No cross, no crown
With the elections at hand and an opportunity on 29 May to cast your vote for the political party of your choice to represent you in Parliament and the Provincial Legislatures, one of my late mother’s favourite sayings is on my mind, “no cross, no crown”.
I don’t know how many times I cried on my mother’s shoulder about some or other problem that seemed insurmountable, only to hear her say, “There is no crown without a cross.”
Of course, the last thing I wanted to hear was that you would have to put in some effort (cross) to eventually achieve success (the crown). Or that the required effort usually involves some trouble, sacrifice or even suffering.
After all, success is hardly ever achieved without some kind of effort or suffering.
Is that not where every right-minded South African find themselves at the moment?
We cry around the fire for the braai, on social media and on each other’s shoulders about everything that is wrong in the country while we wait for someone else to do something about it.
But has the time not come for us to make the effort and sacrifice needed to claim the crown within our reach?
How much effort could it really be to go and vote to finally oust the incompetent and corrupt ANC government at the polls and replace it with a competent and accountable coalition government with the FF Plus as governing partner?
It can indeed be done; but only if every eligible voter makes an effort to go and cast their vote on 29 May.
Making the effort to get to your voting station early, instead of sleeping in, or lighting the fire for the braai a little later, instead of acting like the elections have no impact on your life, is worth it!
Believe me – it could change all our lives drastically. It could have a positive impact on every aspect of your life as well as your children’s and their children’s lives.
Let’s take, for example, the National Health Insurance (NHI) Bill which President Cyril Ramaphosa ratified last week wearing a smile that would make Bozo the Clown jealous.
We can look the other way and act as if it will not have any impact on us in our lifetime, but have you stopped to think how it may influence your child or children’s lives?
Just last week, Rapport published a report on how long cancer patients have to wait for treatment at public healthcare facilities. Things will not improve under the NHI. On the contrary, people will have to wait in long queues and may possibly die before getting the treatment they need.
The ANC government has proven time and again that it is not to be trusted with managing public funds. Wherever there is money, the ANC and its cadres flock like vultures to a rotting carcass. In this case, it will be my and your hard-earned tax money.
National health insurance programmes do not even work in first-world countries, such as England. What are the chances that it will be successful here? Zero.
And what are the chances that Ramaphosa and his ministers will suddenly start making use of public healthcare themselves? Also zero.
For that, Russia is just a short flight away.
And then there is the so-called BELA Bill that government wants to use to strip you as parent of your right to determine your child’s education.
Or the Expropriation Bill that is also waiting on Cyril’s pen, which will, once it is signed, leave everyone unsure of what they truly have ownership of, even their cat or dog.
The time to be apathetic and hope that someone else will step up and solve the country’s problems, or act as if it does not affect you, or to simply give up is over.
Stand up like one man and vote on 29 May to rescue South Africa for the generations to come.
Together, we can restore and rebuild South Africa.
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