'Dear Mr President...'

2011-08-25

by Nielen

Dear Mr President,

You were democratically elected by the people of South Africa to be our national leader. You were elected by the people of this country to be the person who should lead this nation. Don’t you think it is time you start doing it?
As our leader, we expect you to have integrity, respect, show impeccability and moral values.

We waited and waited and saw precious little of such things. Instead we saw you hide behind your legal team when claims of corruption and rape were made. We saw your comrades laugh at these claims and the people who made them. Not once did I hear you stand up like a man and give your account of the matter. The charges brought against you were not relating to fighting for the people of this country, unless you count the people fighting for those lucrative government tenders. The charges related to your financial wellbeing and your personal pleasures.
For many years a lot of people fought hard against the oppression of one group of people by another, based on the colour of their skin, or the language they speak. Many of those people paid with their own blood for the freedom of their brothers and sisters. If we can believe all the rumours you prefer payments to be made in cash instead.
When election time comes around I see your face on posters in our streets. I hear you making promises to the people of this country. But then we don’t really see or hear from you again, unless you are getting on your snazzy jet to go visit some foreign country. To be honest, I don’t pay any attention to the promises you make. I am fortunate to have running water, electricity, a house and a job. But what about the millions of people in our country who do not?

What happened to the millions of jobs you personally promised to create? I don’t see much change in our unemployment stats. I don’t see help for our entrepreneurs. All I see is racism called BEE and AA that benefits only a handful of your friends.
What about the houses you promised to build? From what I understand most of them are delivered late and without much quality. That’s probably what happens if you give the job to your buddies who are more interested in getting rich than providing housing for our nation.

What about our education? From all accounts the standard of our schools are going down faster than the Gautrain can get to Pretoria (if the copper cables are not stolen). The same goes for the health care system in this country and many of the other vital services your government are supposed to deliver to its people.

I hear rumours that your Youth League leader will get another rapping over the knuckles for making statements about our neighbour countries. But I don’t hear you stand up against his racist and sexist remarks. Do you realise that when we see you sitting quietly behind him when utters those statements, we assume that you are endorsing him? Do you realise that he does more damage to racial relations in this country in a week than you could repair in a year, if you even bothered to try?

Crime is rising almost as fast as HIV infections, but can you be surprised if you look at the example our president is setting? What your lawyers can sort out, a shower will.
Our beautiful country is heading in a very dangerous direction, because its leader is absent. Our beautiful country is heading in a very dangerous direction, because its leader is silent. Our beautiful country is heading in a very dangerous direction, because its leader is not doing his elected job.
Our beautiful country is heading in a very dangerous direction, because its leader is not showing our people what honesty, integrity, respect, responsibility and hard work means. Now more than ever before it is time for you to stand up and do your job Mr President. And if you cannot do that, be man enough to stand down and let someone else do the job. It has been far too long since South Africa had a president it can be PROUD of!

http://www.news24.com/MyNews24/YourStory/Dear-Mr-President-20110824