In Word and Deed

One observer offered the following 19 reasons why he felt that Pope Francis I deserves the accolade as Man of the Year.  I have left the 11 things he did in normal font, and put in red italics things he said to bring his influence to bear on Change.  (This sometimes called public engagement or advocacy.)

1. He spoke out against frivolous spending by the Church

2. He invited a boy with Downs Syndrome for a ride in the Popemobile

3. He embraced and kissed a man badly scarred by a genetic skin disease

4. He denounced the judgment of homosexuals

5. He held a major ceremony at the chapel of a youth prison, and washed their feet

6. He urged the protection of the Amazon Rainforest

7. He personally called and consoled a victim of rape

8. He snuck out of the Vatican to feed the homeless

9. He auctioned his motorcycle to benefit the homeless

10. He acknowledged that atheists can be good people

11. He condemned the global financial system

12. He fought child abuse

13. He condemned the violence of the Syrian civil war

14. He redirected employee bonuses to charity

15. He spoke out against the Church’s ‘obsession’ with abortion, gay marriage and contraception

16. He called for cooperation between Christians and Muslims

17. He took part in a selfie

18. He invited homeless men to his birthday meal

19. He refused to send away a child who had run on stage to hug him

Our deeds or actions validate our words.  The reverse is also true.  That is, when leaders actually steal from the public purse, or waste resources, or think of their own benefits first with little regard for the plight of those who elected them, then no one listens to them. Thousands of years ago, Lao Tzu put it this way:

“A leader is best when people barely know that he exists.  Not so good when people obey and acclaim him, worse when they despise him.  Fail to honour people, they fail to honour you; but of a good leader, who talks little, when his work is done, his aim fulfilled, they will all say, ‘We did this ourselves’.”

It’s bad when a President says he likes it when women prostrate themselves before him.  Worse yet when people despise him for being too top-down and centralizing.

Burkina Faso

In the language of the old Upper Volta, these words mean: “Land of upright men”.  The country was re-named this by Africa’s Che Guevara, a young leader called Thomas Sankara.

This highlights his idealism.  He was also creative… an accomplished guitarist, he also wrote Burkina Faso’s new national anthem.  He said a week before he was assassinated: "While revolutionaries as individuals can be murdered, you cannot kill ideas."  He was right.  His actions were stopped, but his ideas, idealism, creativity and innovation live on.

He was a military man, so when a military government was formed in Upper Volta in 1981, Sankara got his first taste of governance - as Secretary of State for Information.  He rode to his first cabinet meeting on a bicycle!  But he resigned the next year when he perceived the regime's anti-labour drift. 

These were turbulent times with various failed and successful coups, but two years later, Sankara became President at the age of 33.  The ideology of his Revolution was defined as anti-imperialist. He spoke in forums like the Oranization for African Unity against what he described as neo-colonialist penetration of Africa through Western trade and finance.  He called for a united front of African nations to repudiate their foreign debt.

Here are some of the actions that validated his words and ideas for Change.  They merit recollection (from Wikipedia):

• He refused to use the air conditioning in his office on the grounds that such luxury was not available to anyone but a handful
• As President, he lowered his salary to $450 a month and limited his possessions to a car, four bikes, three guitars, a fridge and a broken freezer
• A motorcyclist himself, he formed an all-women motorcycle personal guard
• He was known for jogging unaccompanied through the capital in his track suit and posing in his tailored military fatigues
• When asked why he didn't want his portrait hung in public places, as was the norm for other African leaders, he replied "There are seven million Thomas Sankaras"
• He sold off the government fleet of Mercedes cars and made the Renault (the cheapest car sold in Burkina Faso at that time) the official service car of the ministers
• He reduced the salaries of well-off public servants, including his own, and forbade the use of government chauffeurs and 1st class airline tickets
• He forced well-off civil servants to pay one month's salary to public projects
• He required public servants to wear a traditional tunic, woven from Burkinabe cotton and sewn by Burkinabe craftsmen
• In Ouagadougou, Sankara converted the army's provisioning store into a state-owned supermarket open to everyone (the first supermarket in the country)
• He redistributed land from the feudal landlords to the peasants. Wheat production increased from 1700 kg per hectare to 3800 kg per hectare
• His government banned female genital mutilation, forced marriages and polygamy; while appointing females to high governmental positions and encouraging them to work outside the home and stay in school even if pregnant

