DEMONS OF DEMOCRACY

Black people are still victims of all kinds of misfortunes in South Africa. They are victims of racism, crime, poverty, economic crisis and soaring unemployment. There are many reasons the economic exclusion of black people tops the list.

There are many initiatives by government and the private sector to eradicate poverty but it seems that things are getting even worse. Most black people are still not in the position to benefit from the country’s economic activities. There is evidence showing that white South Africans, as they compose the cluster of the rich, continue to benefit from the country economy. This is motivated by the failure of government to dismantle structural apartheid system.

Black people owned less than 1% of JSE wealth which is worth R25 billion. This figure looks big but if you dig even deeper, you will realise that this 1% represents JSE wealth owned by individuals but not only black. This implies that black people own far less than 1% of SA’s wealth yet they are a majority. White people own most of this country’s wealth through institutions and that accounts for billions of rands. This explains why companies are resting all transformation and transfer of ownership initiatives.

The Role of Media
South African media plays a very crucial role in advancing the interests of white owners of SA wealth. They publish articles that portray any form of black people economic participation as corruption. If you look at articles circulating in our society, it is very easy to notice that all headlines are structured such that they pain an ugly picture about the administration of government and private institutions by black people.

Last week, newspapers published a story about Julius Malema’s house warming party in Sandton. The article was questioning Malema’s ability to own a house in Sandton. It went on to suggest that Fikile Mbalula is a heavy drinker. The article went on and reported that a neighbour, who is a police reservist, had visited the house to complain about the noise. The reservist name was not mentioned but the journalist attempted to convince us that the police reservist was then assaulted by Malema.

A week ago, newspapers ran a story about the head of Athletic South Africa, Leonard Chuene. They made suggestions that many people are calling for him to resign from his position. They claimed that their suggestion is legimate because even the ANC had made the similar call. The Athletics South Africa convened a meeting which resulted in Chuene keeping his job. The very same media published even more articles the following day suggesting that Chuene kept his job just because ASA was afraid of him. This then suggested that the view of media must prevail above any other body or structure with legal powers to make decisions. Now this is a huge problem.

It is now clear that SA media has reduced itself to a political party that is running campaigns known only to its owners. It does no longer subscribe to high standard of journalism. Many people have raised this concern including the former president Thabo Mbeki.

The Role of the opposition
It is very unfortunate that South Africa’s official opposition party still represent the face of racism and white minorities. The DA still represent the interests of minorities who are threatened by transformation. It uses it opposition power to halt all government programmes that address institution transformation of SA. Helen Zille has staged a number of campaigns to discredit black leaders of this country. The Stop Zuma campaign is a strong evidence that the DA has resorted to destroying people’s characters in order to sustain apartheid agenda.

Since the country won the bid to host 2010 Soccer World cup, the DA has been engaged in a string of activities with the objective to block the event from taking place. They know very well that the event provide the country a good opportunity to showcase its success to the world. This is bitter medicine to those who have wished that South Africa fails under the government led by black nationals.