THULI MADONSELA: Our story is at a crossroads

"We the people have given [President Cyril] Ramaphosa and the ANC a final warning," said Ulrich Jooste, looking very pleased with himself, a few minutes after the election results were announced.

Jooste, a self-employed shuttle driver who doubles as an estate agent, went on: "The people are the employers of the political parties we put in government. SA is like a big corporation in which we, the people, are the shareholders. As in the corporate world, continued employment of the CEO and his or her team hinges on satisfactory performance."

This was one of the many conversations I had in recent days that dispel the myth that those who support the ANC are ignorant people who vote with their hearts, with no consideration for inclusive socioeconomic development, corruption and state capture.

Most of the people know what they want, and what they don’t want. They don’t want corruption. They don’t want poor service delivery or directionless service that does not better their lives and free their potential. They vote in the hope that things will change.

During my term as public protector, I once compared those who vote for parties that have demonstrated unacceptable conduct to victims of abuse. I said that many abuse victims stay in toxic relationships in the hope that change will come soon.

For my trouble I was referred to the Human Rights Commission, because these were the days when nefarious people sued me for virtually everything, short of breathing too much oxygen.

The truth is, relationships are complex. Nothing is entirely toxic for 365 days a year — there are moments of joy and many that fuel hope.

Sadly, for too many, hope is betrayed. Theirs is a slow death, like the proverbial frog that fails to notice the rising temperature of the water in which it is being boiled.

In some cases, change does come. People heal their conduct to become better human beings who don’t bully or abuse others.

But it usually takes a shift in a person’s comfort zone to force change. Nothing changes until something shifts.

"Hope betrayed" is the story of many post-liberation societies. Encouraged by a history of struggle valour and relatively good policies at first, any signs of the derailing of democracy are seen as transient. People hope that the promised Canaan will soon be theirs.

In my previous column in the FM, I said we do not have another 25 years to experiment and make mistakes while the majority languish in poverty with inequality, joblessness and disease.

These cracks in social cohesion don’t augur well for sustainable democracy, the rule of law and peace. Progress has to be visible. Otherwise, extremist vultures are circling to feed on this despair.

Ramaphosa is ideal to lead the writing of the next chapter of our democracy, in part because of the pedagogy of hope he ignited in the hour of our darkest despair.

In his case, we get a co-architect of the constitution to supervise the process of giving life to it. It is history repeating itself, as president Nelson Mandela had the same opportunity.

I had the pleasure of serving under Mandela with Dullah Omar as our minister of justice.

Mandela was adamant about balancing our quest for global competitiveness with meeting basic needs. But he saw that meeting basic needs was inadequate without human development for all, in addition to inclusive economic growth. It was not a question of choosing one over the other.

Not only is Ramaphosa a co-architect of the constitution, he is also a business-literate lawyer with a grounding in social justice and human rights. He has been an employee, a contractor, an employer and a shareholder.

I’m certain he understands Jooste’s language of being put on notice, meaning you have a limited time to shape up or ship out.

The good thing is that as a nation we are all in the same boat. The warning applies to all of us, for when the poor unleash their wrath, they take no prisoners. We have our constitution, Agenda 2063 and the UN sustainable development goals as lodestars.