There is more to democracy than just to
vote. Politicians, the media and the IEC, just to mention a few, want us
to believe that by voting we are deepening democracy. Voting is a
criterion for deepening democracy. Democracy also mean the right to have
proper services delivered, a safe environment to live in and ‘spaces’
of participation to engage the state between elections.
Presidents Zuma this weekend said that he now understands why service delivery protest marches are taking place. This came only after the ANC was exposed as also being guilty of building open toilets. This begs the question can we believe him? I personally do not believe him because protesters usually submit a memorandum of understanding or a petition that voices their grievances. So, what happen to those memorandums and petitions? Are they collecting dust on some administrator’s desk?
The open toilet saga made aware of two things. The first is the hypocrisy of the ANC and second, it made me wonder why citizens of both Khayelitsha and Moqhaka accepted these toilets. Why didn’t they voice their grievances earlier? In the Moqhaka it is only eight years later that this particular issue got the attention of the media. This also raises an issue of media bias.
As the politicians have a responsibility towards democracy, we as the people of SA also have a responsibility and amongst other it is to engage the state between elections around issues of service delivery. We can’t sit back and expect the state to deliver service. We have to tell them about the services we need and follow-up and make sure that they do deliver these services. You might argue and say that we do it through protest marches. But that is the problem. Protest marches only happen once the situation is so aggravated that citizens see no other way as to violently voice their grievances. And we saw how it ended for Andries Tatane.
There are ways of engaging the state at local level. There are the Integrated Development Planning (IDP), ward committees, public meetings and Imbizo’s that citizens can use to voices their problems. However, research so-far have indicated that the majority of citizens do not even know that ward committee and the IDP exist. Research also indicates that these mechanisms of participation in many cases are so dysfunctional that it does not help communities much. Here you might ask yourself why I want you to participate in structures that are dysfunctional. My answer is simple; it is dysfunctional because of a lack of community participation in these structures. However, it does not stop you from starting your own structure to engage the municipality because it is your right to engage the municipality.
As citizens we need to develop innovative ways of engaging the state and keep the state accountable. We also need innovative ways to get the state to respond to our needs but sitting and waiting on politicians to deliver will not help us one bit. So, it is important to vote but the vote alone will not change our situation it is only when we engage the state and voice our grievances and keep them accountable for the decision they are taking that we will deepen democracy.
Jacob Cloete
Presidents Zuma this weekend said that he now understands why service delivery protest marches are taking place. This came only after the ANC was exposed as also being guilty of building open toilets. This begs the question can we believe him? I personally do not believe him because protesters usually submit a memorandum of understanding or a petition that voices their grievances. So, what happen to those memorandums and petitions? Are they collecting dust on some administrator’s desk?
The open toilet saga made aware of two things. The first is the hypocrisy of the ANC and second, it made me wonder why citizens of both Khayelitsha and Moqhaka accepted these toilets. Why didn’t they voice their grievances earlier? In the Moqhaka it is only eight years later that this particular issue got the attention of the media. This also raises an issue of media bias.
As the politicians have a responsibility towards democracy, we as the people of SA also have a responsibility and amongst other it is to engage the state between elections around issues of service delivery. We can’t sit back and expect the state to deliver service. We have to tell them about the services we need and follow-up and make sure that they do deliver these services. You might argue and say that we do it through protest marches. But that is the problem. Protest marches only happen once the situation is so aggravated that citizens see no other way as to violently voice their grievances. And we saw how it ended for Andries Tatane.
There are ways of engaging the state at local level. There are the Integrated Development Planning (IDP), ward committees, public meetings and Imbizo’s that citizens can use to voices their problems. However, research so-far have indicated that the majority of citizens do not even know that ward committee and the IDP exist. Research also indicates that these mechanisms of participation in many cases are so dysfunctional that it does not help communities much. Here you might ask yourself why I want you to participate in structures that are dysfunctional. My answer is simple; it is dysfunctional because of a lack of community participation in these structures. However, it does not stop you from starting your own structure to engage the municipality because it is your right to engage the municipality.
As citizens we need to develop innovative ways of engaging the state and keep the state accountable. We also need innovative ways to get the state to respond to our needs but sitting and waiting on politicians to deliver will not help us one bit. So, it is important to vote but the vote alone will not change our situation it is only when we engage the state and voice our grievances and keep them accountable for the decision they are taking that we will deepen democracy.
Jacob Cloete
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