We know what it’s like to stand with our backs against the wall facing a political and socioeconomic firing squad. But we also know the experience of suddenly being able to read the message on the wall behind our backs to get us back on track again.

Some people say that life under apartheid was better than it is in our democracy. As we all know, apartheid was better in some ways for about four million privileged (white) people because service delivery was aimed at them.

What we must remember is that the conditions of many South Africans who were disadvantaged by apartheid have undoubtedly improved since 1994. People who did not have running water, now have taps in their homes. Those who never had electricity, now have power, even though we experience rolling blackouts. The list goes on.

Apartheid failed. It damaged many people: the oppressed as well as the oppressor. There were so many visible – and invisible – injuries.

Our spirits, therefore, needed to be repaired. Confidence had to be restored. We needed trust to heal our country, and a clear vision to improve the lives of those who suffered most pre-1994.

When the ANC – the then proud, cherished and influential liberation movement – came into office, so many South Africans were excited about our country’s future.

A good friend of mine was a member of the then National Party. He came to talk to me about his political future and I encouraged him to join the ANC, which he did. He served as a Member of Parliament for 15 years and did a sterling job.

After our first democratic election in 1994, the ANC entered the Union Buildings with confidence and took their places in Parliament with joy. We all started singing our beautiful anthem proudly – verses from Nkosi Sikelel’ iAfrika and Die Stem.

Debate after debate was won. Law after law was passed.

We started commemorating days of heroic memory. We kept on reminding people of the years of struggle and sacrifice. We launched many campaigns to deal with all the socioeconomic problems of the country.

We envisaged a country where the poor and oppressed would be treated with decency and dignity. Where politics would not become the art of the manipulable. We imagined a country in which the majority would be active and conscious agents in the process of transforming their lives.

Visit Daily Maverick’s home page for more news, analysis and investigations

Never again

Very good constitutional principles were implemented. We knew that the struggle regarding our Constitution was a struggle for rights, not for power. We knew that people’s sufferings and longings would go on forever, but they needed to be addressed as effectively as possible.

We were aware that two themes run through the Constitution. As Albie Sachs reminded us in 1992, they are “never again” and “at the very least”. In his book Advancing Human Rights in South Africa, Sachs writes: “Never again will people be humiliated and insulted on the grounds of race. Never again will there be forced removals, pass laws, group areas and job reservation. At the very least, everyone should have a decent home, electricity, water, schooling, medical attention and social security…”

We indeed achieved a great victory in 1994. We started well and with very good intentions. Our government, however, has failed our country and its people in certain respects. I need not say anything more in this regard.

Even though the ANC government has betrayed many of the political and socioeconomic objectives our people fought for, there is no way to return to the immoral principles of apartheid. We must keep striving to “South Africanise” South Africa in terms of our initial vision and socioeconomic goals. We must continue to “democratise” our democracy.

Every year on World Day of Social Justice, we are again reminded of the need to “promote efforts to tackle issues such as poverty, exclusion, employment, gender equity and access to social wellbeing and justice for all”.

Although we have made progress, we still have a long way to go. We cannot give up the fight against authoritarianism, secrecy and deceit.

Samora Machel, the former president of Mozambique, once said: “There are some people who, as long as they are not eaten by a foreign tiger, don’t mind being swallowed by a local lion.”

Fortunately, I have too much confidence in South Africans to believe that they will allow us to be swallowed by a hungry, desperate “local political lion”. We have the ability to leap with skill and conviction from certain government-imposed shackles, especially regarding social and economic injustices.

We have enough pride to bring about change. To free ourselves from humiliation. We can speak truth to power. And truth might sting, but it cleans and heals in the long run.

I believe in what Martin Luther King once said: “We shall overcome because the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.”

I believe the world in general is getting better, although it takes time. We are learning to govern better and how to be more human. Most human beings are basically good. We want to be good. We are remarkably generous.

For example, there are millions of children who are loved by their parents every day. Teachers who are kind and care for them. In hospitals daily, millions of people receive excellent care. But this is so common that we forget about it and none of it makes the headlines.

No doubt, there are terrible things happening every day in South Africa and around the world, but we must have a wider positive perspective. Otherwise we can so easily become despondent.

In The Book of Joy, Archbishop Desmond Tutu says hope is the antidote to despair. “Despair turns us inward. Hope sends us into the arms of others.”

We can make South Africa work, particularly with regards to social justice.

We know what it’s like to stand with our backs against the proverbial wall, facing a political and socioeconomic firing squad. But we also know the experience of suddenly being able to read the message on the wall behind our backs, getting us back on track.

Why not celebrate this ability of South Africans on World Day of Social Justice, despite all the setbacks and shortcomings?

Now is the time for steady nerves and clear thoughts to deal with, among other things, social injustice in an orderly, progressive and principled way. Otherwise we could so easily become a disrupted, failed state and give defenders of apartheid their last victory. DM