Our country keenly awaits your direction and decisive leadership. As a South African citizen and an activist of our mass movement, led by the ANC, we all fought tirelessly for the democracy you now lead.
We had the highest hopes that we would become the model of reconstruction and development putting the interests of all our people ahead and above the interests of individuals, organisations or even political parties.
We would build an open society unafraid of public debate and criticism. We would hold ourselves accountable to the contract with our people in 1994 to deliver a better life for all.
Today we all yearn for that vision. As you yourself often repeated: “We must take the ANC back to the moral vision and values on which we were founded.”
Those values are what galvanised me and millions of South Africans to take up the call to free our people from the crime of apartheid and for which many (including our closest comrades) had to pay the ultimate sacrifice.
It is what mobilised millions of ordinary citizens globally to take a stand against racism and marginalisation of our people.
Today we stand on the edge of a similar precipice. But now our struggle is for freedom from poverty, social inequality and joblessness, for the freedom from want and malnutrition.
We stand alongside you in taking decisive action to fix the education system that you have said fails our children, especially the poor in our townships and rural areas. Let no-one stand in your way in demanding that our teachers be in the classrooms teaching, that principals manage their schools efficiently, that civil servants are held accountable for the delivery of textbooks, libraries, laboratories and the basic infrastructure of electricity, water and sanitation necessary for us to promote a culture of learning.
Let us hold our parents responsible for actively contributing to making our schools work and ensuring that our children are encouraged to study and succeed.
And finally let us promote students’ organisations that build a culture of learning and discipline.
We need to act against the rising tide of political arrogance and corruption that wracks our country and eats at our social fabric.
The abuse of state resources is theft from the poor. It is a cancer that corrupts state officials, undermines our democracy and weakens the faith and trust of our people in their public institutions.
We need a zero-tolerance approach to this abuse of power and to tackle corruption wherever it raises its head – in public or private sectors and even in civil society.
Mr. President, a robust civil society is an ally in your leadership to deepen democracy and accountability. It is critical of government weaknesses and supportive of government successes and attempts to do the right thing – just as I am as a South African citizen.
We embraced this as a critical part of our struggle in the past. Let us embrace it as a critical part of our future. Every South African, irrespective of political affiliation, religion, gender or race, wants our country to succeed. We may argue about what are the right choices to make, but that’s what makes us a vibrant democracy.
We have conquered many of our demons, but many remain. We need your statesmanship and leadership more than ever. Too many leaders seek to entrench the divisions and tensions we have in our society, to use language that does not unify our nation and give us the strength to tackle the many difficult challenges we face.
Let us harness this energy that we so successfully mobilised in the past to make the difficult choices we need to make today to set our country back on the path of reconstruction and development.?
I appeal that you act on the revolutionary commitments you extracted from your ministers and public officials in their performance agreements they signed with you. Let us debate openly what has been delivered, where we have failed and what we need to do.
Take us all into your confidence. Ask your leadership to exercise the highest level of ethical governance with the greatest level of humility and integrity.
That is my simple wish as a citizen who believes you have the commitment to do the right thing for our people, especially the marginalised and vulnerable in our society.
Kind regards,
Jay Naidoo
Originally posted in the Daily Maverick.
Jay Naidoo is Chair of the Board of Directors and Chair of the Partnership Council of the Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition (GAIN). Visit his bio page for more information.
Never, never and never again shall it be that this beautiful land will again experience the oppression of one by another and suffer the indignity of being the skunk of the world.
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14 Comments
Entrepreneur
Great article & everything that reasonable South Africans would endorse.
In fact I think the president could not do better than using this brilliant article as a template for his State of the Nation Address
09 Feb 2012 12:02 pm (@@auris123)
An open letter to President Zuma | Africasnews.com
[...] Click here to read Jay Naidoo’s open letter to Zuma [...]
Andrew Harris
Thank you Jay for aticulating so brilliantly what we all feel and want to express.
09 Feb 2012 02:02 pm (@Twitter)
Andrew
Thank you for these words – may all South Africans unite under this banner, as proud South Africans, to grow our country, to eradicate poverty and discrimination, both racial and economic and to form a united South Africa nation. This is the only way we can succeed as a nation – together!
09 Feb 2012 02:02 pm (@Twitter)
Mike Fraser
The ANC seems to have forgotten that
“The Promise of Freedom is a Better Life for All”
We just need to get back to basics.
The ANC seems to be so overwhelmed by being in “power”.
THE GREATEST POWER IS THE POWER TO SERVE!!!
09 Feb 2012 03:02 pm (@Twitter)
Mduduzi
Well said mr naidoo
09 Feb 2012 03:02 pm (@Twitter)
Legends
Well done to Jay Naidoo on a brilliant letter. Not far away from what the DA are busy implementing in their areas of government!!!!!
09 Feb 2012 04:02 pm (@Twitter)
Thomas C Kantha
Barking up the wrong tree and the wrong age.
I am from the same generation and I too knew when the ANC was the ANC for the people.
09 Feb 2012 05:02 pm (@Twitter)
melanie
Thanks Mr Naidoo for saying it all so well. We had such high hopes of achieving a society to be proud of, and now we cringe in shame.
09 Feb 2012 05:02 pm (@Twitter)
Tsietsi Mothupi
A brilliant read expressing our collective sentiments so well. I am deeply touched, in many ways and agree, just as we defeated the monster that was apartheid, so too should we seek to defeat the current battles facing us. Knowing that there are others who feel this way gives me great hope that it can be done…
09 Feb 2012 06:02 pm (@@temothupi)
Nic
Bold letter, but how do we hold President Zuma accountable? He has failed us so far, what reason does he have to change anything? While the ANC has full control of the goverment, what reason will they have to do better by the people who voted for them. My view? Until leaders such as yourself take a clear stance and distance yourself from the ruling party, change will be slow. I understand this is unthinkable considering the struggle history. But we have a new struggle, one that the ANC does not seem able to fight and win. Greed and self interest has become the identity of the ANC. The ANC of Nelson Mandela is fading, and there does not seem to be a leader in the ranks willing or able to keep it from falling into an abyss.
We need a government and leaders that are bold, honest and servants of the people, no matter what party.
10 Feb 2012 01:02 am (@Twitter)
Enrico – hey cde nice letter
Nice letter
10 Feb 2012 06:02 am (@Twitter)
Colin Smuts
Right on Jay!
10 Feb 2012 04:02 pm (@Twitter)
Falconian
Jay
I remember it so well … being the only white guy in a seemingly endless queue of first-time voters at Mzamohle Township in the Eastern Cape. Waiting to cast my vote for the ANC of Nelson Mandela on that fateful day in May 1994 when we collectively cast off the yoke of oppression and changed the course of history.
For the first five years, with people like you and Cyril Ramaphosa at the helm … we were on totally on track. The world looked on in awe as miracle of the Rainbow Nation took shape …
And then the slide slowly started.
And with each ANC leadership struggle that followed, a significant percentage of the top echelon was jettisoned or redeployed. The realisation of the Dream became more and more compromised … sacrificed on the alter of corruption, nepotism, and plain old ineptitude.
What we see today is not the ANC of Nelson Mandela and Jay Naidoo … or the multitude of South Africans who sacrificed their lives in the Struggle for Freedom.
How heart-breaking it must be for you!
Your open letter to President Zuma I know articulates the inner feelings of millions of your fellow-countrymen.
How can we harness this sentiment for the good of South Africa as a whole? It’s a cause worth fighting for.
11 Feb 2012 09:02 pm (@falconian)
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