SA needs more brave new voices

Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu has never shied away from speaking out against the inequalities, intolerance and human rights abuses he witnessed under apartheid. But he has been equally outspoken about the problems of post-apartheid South Africa.

This week, he fired a number of salvos, questioning President Jacob Zuma's controversial relationships with convicted fraudster Schabir Shaik and the ubiquitous Gupta family, warning that South Africa was being "dragged backwards" by corruption and pointing out, quite rightly, that South Africans are not fools (although we are often treated as such).

He is voicing the concerns and fears of the many South Africans who remain silent, either because they are aware of the potential cost of dissent or merely to protect the status quo from which they possibly benefit.

Tutu's concerns are those which a number of people in powerful positions have expressed privately. In public, however, these influential leaders are resolutely silent or even defiant, defensive and dismissive.

As Tutu bows out of public life, we are going to lose this voice, just as we have lost that of Nelson Mandela, who has stepped off the national stage.

There are new, fearless voices emerging. Sipho Pityana and his Council for the Advancement of the South African Constitution has launched anti-corruption campaigns and initiatives to protect the constitution against those who seek to warp it to their political ends.

And there is the fearless voice of Zackie Achmat, whose Coalition for Social Justice this week demanded the resignation of the police commissioner over his unlawful conduct regarding the leasing of new headquarters.

Others who protest against the failure to deliver basic services are demonised.

The response of those in power to these voices, old and new, has been arrogant and dismissive. Tutu has been called names and others have simply been ignored, or worse, cast as racists or reactionaries serving the interests of those who are against social change.

The arrogant dismissal of the voices of civil society is the first cousin of the brand of "big man" politics which has recently been the subject of a mass uprising in several North African states.

Acknowledgement of these problems is a necessary first step towards eliminating them.

This does, however, need to go hand in hand with the meting out - and enforcement - of punitive measures against those who are corrupt or guilty of wrongdoing.

South Africa's political culture, forged on the streets of the townships during the popular uprising against apartheid, is one of mass participation and engagement.

The machinations of an increasingly isolated elite will not change that.

(This story was provided and used with permission by Timeslive.)