Women’s Day often has us overwhelmed by sales, shopping specials and the inappropriateness and stupidity of the social media accounts of the South African Rugby Union, Bic and far too many other problematic individuals subsides. Parliament reconvenes after that long weekend with an order paper and debate under the broad phrase “Women united in moving South Africa forward”.

However, just a week ago, we were all drowned out by the extravaganza that is the Nkandla scandal and the storm around President Jacob Zuma. A recurring broken record of impeachment proceedings, reference to the public protector’s Secure in Comfort Report, the catchphrase of ‘Pay back the money’ and then the animatronic responses from the governing party.

It seems that the fifth Parliament convenes not for the purpose of deliberating important issues and moving South Africa forward but rather that the business of the day, and for many days before, is the same tired thinking.

Parliament’s role, without a doubt, is to keep the executive accountable but it is also responsible for legislating and providing the legal framework on which we all rely. There is an impasse, a point at which any sense of normality is being chipped away each day that Parliament does not function efficiently and in the interest of its citizens.

Keeping Zuma accountable is of course the outcome many South Africans want, however, the mechanism currently on display is just not working. The theatrics, high drama, court applications, press conferences, tweets and the general desire for noise does not effectively confront the challenge facing Parliament and the country.

The solution is not simple. The interplay between the release of the public protector’s report and the ensuing storm that has not abated and the President’s Questions and Answers session will not solve that.

The answers do not lie in the words of the public protector, in the various points of order before Parliament or the fact that she had to hold a press conference since the Parliamentary ad-hoc committee had decided that they did not need to hear from Advocate Thuli Madonsela.

There are some amongst us who look at the Nkandla issue and believe that we have better things to worry about or they complain about how fatigued they are by the continued attention given to it or they are outraged that the Nkandla issue is actually an issue. Similarly, that thinking is often present when we should be having the important and complicated discussions many shy away from.

The issues we are confronted with as a nation are not isolated. There are many people who dismissively look at gender issues and think there are far too many hapless critics who have nothing better to do than criticise.

There is a risk about letting things go unchallenged. Hubris, arrogance and power have a tendency to multiply and the urgency many South Africans are mustering in relation to Nkandla is just one example of what we need to do. The solutions are not immediate and the road to transcending those convoluted issues is not easy.

In its sitting of August 11, Parliament had to deal with the sexist and homophobic language from the electoral accident that saw the African Independent Congress (AIC) take up seats after our last elections.

Unfortunately, we were not spared the haphazard and prejudiced thought processes when Lulama Ntshayisa of the AIC said that women should fight rape together, and “no longer be cry babies”.

Sadly, the views expressed by this electoral anomaly are shared by many conservative and patriarchal individuals. These are problematic individuals who wish to go unchallenged and want to dictate how society should function based on their unrelenting and patriarchal world view.

The debate lacked the vigour required by the many South Africans who must confront this fatal worldview and are often left alone to struggle against it in their homes, workplaces, and communities. Ntshayisa, emboldened by his rant, went on to say: “Women are not leading – not from the front nor from the back. They are occupying a strategic position in the middle.”

Unfortunately, this way of thinking is the very reason that various Women’s Day campaigns lack the insight that there is much more at stake than commemorating an important day in our history – defining the country that we should all be striving for. Women united will not solve the issues that confront South Africa, nor will the debunking and dismissal of the sexists views of people like Ntshayisa.

Collectively, South Africans need to confront the harsh truth that the work of the fifth Parliament has highlighted the challenges and inefficiencies of our current system. It has acted as a magnifying glass on what is wrong with South Africa and highlighted the fact that simply eliminating one scandal or one man or problematic thinking in itself will not solve our problems.

Shutting down the voices of people like Ntshayisa or removing Zuma from office in itself will not rescue South Africa. Rather, it will take our commitment to realising that our debates are often without purpose or context and that we will each need to start becoming more serious. Parliament’s order paper may speak about moving South Africa forward but the only way to do this is for more of us to unite for the purpose of confronting these issues head on.

We will need to confront the prejudice, suspicion and pain that lie not too far from our own and begin crafting a new language together so that we have a meaningful and inclusive approach to finally confronting the issues instead of so easily dismissing them out of hand as it simply being “their problem”. DM