OPINION: Dear ANC conference delegate, price or prize? | Chrispin Phiri
Congratulations on obtaining a mandate from your branch to carry its aspirations at the 55th National Conference of Africa’s oldest liberation movement.
There is a very fascinating moment in the life of a conference, where the saying, 'amandla asemasbeni' - organisational power vests in the branches is given real meaning. It’s the moment that comes after all the tone-setting pomp, fanfare, energy and buzz of the first day is done and dusted, the organisational reports of our executive tabled and discussed, the outgoing leadership dissolved.
If you have set a price on your political conscience, you will name it and chase it through our conference. It will not bother you that South Africa has a population of 60,6 million, of which 42, 7 million are below the age of 40 - that is 70% of our population. Climate change continues to sweep across the country with deeply disruptive and deadly effects. The balance between adequately powering our economy on the one hand, and on the other, reducing the greenhouse gases that contribute directly to the climate-change-related devastation we’ve seen in recent days, requires astute navigation. Our country, despite its massive mineral endowments, remains the most unequal society in the world.
Are we thinking innovatively about the economy and alleviating unemployment? Should we not introduce an enabling framework to ensure that retail malls and supermarkets that are township-based partner with local township-based enterprises, including the sourcing of some of the products and services from local township-based producers, service providers, and manufacturers? Are we creating sufficient opportunities for budding entrepreneurs and small businesses to...
Will you be able to ask your fellow delegates whether we squandered our inheritance? Should you be eligible to join the branch of the ANC in the afterlife, how would you justify your role in a period where the stench of corruption and crass material entitlement has engulfed the ANC, and almost strangled society?
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