In an awe-inspiring demonstration of solidarity for a common ideal by a people whose hands grew tired of being bound by an inconsequential commitment to their leader, Egyptians freed themselves from tyranny.
And the same simmering dissent has been witnessed in Tunisia, Algeria, Iran, Yemen, Bahrain and other countries in the North African region. Watching the drama unfold on television got me thinking.
Last Sunday evening Carte Blanche featured a post-State-of-the-Nation-address story about the disparate lives of a poor black family in a Cape Town township and a wealthy white family from a Cape Town suburb, with the aim of highlighting the failure of government (it was unclear whether it was directed at the Democratic Alliance or the ANC) to deliver on the promises it makes in election campaigns.
The story had the air of those post- 1994 documentaries, made to expose the effect of apartheid on ordinary South Africans, while empathetically depicting the similarity of our ideals: education, employment and security.
Seventeen years after the first democratic elections, it’s difficult to assess how fast or slow things are changing for the poor masses. Will there ever be a time when poor blacks liberate themselves from their predestination of being poor blacks? Could South Africans do what’s been done in Tahrir Square?
When I see the voter registration and election campaign posters under the bridges of inner-city Jo’burg, I shudder with concern that most poor people in this country are not interested in being angry enough to change things. I saw an ANC campaign poster with an image of a near-naked woman on it advertising a free alcohol party in which the ANC would be lobbying for votes.
Fundamentally, there’s nothing wrong with using clubs and free alcohol to garner support for a worthy cause, even if they are using half-naked women as sushi plates. But when it’s done by a political party targeting a young and unemployed audience it does, in my opinion, become problematic. It’s questionable whether a good dose of partying will in fact make desperate people forget, momentarily, that they are poor blacks with difficult lives.
These are the same people who, Sunday after Sunday, pay church tithes and buy microwaves and washing machines on hire purchase for their pastors who live in tax-free mansions while they live in shacks. Religion and politics have so much in common: churches will never be empty because religion promises prosperity through faith, and politicians will continue duping the masses by offering freebies that prey on their hopes.
Apartheid did a good job of normalising injustice for most South Africans, but in the end it lost. Hopefully, one day, the victims of today’s injustice will lose their blind faith in political parties and fight for what they deserve.