We should' t forget that in a democracy, each citizen has a very important role of remaining vigilant against anything that threatens that democracy.
And I hope you felt a slight unease when you heard about books being burned.
There is an entire Wikipedia page dedicated to book burnings and rightly so; it is something that worries any liberal thinking person who believes in democratic freedoms.
There were times in the history of humanity when burning books was a way for rulers to deprive citizens of their rights to engage in new and radical thoughts and ideas.
So when the launch of the book Gangster State was disrupted in Joburg last week with calls to burn copies of the book, I made sure to pay attention.
I wanted to see how our leaders would respond.
Luckily they understand what something like this can spark, so they made sure they say the right things, including the subject of the book - ANC executive Ace Magashule, who has every reason to want this book to go up in flames.
The book makes damning allegations against him, accusing him of having looted the Free State’s coffers for years as “head of a well-organised state capture network”.
But kudos to ANC leaders and Magashule for saying the calls are not being made in his name because “ these are actions of political intolerance, and against freedom of expression of all South Africans”.
It is especially impressive since the book couldn’t come at a worse time ahead of the elections.
That said, I do believe that we need a vehicle to educate young people about the core principles of democracy and the values specific to our country; perhaps at the school level, it should be introduced as a subject.