Yes, we simply have to get this country right, Mr President.
Absolutely everything depends on it; economic growth and prosperity, social harmony, communal aspirations, our individual sanity and yes, even the re-election hopes of your ruling party.
This is no longer a legacy or altruistic project of choice.
Turning things around is now critical and in the best interest of everyone and everything.
In your most recent family meeting, you asked for community support to help you achieve this.
The communities are at the coalface of all these challenges and we have had enough. We are ready to play our part. We just need you to gather the right, incorruptible team around you and lead the way.
The last two weeks have been the politically rockiest that we have been through since democracy.
Then a deal was on the brink of being clinched.
The next moment some demand was seen as unreasonable and the deal was on the brink of collapse.
One moment the ANC was talking to the DA. The next moment the EFF was touting fresh negotiations with the ruling party, on the condition that the DA not be involved.
It was like watching spoilt toddlers squabble over a squeaky toy.
And I’m afraid it doesn’t bode well for our politicians working together and getting anything done. But circumstances will force them to kiss and make up, because the whole country is watching with bated breath.
There seems to be a focus on the ANC having lost it’s majority. But the fact that everyone tends to conveniently overlook, is that no party got anywhere near a majority of the votes.
A coalition government is a reasonable conclusion to draw from the election results.
Demanding that some parties be excluded as terms for cooperation, is tantamount to expelling a section of society from the country.
By making such a demand, the party behind the demand is showing a complete and utter disrespect for the election results.
Party leaders are making demands as if they were given such a mandate by the majority of South Africans. They were not.
If any mandate was given, it was that “none of you deserve to govern on your own. So work together.”
If they make the next five years rockier than the last, then I fear for all their existence beyond 2029.