REPORT BACK
SA DEMOCRACY
realise there is only one boat, and we are all in it together.
We need to demonstrate strong and moral leadership across
the different elements of our society. We must also, in the 20th
year of democracy, grasp the nettle and challenge each other to
move away from selfish agendas and sectoral interests, and move
out of current paradigms and comfort zones to put the national
interest top of a new agenda! If we fail to shift the tone and
agenda of our engagements, we will not be able to position SA to
receive substantial real investment, and we will fail to empower
our people to have a real stake in our country.
In conclusion, allow me to go back to the beginning of this
article. Madiba has left us! His life epitomised discipline, focus,
high moral values and living, non-racism, honesty, efficiency and
professionalism. Madiba taught us that those of us with resources
and comfort cannot, and must not rest, so long as so many people
live in poverty, disempowerment and lack of opportunity.
We must use these values, and his way of life, as the mirror
through which we look at ourselves. We must ask if Madiba
would have been happy with us if he saw that we are failing
to deliver adequate services to the majority of our people, that
we have still not included the majority of our people in our
economy, that we have so many people not having the dignity of
a job, that we react violently in our interactions and that we are
letting our children down! I believe Madiba would be
very unhappy!
‘If we fail to shift the
tone and agenda of our
engagements, we will not
be able to position SA to
receive substantial real
investment and we will fail
to empower our people.’
A dream deferred?
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BANKER SA
Edition 9
2014/04/07 9:22 AM