When good men stay silent

THE escalating criticism of President Zuma over the Nkandla scandal, hot on the heels of the Gupta scandal and Marikana disaster has, to some extent, deflected attention away from the thousands of leaders in the ANC who remain silent as the voices of angry citizens grows louder.

Last week, some ex-ANC heavy weights in the form of Ronnie Kasrils and Nozizwe Madlala-Routledge, at last stood up and said, ‘enough is enough’.

Some time back Trevor Manuel, a senior politician and struggle hero, respected beyond the confines of the ANC, also voiced his somewhat muted concern over the wrong turn the ANC was taking.

Why is it that so many good men and women in the ANC have stayed silent, even when they know their President is simply not up to the task of leading by example?

Is there no room in the ANC for different views, for individuals to voice their disapproval of events within the party without being ostracised as treasonous?

Perhaps the answer lies in the ANC’s emphasis on political collectivism (‘Vertical collectivism is based on hierarchical structures of power and on moral and cultural conformity, and is, therefore, based on centralisation and hierarchy’.)

In contrast liberal humanism, the philosophy that informs DA political ideology, allows a measure of individual freedom to contest and criticize leadership with impunity. The reversal of the DA’s position on the Equity Bill is a prime example of a ground swell objection to a decision taken by its parliamentary leader by ordinary party members and the consequent retraction of that decision by Helen Zille.

Whatever the reason for this deafening silence from people of principle within the ANC, the ANC is too important a part of our democracy to lose its moral compass now.

We may be in election mode, where all sorts of vitriolic invective is acceptable in trying to win political power, but in truth, the ANC has done great things for this country. It has a profoundly moral basis to its ideology and has thousands of stalwarts who have suffered greatly to bring freedom to our people.

For the good of our country and for the continuing well-being of our democracy, there is a great need for the ANC to be purged of those elements within its hierarchy that have failed to follow in the steps of Mandela and the other great exemplars of selfless service.

But the only way this purge will take place is if the electorate stands up and uses their vote to remind their elected leaders that the power the leaders have is only lent to them conditionally.

One must hope that the electorate will use their voice, for ‘all that evil needs to thrive is for good men to remain silent’.

TOM STOKES