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How to reclaim South Africa from the thieves through the Defend our Democracy campaign

How to reclaim South Africa from the thieves through the Defend our Democracy campaign
(Graphic: Daily Maverick)
Ferial Haffajee
By Ferial Haffajee
7 Apr 2022
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The activist initiative wants to try and clamp down on the spate of corruption plaguing South Africa and reinstate the democratic constitutional rights of its citizens — and it wants your help.

A few years ago, concerned leaders like the Reverend Frank Chikane, Advocate Mojanku Gumbi, Discovery’s Adrian Gore and Peotona’s Cheryl Carolus began to lead talks on defending democracy.  

See the link to the site here:  Defend our Democracy 

Churches, mosques and temples heard messages about the loss of South Africa’s moral compass. Leaders said the country needed a democratic reset. And in communities where the Defend our Democracy campaign held listening campaigns, the message was repeated — government was failing the people.  

(Graphic: Daily Maverick)



Grand corruption is often news. But it is the minor corruptions that make life the most difficult — in school governing bodies, the local Home Affairs queue, the cop shop, and in municipal lists for housing and services. 

The Defend our Democracy campaign, which launches on the afternoon of 7 April, is like a United Democratic Front (UDF) for the modern era. The UDF was born from civic struggles, the churches, trade unions and the then limited enlightened business sector. The campaign has been in a beta phase and is now launched to the broader public. A June conference will put the meat on the bones of how to defend democracy. 



It has set pegs for the areas of concern to constitutional democrats — poverty, unemployment and how the shape of our system of political representation may deepen intractable problems. The campaign's initiators do not treat the Constitution as a shibboleth but consider areas where it may need to be amended. They do not take pot-shots at it like worried or ambitious ANC leaders have started to. The questions in the graphic are meant as conversation starters so that the campaign is publicly owned and led.  

It is a non-partisan campaign, and while many of its leaders are ANC veterans like Carolus and regular Daily Maverick columnist Mavuso Msimang, they have led the campaign against corruption. The movement will also support and campaign to ensure that the State Capture Commission of Inquiry findings are implemented. DM

 

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