Youth, political problems still signs of the times

It's baffling that just when our country has narrowly survived a downgrade to junk status by credit ratings firms, youth activists are missing in action, says the writer.

It's baffling that just when our country has narrowly survived a downgrade to junk status by credit ratings firms, youth activists are missing in action, says the writer.

Published Apr 24, 2016

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This week reassured me that I am right on the money in trusting artists more than politicians and businessmen, writes Victor Kgomoeswana.

This week reassured me that I am right on the money in trusting artists more than politicians and businessmen. The death of Rock and Roll Hall of Famer and multiple award-winning singer Prince Rogers Nelson, 46 days shy of his 58th birthday, coincided with a slew of announcements that shook the very foundation of my Afro-optimism.

African and coloured boys face the highest risk of being unemployed and/or in jail, says statistician-general Dr Pali Lehohla. This would be something to gloss over, if Africans and coloureds did not constitute nearly 90 percent of our population.

If such a massive chunk of our population is facing the worst prospects of educating and bringing up an economically prosperous youth, what are the chances of South Africa being stable, let alone globally competitive? Perhaps I missed the strong call to action by the government.

Then there were newspaper reports that the Hawks had found evidence of sabotage in how transport operators handled the ANC’s Manifesto Rally in Port Elizabeth last weekend.

It was said the bus owners had demanded a 50 percent upfront payment. Apparently, this was based on their previous experiences with the ANC.

The Hawks? Where does this elite investigative unit get off looking into organisational deficiencies of one party? Do they have extra capacity?

Meanwhile, the Seriti Commission handed its report on the Strategic Defence Procurement Packages (“arms deal”) to President Jacob Zuma in December. He made a statement on it this week.

The commission, after four years of work and about 54 witnesses, including former president Thabo Mbeki and various cabinet ministers, found the deal was desirable, that the arms procured were well-utilised and the job opportunities anticipated to flow from it had materialised.

It also said that not a single iota of evidence was placed before it showing that any of the money received by any of the consultants was paid to any officials involved in the Strategic Defence Procurement Packages, let alone any of the members of the inter-ministerial committee that oversaw the process, or any member of the cabinet that took the final decisions.

There! All the scuffles over encrypted faxes, Schabir Shaik’s so-called “corrupt relationship” with Zuma, etc, were for nothing because it was all a hoax or allegations without an iota of supportive evidence.

An “iota” is synonymous with “a speck”, “an atom”, “a shred”, etc. The learned commissioners spent four years and found not a shred of undue influence in the arms deal? There are way too many confusing findings and statements at this point but who am I to second-guess judges’ findings?

I had about had enough when I heard of the death of Prince. As someone who turned 20 in the 1980s, Prince was more than an icon. He told it like it was but with such artistry and flair that his songs, such as Kiss and Purple Rain, defined the decade.

I wish we all listened to certain artists - in their lifetimes - more. Although they succumb to their intense lifestyles sometimes, including drugs, their work is sincere, unifying and immortal.

My ultimate Prince masterpiece was Sign of the Times. In it, the diminutive multi-instrumentalist decried the problems of drugs, violence, Aids and indifference.

It was a global anthem - here in South Africa we faced “jack-rollers” back then.

To him, impressionable, violence-prone youths, like those Lehohla warned us about recently, were “17-year-olds... (whose)... idea of fun is being in a gang... high on crack... toting the machine gun”.

What has changed? We still have nyaope, tik, and many other drugs, as well as violence, destroying mainly African and coloured youths.

Yet, politicians do not mind wasting a week defending the indefensible and letting the Hawks solve the mystery of the empty stadium in PE. Sign of the times - Prince RIP!

In the words of Terence Trent D’Arby, your 1980s contemporary, “if you get to heaven, say a prayer for my mother, my sister... but most of all please say a prayer for me” all of us.

We are suffocating in indifference and power games.

*Kgomoeswana is the author of Africa is Open for Business and anchors Power Hour from Monday to Thursday on Power FM. Twitter: @VictorAfrica

** The views expressed here are not necessarily those of Independent Media.

Sunday Independent

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