As South Africans we need to have a serious discussion about our leaders, particularly political leaders.
I mention political leaders because they have the power to influence most things in the country. They are our lawmakers and they can amend them whenever the need arises.
These are our brothers and sisters. As South Africans, we elect and put them in power because we see their potential. We believe they can stand up for us and fight our battles.
Sadly, most of them swiftly move away from those who voted them into power as soon as they ascend to the nice offices. They relocate to affluent neighbourhoods and lose touch with the people on the ground. One would bet they never stayed in the townships. They then come to our areas flanked by bodyguards to protect them against the very same people who voted for them.
It becomes difficult to talk to them. We must suddenly make appointments or follow certain procedures like talking to a personal assistant (PA) in order to access them. They drift away from the community and do not develop our communities.
I am of the view that if all the public servants were staying in their communities there would be far more development in our communities. We wouldn’t have all the problems we have such as the lack of service delivery.
Imagine if the president stayed in Tembisa in Gauteng. The community of Tembisa and the surrounding areas would have all the necessary services.
As long as our public servants are residing in the suburbs and they go to private hospitals, and their children go to private schools we will continue to suffer. These leaders are where they are because of our votes. Why must they move to other areas after we voted for them? I believe if they were staying with us in the townships there would be more development and crime would be manageable.
Our leaders care less about us and only focus on their stomachs. They were supposed to stay in their communities instead of parliamentary villages. You could swear that our leaders are there to manage poverty, not to eradicate it. The expanded public works programme (EPWP) is one of the government programmes that are designed to manage or control poverty in our societies.
Most of the people who are working in that programme are working on contract basis. The EPWP programme is not creating jobs, instead it is maintaining poverty.
