The Citizen and Freedom

Exactly a week ago I sat with other African youth in a panel discussion of the Nelson Mandela Children's Fund to debunk “the myth that freedom is free”. This took place a day after Freedom Day, April 27^th; an annual celebration of South Africa's first non-racial democratic elections of 1994.

2014 is election year for both South Africa and Botswana; my thoughts were therefore more inclined towards elections and specifically to the role of the citizen during this election period. I believe it is vital that each one of us exercises their right to vote, but voting alone does not count much if it is not followed by effective active citizenry. Voting alone is not enough if after elections citizens do not take initiative to find out where the offices of their representatives are located and continuously communicate their needs and take necessary action to ensure they are met. It is not enough if we do not demand accountability and consultation from the individuals voted to represent us in government.

Many of us have chosen to be subjects in democratic states instead of accepting the responsibilities that come with such a freedom. When will we take initiative to understand the systems of our democratic society? When will we find it necessary to go through our national constitution and actually understand what our rights are? We are making it very impossible to be effectively governed. Ignorance has ceased to be bliss, especially when our democracy and freedom are being threatened by leadership that has lost its moral compass. How many have visited the national assembly, just to see what it looks like? How many have actually sat in a parliamentary/provincial/council session to investigate whether we are truly being represented? We need to be armed with the relevant knowledge and information so that we are in a better position to defend this freedom.

For many it is easier to sit around braai areas or at bars and complain about how things are not going right or about how government officials are squandering tax payers’ money. Before complaining, with the expectation that “they” will come to fix our problems, we need to first consider whether we have actively participated in our democracy. We have remained silent for too long about matters that matter. “They” are “us”. For the educated and those with access to information, your responsibility becomes sharing this knowledge with the uneducated and uninformed. We also need to realize the power that we have in our numbers and leverage on this. Calling a radio station daily to complain will not yield any results, except for being a favorite in the show, but a petition signed by 500 people might yield something.

I found the following while preparing for the panel discussion.

"There was an important job to be done and Everybody was asked to do it. But Everybody was sure that Somebody would do it. Anybody could have done it, but Nobody did. Somebody got angry about that, because it was Everybody's job. Everybody thought Anybody could do it, but Nobody realized that Everybody wouldn't do it. It ended up that Everybody blamed Somebody when Nobody did what Anybody could have done."

Freedom is not free. Men and women have lost their lives to ensure we have this freedom. Families have been divided and nations wounded. The onus is now on us to protect this freedom. As we go to the polls soon, let us remember that our role as citizens extends beyond the ballot box. We need to build our power beyond Election Day.