necessary. ID will engage with all sectors in our society, for all sectors in our society. We may make alliances, but never for the sake of expediency or the naked pursuit of power. We will be no lapdogs, and we will certainly not be Chihuahuas.
I do not believe in opposition for the sake of opposition. Government needs to be applauded when it does good, and in turn we need to encourage them to do more. When it fails to fulfil its duties we need to expose this, condemn this, and encourage them to better, as I have done on the Arms Deal.
We need this government to deliver homes to the homeless, deliver new schools to our youth, to deliver sustainable and affordable basic services to our poor. We need affordable medicines to let our people live, jobs to let our people work. We need to address the inequalities that undermine our society for the betterment of all in this society. And we need to bring back to politics the foundation of human dignity that our Constitution holds so dear.
ID is working very hard as I write, to put into place the infrastructure and framework to lead this party into the 2004 election. To the thousands of South Africans who have already given us so much support, thank you. To the thousands more that feel left behind and marginalised by our new democracy, join us as we get back to basics, to make democracy work.
Published in the Cape Times
Since 1994 politics in the Western Cape has been characterised by the base exploitation of ethnic and class divisions among the people of the province. Politicians from across the political spectrum have exploited the fears and ambitions of the electorate for cynical political gain. People have cast their ballots only to be abandoned by political parties who have traded their electoral mandates for coalitions of expedience, alliances of political profit and unprincipled, patronage politics.
It is as if power has become an end in itself. In the last four years this province has weathered three ruling blocs as politicians have invented and circumvented their ostensibly principled politics. In four years, four mayors have shuttled through the executive office of the city. And while the politicians have played their games, the people have patiently waited for housing, for the provision of basic services, for more effective policing, for jobs, and for the human dignity the politicians promised.
The seventy six per cent of registered voters who stayed home in Grassy Park on the seventh of May have had enough. We need to take back the power from the smoke filled back rooms and whispering grey-suited men. We need to take the initiative back to the people, to the foundations of this democracy, and to deliver real change in the lives of all of the people who we represent.
This year I took the painful decision to leave my political home in the Pan Africanist Congress to pursue a new and exciting project with a new party: The Independent Democrats (ID). Central to the ID is the aim to get back to the basics: to take politics back to the people, to listen, and most importantly, to deliver change in the lived experiences of all South Africans.
ID will not make promises we cannot keep. We may make some mistakes, we are human. These mistakes we will admit, and correct. ID is a party of the new South Africa, for the new South Africa. ID has no secrets, no skeletons in our closet. We will be what we say we will be, and we will deliver what we promise. The government and the ruling party must be engaged when it is in the best interests of our members, and we will oppose them too, when that is necessary. ID will engage with all sectors in our society, for all sectors in our society. We may make alliances, but never for the sake of expediency or the naked pursuit of power. We will be no lapdogs, and we will certainly not be Chihuahuas.
I do not believe in opposition for the sake of opposition. Government needs to be applauded when it does good, and in turn we need to encourage them to do more. When it fails to fulfil its duties we need to expose this, condemn this, and encourage them to better, as I have done on the Arms Deal.
We need this government to deliver homes to the homeless, deliver new schools to our youth, to deliver sustainable and affordable basic services to our poor. We need affordable medicines to let our people live, jobs to let our people work. We need to address the inequalities that undermine our society for the betterment of all in this society. And we need to bring back to politics the foundation of human dignity that our Constitution holds so dear.
ID is working very hard as I write, to put into place the infrastructure and framework to lead this party into the 2004 election. To the thousands of South Africans who have already given us so much support, thank you. To the thousands more that feel left behind and marginalised by our new democracy, join us as we get back to basics, to make democracy work.
Published in the Cape Times
