Voting is committing to the future
- By Wits University
Struggle stalwart, Dr Ahmed Kathrada met with students at Wits to share the history of the country and also to remind them of their civic duty to vote in the upcoming elections.
Noting that the youth make up the majority of South African citizens, Kathrada emphasised that the act of voting is essentially about the future and the country that one wants to see.
“The election on the 7th May is about your future. Oldies like us will not be around for that much longer. It is about your future, it is your duty to vote.”
Although students in the audience agreed that voting gives them power, much of the concerns raised during the discussion were about extending their voice beyond the ballot paper and holding leadership accountable.
His answer spoke to the importance of collective action.
“The only way you can make your voices heard is through joining organisations. If you want change, pursue the democratic route to bring about change,” he said.
“Individuals have got all the right to form new organisations if they not satisfied with existing structures.”
Reiterating the calls he made at Wits last year where he urged the youth to rise to the challenges of today, he said that while apartheid was gone the youth had a struggle to wage against poverty, unemployment and diseases.
“The country needs skilled people so that we don’t need to import skills. Every door of learning is now open to us. Play your part in building a non-racial united South Africa.”
As an elder and a member of the ruling party, Kathrada did not escape questions about his impression of the current leadership.
“Individuals come ago. I don’t attach much importance to individuals.” His duty is to follow democratically elected leadership but stressed that he would be worried if leaders departed from policy.
“My adherence is to policy. If there is a departure from the policy, I would be worried. But as far as leadership is concerned, they come and go. As an elected leadership they are my leaders.”
The task of leadership is to “carry on working towards a non-racial, non-sexist democratic South Africa. That is what the leadership has to do.”Kathrada’s visit coincided with a presentation by Maite Nkoane-Mashabane, Minister of International Relations and Cooperation Minister , who addressed students in an adjacent venue. Her speech was themed Celebrating 20 years of South Africa’s democracy: reflections on South African foreign policy.