Trust in government and democratic institutions has collapsed and South Africa is in desperate need of fresh leadership, Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) leader Mangosuthu Buthelezi said in his online letter on Tuesday.
”After years of moral drift and decline, our society is in desperate need of renewal, fresh leadership and new ideas.”
He appealed for restoration, honesty and integrity in the run-up to the general election as opinion polls revealed that many people believe Parliament had become ”a rubber stamp”.
”In short, public confidence seems to be at an all-time low.”
He said over the past few years there had been several cases of bribery and corruption and that Parliament had failed to exercise a meaningful oversight role.
”One of the most alarming developments over the last two years has been the ceding of control of individual courts in executive hands, contrary to the Constitution’s clear stipulation on separation of powers … the Constitutional Court has done more than any other institution to set ethical standards for public life.
”Never before, I believe, has this role been as important as it is in today’s frenzied political climate in which everything seems to be in flux.”
Buthelezi said he believed that the next Parliament was likely to be ”the most challenging and treacherous yet”.
After next year’s election, he said, the new president and government would inherit a political landscape ”blighted by sectional divisions and a nation fatigued by scandal and corruption”.
This was not what South Africa needed.
”South Africa requires steely political will to take on the challenge posed to our people by poverty, social exclusion, job creation and HIV/Aids and related opportunistic infections.
”I predict that the ruling party will lose its iron grip on its increasing restive members and the parliamentary discourse will, as a consequence, be more vibrant and open.”
Buthelezi said this was a good thing because it would promote ”proper” policy debate and enhanced accountability.
He said South Africans were entitled to have leaders with the highest level of honesty and integrity. — Sapa