South Africa is experiencing some political earthquakes.  The tectonic plates are shifting, causing a future Labour Party to appear on the horizon.  Organized labour is restless, uncomfortable in the ruling alliance.  This is the second split – between Left and Neo-liberals.  Another split has already emerged – along age lines.  A new party called the Economic Freedom Fighters is the first one ever to be basically youth-led.

Sankara was consistent.  How can you expect the working class and largely unemployed youth both to support a government that has gone mad in terms of waste and graft? 

How can a government that ignores Corruption and spends billions that it can’t give account for (according to the Auditor General) to be a force for Economic Emancipation?

Triumphalism is Becoming the Bane of Africa

For the first 4 years of C4L’s existence, its Bulletins were newsy – about what was happening on campus and the focus was “advancement”.  Then a decade ago it was decided that the C4L website could take over that function, and that its Bulletins should continue as “a voice crying in the wilderness”…  influencing leaders… speaking truth to power… shaking and moving the shakers and movers.

Over the past year, the struggle between Constitutionalists and Triumphalists has come to the fore.  C4L continues to beat this drum for it is at the heart of Africa’s democratization.

The last C4L Bulletin sent out two weeks ago highlighted the attempt by Kenya to lobby the African Union to pull out of the International Criminal Court.  This was quintessential behaviour for Triumphalists – in this case the President of Kenya and his VP, who are up for trial next month at the ICC.  The game is always played this way – use your power and prestige to sway public opinion in a groundswell that allows you to intimidate the justice and law enforcement structures.

You may have heard that the Kenyans failed to persuade the AU to pull out of the ICC?  However, they did convince the body to deploy its executive leader Dlamini-Zuma, to approach both the ICC and the U.N. Security Council to press for a postponement of their trial for a year, and to agree not to prosecute any sitting head of state in future.  The implications of this are a bit scary to Constitutionalists.  Let’s put it this way – this logic could have saved Richard Nixon from impeachment (for those of you who can remember back that far).  He could have remained in office.

For five thousand years, since Hamurabi promulgated his code in Mesopotamia, heads of state have been subordinate to justice systems.  Hamurabi himself had to obey his own code.  That is written right in it!  And if his judges screwed up, they lost their posts permanently.  Law is not just for some but for all.  This thinking has merged with Democracy, and is often called the “rule of law”.

A scan through today’s newspaper highlights the relevance of this theme…

First, Vusi Pikoli has just published a book.  He is the former hear of the National Prosecuting Authority who lost his job over the NPA’s decision (not made by himself but by his team) to prosecute Jacob Zuma.  To make a long story short, the Triumphalists won the day, ran him out of office, replaced him, and convinced his successor not to go ahead with the prosecution.

Ostensibly the decision to reverse Pikoli’s decision to prosecute him was made based on the emergence of new evidence.  The problem is that the new evidence has not been made public.

The Loyal Opposition went to the courts and challenged this.  They won, and in today’s news comes Zuma’s blame game, announcing that the DA’s legal costs are over R1 million.  What he means is that he lost, and so the DA can claim its legal costs back from the government.  But in the political circus, he is just trying to make the Constitutionalists seem extravagant.

Meanwhile, in today’s news the Public Prosecutor says she has finished her review of the Inkandla scandal.  This is about millions of Rand in public money being spent fixing up the President’s personal house.  The problem is simple - she doesn’t know who to send her report to!  The Loyal Opposition is of course baying for it to be made public.  But she points out that on one previous occasion, she was asked to investigate the President, and this very same question arose – illuminating at the time lack of legislation.  Government was charged to correct or complete the legislation, but it hasn’t.  One can only wonder why, because this protects the President.

