Put aside political agendas ‘to save lives’

The senior UN official in Kosovo has called during this global pandemic upon strong leadership and political unity in order to save lives, as individuals struggle to feed their families. 

FROM SOUTH AFRICA- Globally there are initiatives by governments to make a meaningful contribution in efforts to fight this strange monster (COVID-19) and ensuring more lives are saved. This involves, to name a few; 

• Food parcel distribution
• Financial relief from banks and other institutions
• Members of parliament/company CEO or executives sacrificing 1/3 of their salaries
• Increase in social grants
• Lockdown measures

Developing countries like South Africa, in Africa, with a population of approx fifty-nine million people, put in place lockdown measures- earlier than other countries- to curb the rapid spread of the virus and also for ensuring lives are saved, that our health system does not become overburdened, and that everyone is going to be provided with decent medical attention in order to recover. The leadership in South Africa, regardless of which political party they belong to, has shown tremendous support and efforts in fighting the pandemic but importantly in saving the lives of South Africans. We have seen a come-together moment were differences are being put aside because the core of any economy, is its people.

Nobody is exempt from survival mode during this pandemic as we will soon see the unemployment stats sharply rise after this pandemic, the retrenching of staff is currently taking place and (broadband, 2020) has estimated a million job losses in South Africa, companies like PRADA according to (IOL, 2020) have announced permanently closing their doors. During December of 2019, the South African Airways (SAA) was placed under business rescue as the state owned entity was not producing profits, the pandemic has forced the entity to cut on jobs, meaning more people will over time not be able to put food on the table.

According to (24, 2017) more than half the population of South Africa is living in poverty, the government has also in place social grants in place to assist families with necessities it may require and there has been an increase in these grants for the duration of 6months dating from May 2020- October 2020 in order to cushion the effect of the pandemic.

There are feeding schemes that are operate in the South African public schools to feed children from, mostly, disadvantaged backgrounds, ensuring that they have at least a meal for the day where some families do not receive a social grant for whatever reason, in order to buy food, as social grants are not automatically awarded, one needs to apply and a certain criterion needs to be met in order to qualify for one.

Small businesses have been provided relief from government on taxes and banks have further provided payment breaks for a period of 3months, ensuring that some are able to keep afloat during this pandemic with less to minimal economic activity.

The biggest initiative that has been rolled out by the government this far is the distribution of food parcels which are distributed to the less fortunate over and above the initiatives mentioned before and this is where political parties are exploiting the system and using this for individual political gain and have set aside or rather forgotten their role as leaders of the country. The distribution of food parcels is mainly done through non-government organisations (NGO’s) where the government seeks to assist society with “minimal” political interferences but due to the corruption in South Africa, these NGOs are used for personal individual gain and mostly involving politicians and their friends. South Africa has townships (underdeveloped racially segregated urban areas) and this is where one will find the masses and where poverty is high, we have SOWETO and Alexander, where the food is mostly a need, the food is distributed but there is a political agenda that is taking precedent over proving food to those that are not able to during these trying times. With the different political parties African National Congress (ANC) which is the ruling party currently, Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) Democratic Alliance (DA), Congress of the People (COPE) etc. an article was realised in (Press, 2020) which indicates how political agendas are being pushed at the expense of the less fortunate, political agendas will see the food parcels being sold instead of being given out for free, redirecting parcels to people known to a particular councillor or high rating member of a political party or even being kept for personal use, and these are people that are regarded as being able to afford buying food.

There are political fights where one party will prioritise the citizens of South Africa and somewhat neglect the foreign nationals residing in SA, granted that the new tweeter hashtag #PutSouthSfricansFirst is important but the question is the timing of this “movement”. It is happening at a time where we see some countries struggling to feed their own, Zimbabwe for example, are reliant on neighbouring countries to assist and is it truly a time to be asking which nationality one is or should we continue to take care of everyone within our boards regardless of nationality?

The President and ministers have made stern statements with regards to the looting of food parcels and that action will be taken against anyone found to be guilty of such an act, but what is more questionable and worrying is the lack of leadership in making an assertive decision that the involvement of any politician is prohibited and the distribution is strictly run by the independent NGO’s with a responsibility to account for distribution, this will remove any perception that government is using the pandemic to loot and exercise corruption but depicts a picture of wanting to work together with all organisations in this process, as this is a time to unite and take equal responsibility as a nation for each other.

There is a pull in different directions on some aspects and agreements on other levels, in Spain, there is also the pull in a different direction and the blaming of when Mr Sanchez should have put in lockdown measures, the extension of the lockdown and others seeking his resignation, the focus is misdirected and when leadership behaves in such a manner the people suffering are society at large, there is an African proverb that says that

when elephants fight, it is the grass that suffers most

and this is seen when politicking happens.

This is a time where any political jersey/ agenda/ affiliation is set aside and as nations on a global scale unite to fight hunger and other inequalities that existed even before the Corona pandemic because honestly the cracks that existed in the system are starting to show and cannot be avoided.

In a quest to heighten leadership globally, there are some pertinent questions leaders/ politicians need to ask themselves but not limited to;

• Are you an ethical leader?
• How can I help? What do you need from me in order to make that happen?
• What are you doing on a daily basis to build into others?
• What can I do to lead better?

If these questions are answered and serving is not at the centre of them all, it will be about time as a constituency to relook what calibre of leaders do we vote into power.

Greed has taken over, and political parties are using initiatives meant to address serious societal inequalities as leverage to gain political power, it is like dangling a carrot in front of someone in need of it most and saying if they do not vote or are not affiliated to a particular political party they will not get the carrot, have politicians become so inhumane?

As a global and particularly those in government leadership, the responsibility is to take care of the all lives, citizens, foreigners, immigrants, and refugees, equally so, during this pandemic.

Different political agendas cannot take precedents over lives. Uniting for the good has never harmed anyone but pulling different directions at a time where the world at large is going through it, shows the lack of political leadership and the lack of the BATHO PELE (people first) principle. 

By Katlego Confidence Masha

Katlego Confidence Masha is a 31-year-old student from South Africa. She currently works for a government parastatal. She holds a Diploma in Public Finance and Accounting and is completing her BCom: Degree in Supply Chain Management. She is passionate about leadership, mental health, and life coaching and is doing a course in life coaching. Her passion for people has her settling in a Human Resources Management role for her future career with Employee Relations being the main focus hence being registered for an Advanced Certificate: Labour Law.