Priority is to get on with the job

The people have spoken, and as expected the African National Congress was returned to power with an overwhelming majority.

Politicians will now play around with the statistics – the ANC has lost support, the Democratic Alliance is upbeat about its gains, Julius Malema’s outfit shook matters up and is suddenly the third strongest force in the country, and some experts predict the rest is slowly, but surely, heading for the trash heap.

Only the future will determine the true trends.

Be that as it may, more than 62% of the population indicated their satisfaction with the ruling party – in other words they were judged to be doing a good job.

This is somewhat in contrast with the pre-election noise about lack of service delivery, corrupt leaders and failure of critical sectors such as security, education and health.

Even from within the ANC camp, prominent figures launched a no-vote campaign as a means for the public to voice their dissatisfaction with the government’s poor performance – a stupid suggestion to put it bluntly.

But now that everything has been done and dusted, one would like to see at least two things happen.

ANC Chairperson for the Musa Dladla region, Thulani Mashaba, hit the nail on the head regarding the first.

He said the ANC ‘must continue to work and deliver services to the people… because if we relax, go home and sleep, the people will punish us’.

Indeed.

It is not about being pro- or anti-ANC, it is simply about good governance.

The ruling party must leave no stone unturned to now cut out the corrupt and inept leaders they place in charge of managing public matters. They owe it to the multitudes who once more entrusted them with the task of taking the country forward.

Secondly, one would hope that by doing so, we can once and for all put a stop to the spate of service delivery and union-driven protests which bedevils economic progress and disrupt the lives of ordinary citizens.

As they say, a society deserves the leaders to elect to office.