For example, right now he is refusing to hand over the evidence to the DA in spite of its court victory – he wants to appeal it.  Delaying the matter further.  What will happen if she hands her report to him?  Will he keep that one in the same vault as the so-called Spy Tapes?  That is what Triumphalists do.

Back to Pikoli’s book, just published.  The DA says that allegations made in it “are direct proof that the justice system is being abused for political purposes”.  That is Triumphalism.

Former ANC treasurer-general Mathews Phosa recently delivered the Ahmed Kathrada Lost in Transformation 2013 annual lecture.  He stated that the ANC, the party he led at senior level for many years, had failed to fight corruption and transform South Africa.  The former ANC national executive committee (NEC) member, who was part of a slate that lost to President Jacob Zuma’s faction at the most recent ANC congress, said many South Africans were disgruntled with the pace of transformation because the ruling party had failed to deal decisively with cadres implicated in corruption.

Phosa said that unless the ruling party addressed this scourge urgently, it would lead to its decline and subsequently erode its proud history as a liberation movement.  He maintained that while the ANC-led government had made progress in the provision of food security, housing, sanitation and the development of constitutional rights, the cancer of corruption and non-service delivery remained.  “Many in the ANC have faced charges of corruption and brought the party into disrepute in a devastating and shocking fashion,” said Phosa, imploring the government to stop blaming apartheid for its failure to deliver services.

This quotation is very significant - he hit the nail on the head.  Inevitably, Triumphalists play the race card.  Whether it is Kenyans blaming the ICC for having an anti-Africa bias, or provincial government officials in Mpumalanga allowing C4L to be used for its own programming ends in what is clearly a case of “state capture”, the approach is always the same.  Use your power and prestige to name-drop, to intimidate, to bully, and ultimately to corrupt the rules – in your favour.  If challenged, just bring up the subject of apartheid or neo-colonialism or play the race card.  Phosa is right, people are getting really tired of this approach.  Having said that, Phosa is also gone from the Top Six, even from the NEC – himself at the receiving end of Triumphalism.

State Capture may be a new term to you?  Several example have come to light recently of “fake NGOs”.  Basically these are actually owned by civil servants or their relatives (like Zuma’s cousin, Deebo Mzobe, who started an NGO called the Masibambisane Rural Development Initiative that was reportedly pledged R900-million from various government departments to distribute food parcels in the run-up to the 2014 election?).  C4L has experienced this manifestation of Triumphalism over the past year, and is challenging it.  C4L’s policy stance is pro-Constitutionalist.  It condemns corruption and “fronting”.

