A letter to Ramaphosa: Your administration is dastardly corrupt, and …

Dear Mr President Cyril Ramaphosa, whereas it is encouraging that you are travelling Africa trying to restore good relationships with governments in Africa, should you not rather be trying to restore the mess your administration has created in South Africa?

Besides, should that not be Dirco’s remit? Or have you realised that they have been responsible for the jaundiced eye through which we are viewed both in Africa and beyond?

The feedback from the countries you visited trying to restore our battered image has not viewed you or your administration with favour.

The ambassadors of the countries you visited know the truth about South Africa. And, as you well know, while the media may say one thing, the people on the ground have a very different viewpoint – a viewpoint that is
diametrically opposed to what is propagated in the media.

ALSO READ: Lockdown dilemma for Cyril as SA battles Omicron variant

The youth of our country are angry, despondent, and frustrated. We have been neglected and forgotten. In fact, we are only called on when elections approach and then made promises in lieu of our votes.

The promises are never honoured. The youth of our country, across all political lines, are organising themselves to force a change in our failed socio-economic and political directions.

We are no longer prepared to be dictated to by geriatric politicians with fake credentials whose sole aim is to destroy the economy and society for their personal benefit.

Mr President, you preside on a dastardly corrupt, inept, mismanaged, leaderless and dysfunctional administration
with no moral compass. Would the honourable move not be to fire your entire cabinet, and then investigate how they possibly made their riches in a short space of time?

The current high-cost commissions are merely acts to deceive us insofar as institutionalised corruption is concerned.

The only people getting rich off these commissions are the lawyers, yet the corrupt are not jailed. Why not, Mr President?

Members of your administration shamelessly parade their wealth – much of it made through very dubious transactions. They claim they were victorious in the fight against the pre-1994 government.

Yet, they forget that South Africans of all colours overwhelmingly voted for change.

There was no final “big battle”, so why are they trying to create a history that never was?

Your cabinet and other members of your administration have used their public platforms and encouraged xenophobia, little remembering that it was Africa that stood by your people in our darker days.

Your administration and the preceding ones opened our borders claiming all Africans are welcome in South
Africa. Now you want to close them. How hypocritical is that?

Establishing a “border protection agency” can only be a good thing if the agency is allowed to work. And if young people are trained and supported to oversee it. Or are the plans to simply redeploy more incompetents and failed cadres to oversee this agency?

Then it is going to be just another of your administration’s litany of failures. Besides, where will the money come from to finance this new agency?

Your administration has been directly responsible for our shrinking tax base as people try to flee our country. Your administration is overseeing the destruction of our economy where it was decided to marginalise and disadvantage those who can make a difference.

Yet, you continually call on the private sector to intervene and sponsor “projects” your government should
be funding and overseeing.

Currently, your administration has led us down the path of desperation and extreme poverty. With an unemployment percentage larger than anywhere else, do you view this as progress? We, the youth, don’t.

Your administration has done very little to nothing to redress the horrendous crime statistics of our country. Our murder rate is higher than most warzones.

Your minister of police decries potholes as a contributor to crime. This is merely proof of the total disconnect your administration has with what is happening across our country.

Does this not make you wonder why investors either leave or are scared to invest here?

Our youth are sick and tired of your administration’s populist politics driven by egos, lies and false promises. We have asked to be heard but we are ignored. We have been waiting for you to give us a reason to hope.

Yet, none is forthcoming. We are supposedly a sovereign state with a government by the people for the people. We,
however, think we are increasingly a co-opted state that governs for its self-interest.

The youth of our country can no longer stand by and watch our future being destroyed. We are coming together, across all political and colour lines, to fight the corrupt legacy you intend to leave for us.

Unless you intervene drastically and force your cabinet to fall on their swords, we will challenge you, Mr President.

We have had enough.

Sincerely, Isaac Mashaba

• Mashaba is a writer and political advisor