Do South Africans exist and is trust a prerequisite for them to do so?, President Thabo Mbeki asked in his weekly letter on the African National Congress website on Friday.
Quoting various writers on South Africa’s story over the last decade, Mbeki asked whether South Africans could exist without the trust that acts as a unifying glue in the process of nation building.
”They argue that to achieve this, we must vanquish the destructive pull of the past, which results in various South Africans viewing themselves as having different identities, thus weakening our cohesion around a shared, common identity and purpose. We should no longer have cause to ask the question — do the South Africans exist?” Mbeki wrote.
Referring to the ”Good News” series of books written by Brett Bowes and Steuart Pennington, joined by Guy Lundy, Mbeki quoted them as saying that trust in the country’s progress, in its future and in each other was an essential building block.
”Our thesis is that if we as a nation have confidence in our future, we can readily overcome the problems of the present. If, given our past, we are able to work on building trust at every level in our society, then we will continue to grow our social, political and economic well-being, and increasingly become a beacon of hope in a troubled world,” they wrote.
Mbeki echoed the authors’ sentiment that all South Africans should be ambassadors and marketers of the country — should sell its qualities and possibilities and at the same time strive to build trust among citizens.
Again quoting the authors, he reasoned the country’s progress would be retarded if this was not done.
”If the current culture of tentative trust persists, the democracy for which we fought so hard will become increasingly fragile and typically Western.”
But Mbeki lamented that the culture of trust like so many other cultures was a matter of inherited habit, its transition would be slow.
”… if culture is defined as inherited habits, it is unlikely that the South African culture will change… quickly. Sadly, many of the apartheid ‘habits’ — arrogance, racism, discrimination, separation, dependence and distrust — will only slowly dissipate with the consolidation of our democracy and our market economy,” he argued, quoting the book again.
Mbeki said that in order to develop unity in the country, one had to respect individuality.
”Are we ready to build an open society? If we are, it is time we were honest with each other about our own perceptions and prejudices. Only from honesty can we move to mutual respect and from there, to trust, and the creation of human capital… ,” he argued, quoting the author Itumeleng Mahabane.
He said everyone had to do their bit to build a ‘high-trust’ community –the government, business, civil society and the media. – Sapa