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“I will change your life,” many said. “#aimforchange” I said – MyPR.co.za

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“I will change your life,” many said. “#aimforchange” I said:

Being a South African Citizen is certainly an interesting occupation – we live in interesting times, our lives are turbulent, we are emerging from years of oppression and want the good life NOW.

And that, dear friends, is the reason why we are so gullible.

We realise that we cannot make our lives better completely by ourselves so we embark on a campaign to find someone else, a like minded person or organisation that will echo our wants and needs and fight for them on our behalf.

Sadly for us we seem to always pick the one horse that goes lame halfway through the game. We rejoice when a new broom wins the votes at the polls and then joy invariably turns to despair when we realise that the people we chose cannot fulfill the mandate that they swept to political power on. So we ‘rinse and repeat’ never really thinking about what the fundamentals demand of a well run Ward, City, Province or Nation.

A total of 48 political parties contested the National Elections in South Africa on 8 May 2019.

Of those 48 here is a sample of the Aims of some:

  • “Modernise The Security Industry Through Social -Cohesion”
  • “To be a modern Pan Afrikan political Party that will build a united and prosperous country based on fairness, justice and equity.”
  • “We bring to South Africa hope for a strong, healthy prosperous and purpose-driven nation.”
  • “A better life for all”
  • “We dream of a new future for this country, of a way forward no longer mired in the failures of our recent past.”
  • “One Nation with One Future built on Freedom, Fairness, Opportunity and Diversity for All.”
  • “We will with determination and consistency associate with The protest movement in South Africa and will also join in struggles that defy The unjust laws.”

And that is the crux of the whole matter – every single political party is founded on an ‘Aim to Change’ an existing status quo hence #aimforchange. But, with one main difference – I recognise that change cannot be forced, change cannot be for the sake of change. Change must come from the heart and must be desired by each and every individual.

Photographer: Ward 7 Nelson Mandela Bay

Change is a basic thing – we all resist it as we are afraid. Afraid to greet our neighbours, afraid to praise, afraid to stick up above the crowd, afraid to celebrate, afraid to talk, afraid to support, afraid to be proud of where, who and what we are.

And that is where political parties get it wrong – fundamentally they, their leaders and their followers think that they are in charge.

Well, they are not. They have been placed there to execute the will of the people, to make people feel better about themselves and to facilitate the magical moments when people realise that they are free to dream, free to pursue their dreams and free to feel proud of theuir achievements, South Africa and their fellow citizens.

And that should start on the ground – the most basic level of ‘politics’, which is Ward Councillor level – is at the forefront of Service Delivery and those ‘leaders’ must be contactable, approachable, amenable, productive and empathetic beings able to solve the many tiny problems. Making the population in a Ward happy and productive leads to a happy and productive City.

Change happens when we look at the status quo and toss what is not working so that we can get the fundamentals right again.

Alan Straton – Nelson Mandela Bay Ward 7 Candidate in Training. Photographer: Ward7

Video: “I will change your life,” many said. “#aimforchange” I said

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