Quintessential Triumphalism

This is the way they do it…
Hear the words of Desmond Tutu from an article he released this week on the Avaaz platform
called They want to be above the law:
“The main argument by some leaders with a guilty conscience is that the ICC is a Western
witch-hunt as most of the investigations have happened in Africa. But this couldn’t be further
from the truth. This was an institution that was created by 20 African countries, 5 of the
court’s 18 judges are African and the chief prosecutor is African.”
But Father Desmond, that’s the way it’s done! In debating it’s called ad hominem. If your
case doesn’t hold water – forget arguing about it and go after the credibility of the person you
are debating with.
African leaders always play that race card when faced with the consequences of their actions
in terms of the rule of law. Then they say “it’s a Western witch-hunt”. Mugabe blames Blair
and Bush. The ANC judges say that transformation of the judiciary is too slow. Then they
close ranks into a huddle of group-think and hunker down.
Kofi Annan stated this week that Africa withdrawing from the court would be a "badge of
shame". Yet 53 of the 54 countries in Africa – Botswana being the only dissenter – voted to
pull out of the ICC unless it defers trials of incumbent heads of state.
Tutu also wrote an article carried by several newspapers. In it, he wrote: "Those leaders
seeking to skirt the court are effectively looking for a license to kill, maim and oppress their
own people without consequence."
"They simply vilify the institution as racist and unjust, as Hermann Goering and his fellow
Nazi defendants vilified the Nuremberg tribunals following World War II."
The difference is that by the time of the Nuremberg trials, the Nazis were a spent force. Here
you have triumphalism of those still in power...
One African head of state has refused to stand trial at the ICC because his country was not
among the 34 of 54 African countries that signed its mandate. Now another president was
given a trial date in November, from a country that had signed the ICC’s mandate. So his
country lobbied hard at the African Union to close ranks and threaten to withdraw.
This is déjà vu…
It is basically how the president of South Africa is still avoiding prosecution for corruption
charges against him. Government closed the Scorpions and replaced it with a subservient
force called the Hawks – although that closure has recently been declared unconstitutional by
the Supreme Court. However, that decision came years after the change had already been
made.
Government put major pressure on the National Prosecution Authority to drop the charges
against him, and even fired the top prosecutor. He claims that this was manipulation to
protect the ANC’s then-candidate for president.
This happens at all levels. For example, here in Mpumalanga we are still waiting for answers
– and convictions - for the January murders. These started in 1998 and only ended in 2011.
Seventeen “whistle-blowers” were shot, all in January of the year. Fourteen of them died.
In C4L’s own experience over the past year, the same practice has been observed. When
C4L reported fraud and rigging of government contracts, the matter was denied and swept
under the carpet. This involved different levels of government adopting the strategy of “ball
possession”. They control the purse strings, so they protect their cronies. Just blame the few
white guys involved for being reactionary.
Gender ironies
Where are the woman presidents in Africa? Well they are rare enough where ever you look
in the world. There are not enough Indira Ghandis, Maggie Thatchers, and Angela Merkels.
Maybe Hilary Clinton will change this trend?
But only one of 54 African heads of state is a woman – the only one ever elected.
But curiously, the chief prosecutor of the ICC is a woman.
So is the Public Protector in South Africa. Not to mention the leader of the Loyal
Opposition.
But African men know how to keep women in their place. Women are never taken seriously
enough. Implicit in the fact that they are female is that they can be out-manoevred by men.
Just get 53 African heads of state together and close ranks. That blame-games the whites out
and keeps the women down - even the head of the AU, a South African woman.
Fit for service?
Constitutionalists argue that a culture of impunity has overtaken Africa. Leaders at all levels
act with impunity, like King David once did to kill Uriah. When exposed, they remain in
authority for long periods until justice is pronounced. They keep looting and the rot spreads.
The prophet Nathan told a parable to King David about a rich man and a poor man. This is
the essence of the problem – rich Africans dominating poor Africans. The poor man only had
one sheep and it was more of a pet than anything. Maybe a source of wool, or for breeding,
but never to be slaughtered. The rich man had a whole herd of sheep, but when he needed
meat, rather than part with one of his own, he ripped off the poor man. Corruption is greed.
This is happening all over Africa, all the time. It is called Triumphalism. When the rule of
law gets in the way, what they do is discredit the judges and their structures.
In a Democracy, leaders should be vetted as “fit for service”. A strong Judiciary is one of the
ways of assuring voters that they really do have a choice. Will Africa soon find itself facing
economic sanctions again, only this time to defend minorities? Human rights are at stake.

Mandela Meditations

 

It's been quite a week.  Intriguing.  At times moving.  Quite remarkable.

Yesterday more than 100 world leaders attended the Mandela memorial along with 70 000 South Africans in a stadium that many associate with the 2010 soccer World Cup.  Madiba worked so hard and so long to bring that tournament to Africa.

I will just share a few highlights of my reflections during this grieving process...

I saw Bill Clinton being interviewed.  He and Mandela were concurrent presidents in their respective countries.  They remained good friends.  Both have strong Methodist roots.  Clinton said that he once got up the courage to ask Mandela if, as he famously walked out of those prison gates, he really didn't hate those people who kept him incarcerated for 27 years.  He answered Clinton: "Briefly.  But I knew that if I kept hating them, I would still be their prisoner.  And I wanted to be free. So I let it go."

This says a lot to me about the nature of forgiveness.  It is not only good for those we forgive.  It is good for us.  "Forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those that trespass against us."  At some stage, we need to let go of hate, and put the past behind us.

