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Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu.
PHOTO: Gallo Images / Roger Sedres
- The Legacy Desmond and Leah Tutu Foundation has called on the South African government to take charge and lead the front of reconciliation.
- He said the state must demonstrate the will and ability to put an end to corruption, mismanagement and improve service delivery, as citizens’ patience is running out.
- Reconciliation runs the risk of total collapse if the State does not urgently address the repair of the land and poverty and unemployment.
The South African government is running out of time to regain its integrity and lead the national reconciliation project for the benefit of all, said the Legacy Desmond and Leah Tutu Foundation.
In its statement on the occasion of the Day of Reconciliation, the foundation said that expressions of racial rhetoric and positions, such as the protests in Brackenfell and Senekal of Cape Town, Free State undermine reconciliation processes.
“The majority of South Africans do not have extreme opinions. They responded with the magnanimity that the country’s political agreement asked of them, and since then they have waited with relative patience for the construction of a more just and sustainable society. But their patience is wearing thin.” says the foundation. said.
“The State must take the initiative to achieve social reconciliation through transformation. It must create the framework and provide the materials so that civil society can contribute in a meaningful way to weave a compassionate and inclusive fabric of common cause for a united nation. it is the trajectory that the overwhelming majority of citizens bought under the presidency of the late Nelson Mandela. ”
To regain the nation’s confidence in him, the foundation says the state must demonstrate the will and ability to end corruption, unequal mismanagement and improve service delivery.
In terms of land repair and the underperforming economy, the foundation said progress was delayed because political interests trump the interests of the people. Millions of people, mostly black, lived in abject poverty and misery.
“There has been no freedom dividend for them in terms of the quality of their lives; you could say that rapid urbanization has made things more difficult. For an economy that was already on its knees at the beginning of the year, the coronavirus effectively gave A coup de grace. Then, adding salt to these wounds, added to the daily reminder of integrity failures provided by the Zondo Commission, came the revelations that funds reserved to defend South Africans against the pandemic had been looted. “
“You cannot buy integrity or reconciliation in the marketplace. They require investment and maintenance, and time is running out fast,” he said.
The Day of Reconciliation is celebrated on December 16.
