Be warned, GNU members — enough with the bluster and bravado, just get to work

‘Yey chief, don’t tell me amaFairytales, baba. I want to see amaResults, please!” My brothers and I used to tell each other that when we were growing up, and we still do when we feel the other is being fuzzy on details and light on action and accountability as opposed to doing what is required.

And that is where I’m at with our current political state. We’ve been seeing a lot of rash tweets, pompous press statements, strutting and pontificating, much of which didn’t surprise me (or most people, probably) considering from whom it came.

Of course, many politicians are probably feeling the pressure from their constituencies to demonstrate that they will not be waylaid, distracted or co-opted into being docile members of this rosy-hued, makeshift national unity outfit fashioned by the majority party at the last minute.

I was in the dusk of my primary school years when our democracy was ushered in with the first government of national unity (GNU), but I would like to proffer a caution to the new members of the national executive, provincial legislatures and civil service.

And that is to remember the words of 19th-century historian Lord Acton, who cautioned that “power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely”.

We saw this with the apartheid regime and we saw it with our previous government, so only a fool would think they are immune to the temptations of power. The harder and more unpopular question to ask would be: what measures will be put in place to ensure this doesn’t happen, especially to the newest members of the political establishment who previously were the watchdogs?

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With all the rookie pageantry and posturing hopefully behind us now, let’s see more of the much-vaunted rolling-up of the sleeves, the transparency, the accountability and the good, clean governance that is now a shared responsibility. We won’t be scrutinising the new incumbents any less than the old guard, particularly those who have been in government, albeit in the opposition benches or provinces.

With the opening of Parliament behind us, it’s time to put social media and the PR machines away and get a move on. After all, the country is depending on it.

I saw a quote from the chief executive of a US company this week: “Job titles come and go, but they are rented. You don’t own them. They will always fall away. What remains true is the story that is told about you.”

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Many members of our newly minted GNU and even ordinary backbenchers in Parliament would be well advised to remember this, because their titles and all the pomp, fuss and privilege they come with are fleeting.

I say this because, in the end, their work is what will live on long after they have departed. There is no such thing as a minister or president for life – well, at least not if you live in a properly functioning democracy. And this shouldn’t matter if your single pursuit is that of service to the country’s people.

I and surely many other South Africans will be watching with great interest to see how the GNU members perform. Hopefully, they will not be telling amaFairytales, but instead give us amaResults. DM

This story first appeared in our weekly Daily Maverick 168 newspaper, which is available countrywide for R35.