President Obama's eulogy yesterday was the best.  He included a Mandela quote that has fascinated me: "I am not a saint, unless by that you mean a sinner who keeps trying."  I resonate with this comment.  For far too long I somehow associated the word "missionary" with the saints.  But I myself am living proof that this is not so.  But I do keep trying to contribute.  At the end of my CV is my epitaph:  "I came.  I saw.  I contributed."  I am not a conqueror.  Or a saint.  But I am a missionary.

The third Mandela quote that has intrigued me is from the Treason Trials.  Obama reminded us that this speech was at the time of Kennedy and Kruschev!  "I have fought white domination and I have fought black domination."  Years later, no, decades later, he was still fighting both.  The main plot was of course ending white minority rule.  But there were those who wanted to replace white domination with black domination.  That was the sub-plot to the story, and we have to recognize Mandela's role on that front as well.  His parting with Winnie could be construed in this light.  He was President of all South Africans, and she had become embittered and radicalized.  Mamphela Ramphele calls it "woundedness" - generically, I don't mean that she said that of Winnie specifically.  Some people, no, many people, still can't get past "the past".  Mandela’s great spirituality stems from that one word in his reply to Clinton: "Briefly."  He felt it... then he let it go.

By the way, the movie Long Walk to Freedom does Winnie a big favour - by putting her militant attitudes in context.  She really suffered for the cause... in solitary confinement for over a year.  A mother parted from her children.  It's funny, many are quick to forgive her, who are slow to forgive and forget "the past".  Mandela somehow managed to get above it all.

My mind keeps asking: What is the difference between “black domination” and affirmative action that favours the large majority?

That brings me back to another favorite theme and person... I see that TIME magazine has voted Pope Francis I to be Person of the Year for 2013.  I second the emotion.  Here's why, from an article by Mike Kohen this week called Our country is still in white hands:

"The stability that Mandela engineered in those early days after apartheid never made South Africa an economic dynamo.  Economic growth has averaged 3.5% since 2004, compared with 10.5% in China.

"Moreover, the Gini coefficient, a measure of economic equality, has risen to 0.63 in 2009 from 0.59 in 1993, making South Africa one of the world's most unequal countries."

The risk to Mandela's legacy is that "inequality and exclusion" (to quote Pope Francis, again generically speaking) could drain the gains.  In any country, regardless of the colour bar, poor people can come to resent the rich.  Not always and not everywhere, depending to some extent on the local culture's comfort or discomfort with what Gerte Hofstede calls "power distance".  But where the disparities are acute and glaring, it will breed discontent.  Aristotle said that inequality is the mother of revolution.

Yes, there has to be redress, no question.  But when is the cut-off point for affirmative action?  Or will there ever be one, when the rich are getting richer and ranks of the poor are growing?  Also, as the ranks of the rich include more and more "successful" blacks, is not a class system being created?  Put another way, many poor people will not be in a forgiving mood, ready to forget "the past".  So it is double-jeopardy for South Africa to let the "wealth gap" increase.

If you are rich by your own standards, the question is: How much is enough?

If you are “historically disadvantaged” and thus deserve positive discrimination, the question is: How long should you have that advantage, before YOU end up with more than enough?

Thinking Locally, Acting Globally

For non-South Africans, the example of Nelson Mandela is also relevant.  For in his own rural poor context, he was also privileged – from the royal family, getting early exposure to leadership role models and an education.  After urbanizing, he became a professional, a lawyer, and co-owned a law firm with Oliver Tambo.  So he was (relatively) well off, although among the oppressed.  Even in prison, he was a political prisoner, not a criminal.

The point is, look what he did with the few advantages he enjoyed.  I was reduced to tears this week when Mac Maharaj, a co-prisoner at Robben island, described how Mandela would sometimes be served better food than the other prisoners because of the esteem that even his jailers had for him.  Like bread, when everyone else got only pap.  He would call over other  prisoners, especially the younger ones, and share it with them, recognizing the deprivation that they faced because of a shared cause.

