If SA wants to avoid the well-worn path towards economic misery and political devastation that bedevils much of our continent, truths must be told. Feelings must not be spared. Lies must be exposed. Hypocrisies must be called out. Charlatans and populists must be told: "We see you. We recognise your kind. We will not allow you to drag us down because of your desire for power and personal financial gain."
There is a tendency to sugar-coat the truth about SA in the name of patriotism. By all means enumerate our many positive aspects. It is not helpful, however, to lie to ourselves when we veer off the democratic path that we have promised to follow. That route leads to ruin.
If we do not tell these truths our country will become like Zimbabwe, a country whose people are scattered across the world while the children of its late Looter-in-Chief Robert Mugabe pop champagne in Sandton.
It is now clear what is happening in SA. It does not take a genius to see it. On the one side are those forces that are aligned to the project that former President Jacob Zuma pushed between 2008 and 2018: the so-called radical economic transformation agenda. This is not some noble political or economic programme to alleviate the plight of poor black people. It is a coalition of those who want to steal from the taxpayer, undermine institutions of democracy and accumulate power in perpetuity while turning the people of SA into mere voting cattle.
This clique was exposed again and again for what it is by investigative journalists. Institutions like the office of the public protector in the early 2010s revealed its theft. Business leaders in various organisations refused to be part of corrupt deals such as those that took place at Eskom and Transnet. Politicians such as Mcebisi Jonas and Pravin Gordhan screamed and shouted when pressured to do the unethical and the criminal. Nongovernmental organisations raised their voices against the malfeasance they saw again and again in various parts of the administration and among powerful elites.
That was back in the years from 2014 to 2017, though. Today we find ourselves once again at an inflection point. The forces that were threatening SA then are back in full force. They aim to destroy, not build.
There is a tendency to sugar-coat the truth about SA in the name of patriotism. That route leads to ruin
They aim to divide, not unite. They aim to steal, not share.
Inside the ANC, these forces are regrouping. They run a command council that is essentially aimed at unseating their president, Cyril Ramaphosa, and replacing him with someone who will further their agenda to continue the Zuma era’s industrial-scale looting as described daily at the Zondo commission.
From this clique’s actions on social media and in other forums they wish to portray themselves as a legitimate political force. They claim that they are victims of some malevolent "white monopoly capital" that uses the likes of Ramaphosa and others to frustrate them and keep power and wealth in the hands of whites only.
South Africans must not be fooled by these attempts to dress the wolves in sheep’s clothing. This is the clique that was in charge of the country between 2008 and 2018. Ask them this: except for lining the pockets of the Gupta family and picking up bribes from Saxonwold, what did they do structurally to transform the economy for the better?
Someone like MK Military Veterans Association leader Kebby Maphatsoe likes to claim that nothing has been done by the current administration to help military veterans. Yet this is the person who was deputy minister directly in charge of veterans’ affairs throughout that period! What did he do? The same goes for the Moaner-in-Chief, Jacob Zuma, whose Samsonian attempts to bring our country down with him continue relentlessly.
There is a tendency to sugar-coat the truth of where we are headed if this lot succeeds in its nefarious schemes and rises to power. There is also a tendency to underplay what lies ahead if Ramaphosa continues to fiddle while Rome burns.
The most important thing we can all do for our country is tell our leaders and our people the truth. Don’t sugar-coat it. Tell no lies.
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