THIS past week, South African parliamentarians again embarrassed our country as EFF members prevented President Jacob Zuma on Thursday from responding to questions that would have made him account to the people of South Africa as the head of state.
The following day Malema, the leader of the EFF, addressed the media and vowed that they would continue to cause mayhem in Parliament. What is at the heart of this? It is because as South Africans we have come to believe that all of our challenges will be solved politically by politicians.
Does the EFF believe that the president will actually stand in Parliament and say: “On this day I will pay this amount for non-security upgrades to my house.”
The answer is NO. Because it is not in the nature and interest of politicians to embarrass themselves by publicly admitting to wrongdoings or lapses of judgment. Hence politics and politicians are not the solution to South Africa’s challenges.
The biggest debate going on in the US right now is about religious freedom.
There is a call that politicians should be prevented from interfering in religious affairs. This is partly motivated by those campaigning for the recognition of same-sex marriages and other interests.
Those who are opposed to the state making a ruling on these matters argue that politicians are meant to be modest in scope. But history shows us that churches, non-governmental organisations and the family are meant to mediate where politicians are found to be lacking.
In South Africa, however, the influence and the weight that these institutions used to enjoy has declined.
They are unable to take their rightful position of being mediators in our society where politicians have failed for one reason or another.
If these institutions were strong and stable, they would have played a mediating role and even helped Zuma to see why he needed to pay the portion of that which he owed as recommended by the public protector.
But since the public protector, is perceived in some quarters as having political motives, she cannot be allowed to win.
That said, however, the public protector has at times been found wanting because of her overzealous reaction whenever there has been a storm around Nkandla. She always reacts when the wind is moving towards the president and Nkandla. Hence, she cannot play her role of mediating.
She ought to have known that politicians cannot accept defeat. And, therefore, failure by our social institutions means that they are not even in a position to tell Malema and his team to look for a better approach in their campaign of “paying back the money”.
Fortunately our legal system is the only institution that seems to have been able to stay above politics and political whims. Hence whenever there is a crisis everyone runs to the court.
A case in point is the crisis within Cosatu. The National Union of Metalworkers of SA (Numsa) went to court as they sought to participate in the scheduled July special congress. The intervention of its largest and influential tripartite partner, the ANC, could not bring together the fighting parties because it is seen by some as having taken a side in the crisis. Political outcome outweighs what is right.
South Africa needs institutions that can play a mediating role.
Currently the family, the church and NGOs have failed. The family, which was destroyed during the apartheid era, has not recovered its rightful place. Churches are seen as having a political agenda.
South Africa has lost NGOs with moral standing. During apartheid, NGOs were the only reasonable voice against the brutalities of the regime. Following the demise of apartheid they either took a step back or became involved in politics instead of taking their rightful place of being mediators in society.
Politics and politicians are not the solution and yet they dominate all aspects of our lives. This is something that must change if South Africa is going to get its act together to progress in eradicating the legacy of apartheid.
Worse still is the fact that the majority of our people look to politicians for solutions to their challenges despite these politicians proving time and time again that they are incapable of doing so.
Khumbulani Mdletshe is an educationist.