By ‘Odidi Matai-Sigudla
Energies were high as supporters of the African National Congress (ANC), Democratic Alliance (DA), United Democratic Movement (UDM), African Transformation Movement (ATM) and African Christian Democratic Party (ACDP) sang chants of support as party representatives stepped onto the stage of Rhodes University Drama Theatre in preparation for the live stream of the eNCA Election Town Hall Debate on Sunday, 21 April. However, the buzz of excitement mixed with nervousness died down as an echo of disdain resounded across the audience when Masego Rahlaga, the presenter and mediator of the debate, said the opening lines for the live stream.
“Welcome to the Eastern Cape, the province with the highest unemployment rate. The province, which, according to the Human Rights Commission, has a disaster on its hands in terms of food and security and child malnutrition,” Rahlaga remarked.
The panel comprised the ANC’s Deon de Vos, Baxolile Nodada of the DA, the UDM’s Similo Sitole, Lance Grootboom from the ACDP and the ATM’s Sixolile Mabude.
Rhodes University SRC president Simphiwe Mnyande set the debate running by asking, “As someone who leads a university of 8 000 students, the higher education sector is in crisis where funding is not enough. So, to the political parties, what is the plan to grow the economy? What is the plan to ensure that more funding is afforded to higher education? And what is the plan to ensure that mechanisms of higher education, such as NSFAS, function and there is accountability?”
Nodada accused the current government of turning schools into graveyards and not eradicating the over a thousand pit toilets that still preside in Eastern Cape schools. “The money’s there, but it’s being stolen, given to tender, tenders given to cadres who must eat while children starve, while children suffer in schools. If a child can’t read, then they are doomed before they even begin; they wouldn’t even get to this university.”
He continued to explain that to produce quality education; it’s essential to set aside 210 full school days, with two hours set aside for reading for meaning and writing and an hour set aside for numeracy. “Let us not lose them from the beginning; these ones (ANC) have failed, but there’s a plan in the Democratic Alliance manifesto,” Nodada ends.
In response, De Vos asked the audience to remember where they came from. “We understand there’s a lot still to be done, especially the issue of pit latrines in the Eastern Cape. Yes, indeed, it has taken time, the progress has been slow, and there were some instances in the issues of tenders and procurement and holding up from projects, but it’s a project in progress.”
He then continued to emphasise that the ANC takes priority in education, proven by the government allocating most of the budget to education. However, the R205 million the EC education department forfeited, meant for the construction and maintenance of schools, proves otherwise.
“It’s all about self-government. If self-government is not correct, it manifests within the family, in the community and in the nation; that’s why government is important,” states Grootboom. “That’s why when we elect leaders, we should elect leaders that hate dishonest gain and that put people first. So this is all about managing the resources and managing the resources well because if you don’t manage the resources well, you will lose it. And that is what’s happening to the ANC; they are slowly losing power because they have mismanaged the resources of this country and brought this country down to its knees,” ends ACDP.
The deputy head of the School of Journalism and Media Studies at Rhodes University, Dr Chikezie Uzuegbunam, expressed how he couldn’t help but hope that the parties would keep and implement these promises, which sounded so sweet. “What they think their rule is in making sure that they keep politicians and leaders accountable post-election. To keep these promises, these shiny promises.”
“Corruption is indeed a problem for all of us,” said De Vos.
“It is really hampering progress in our country, in our quest to deal with service delivery and the social conditions of our people. So, every one of us, no matter what party, should be fighting corruption. And the ANC has done a lot so far and is strengthening mechanisms to ensure that we deal with corruption.”
Nodada retaliated: “These ones (ANC) are so corrupt, you can’t do anything about them anymore. We (DA) want to bring legislature to parliament, which just needs a 50% plus one majority to bring a Chapter 9 institution called the Scorpions 2.0 to put all the officials and politicians that are corrupt in jail. That’s the first thing we’re going to do.” He pointed out the lack of professionalism within the police, where there’s a lack of needed resources to fight crime. “The police in this country and the minister that we have is a minister of visiting crime scenes, not preventing crime.”
However, UDM pointed out that the DA is not entirely perfect. “The Western Cape that he’s referring to (has) two cities; you have the blacks and the whites. Our brothers that have been dumped by the ANC have left for rescue in the Western Cape; they are not getting employment. As I’m speaking now, Bheki Cele (the minister of police) is addressing crime in Gugulethu, not in Stellenbosch and not in Rondebosch.”
He called for a decrease in the dependency on consultants to reduce corruption. “We will make sure that the Public Service Commission is given the respect to make sure they exert their powers to be responsible for the appointment of accounting offices. You can’t have the mayor being responsible to appoint the municipal manager, you can’t have the premier being responsible to appoint the accounting officers, because these accounting officers are employed by them so they account to them.”
“I am unimpressed by the candidates; you are not giving us any meat. There is nothing that you’re actually saying to convince us that we should vote,” stated Avuyile Nobaza, the SRC of international affairs. “Firstly, accountability is a problem in our country; how are you going to address that? You are telling us about things you are planning to do; how are you going to do it? That is the question we need answers to; that is what convinces us to actually vote for you people, but you are not doing that,”
“We are definitely in a transition as a democracy, and the communities around this country are complaining about a lack of service, “starts Jay Kruuse, the public service accountability monitor at Rhodes. “The opposition parties who aspire for leadership, I think they’re hearing very clearly; I do believe the ANC are hearing very clearly. We need to do better at governing; we need to do better as citizens in speaking out and seeking answers to issues that have beset this country for far too long. So that requires will and requires effective leadership across all levels of society.”