We need to apply the biblical principles that are there in the Old Testament Poor Laws – sabbath, sabbatical, Jubilee… to keep leveling the playing field.  This has to be continuous.  Pope Francis is right that money can end up being a form of idolatry, like the Golden Calf. 

Hollow Fraud

 

Last month I quoted a recent TIME magazine article called Africa Rising.  Here is another clip from that article about Africa’s once and future greatness, from which the title of this C4L Bulletin is taken:

“The ANC is reaping the reward for this sorry record. In mid-August, 3,000 miners at platinum producer Lonmin's Marikana mine in northern South Africa walked off the job, demanding a tripling of basic pay, from about $500 per month. On Aug. 16, after days of violence in which 10 people died, police shot dead 34 miners. The killings evoked the brutality of apartheid. Meanwhile, the militant antibusiness, antigovernment strikes that erupted at other mines, then in other industries, continue today.

“These have exposed as nothing more than a hollow fraud the claims by the ANC's ruling alliance that it represents the poor. With such a disconnect between government and people, Tutu says, the potential for upheaval in South Africa is "very great ... When the big eruption happens," he says, "it's going to be very, very disturbing."

I have received a lot of feedback about Tutu’s more recent comments in the press – that he can no longer vote for the ANC.  One comment he made in his article to this effect in the Mail & Guardian is that the ANC has not managed to make the difficult transition from freedom-fighting unit to political party.  I have heard this analysis in more than one country, on more than one occasion.  But for the first time I connected the dots with my favorite theme comparing the Constitutionalists with the Triumphalists.

I will try to explain.  Tutu paid high compliments to the ANC for its historic role.  "The ANC was very good at leading us in the struggle to be free from oppression," he wrote.  But let’s face it, at that time the ANC was banned, so its was acting illegally even if it held the high moral ground.  Emblematic of this was that Nelson Mandela was in jail.  Whereas he is now revered as father of the nation – Tata.  (Better known by the name of his clan – Madiba.)

It’s hard to switch modes from breaking the law to upholding it.  Especially when for over 40 years, you were kept out by Afrikaner triumphalism.  The Boers were behaving that way after almost 50 years of Triumphalist behaviour by the British after the Anglo-Boer war.  Who would expect them to suddenly become law-abiding Constitutionalists overnight?

A quick digression here, to recall that the ANC was founded to unite diverse black tribes that had each been fighting the European settlers on their own (e.g the Zulu wars).  The vision was – united we stand, divided we fall.  A century later, sure enough, there is majority rule at last and it is dominated by blacks.  Within this Democracy, blacks are beginning to diverge – but not along tribal lines.  For one thing, class ranks are forming.  The huge disparities in South Africa are no longer just black and white – there are now hugely wealthy blacks and a rising middle class.  Although the black population is predominantly poor.  The ranks of the unemployed are mainly young blacks.

For several years their voice was the populist leader of the Youth league, Julius Malema.  He has been discredited in the past few months as an opportunist, and the ANCYL came within inches of being disbanded altogether.  Here are some quotes from a may 9^th editorial in The Times called: There are a lot more like Malema - but they get away with it

“Malema must pay his dues, but he is not alone in owing them. There are many in this country who wine and dine in luxury, thanks to their corrupt activities - but they are protected by their political connections.

“It seems that, as long as you are flying with the right crowd, your safety is guaranteed.

“Malema's troubles started the day he moved outside the ANC tent and started throwing stones at it.

“Malema is but one of the fish in the sea.

“Many other members of the political elite enrich themselves at the expense of the taxpayers.

“Before we celebrate the fact that another nail is being hammered into Malema's coffin, we should not lose sight of the many tenderpreneurs and their corrupt business partners who live a life of unearned opulence without consequence.”

But the coup de grace came for me in an open letter written to The Star this week by a young woman who cannot find work in spite of good qualifications and experience as a journalist.  This appeared as an editorial called What happened to the dream of 1994?  Here again are some excerpts:

“I remember the excitement that filled my home when Nelson Mandela was inaugurated as the first democratically elected president. I knew things could only get better and my children would never experience what I went through. At last, we were living in a free country, one filled with hope and freedom.

“Upon graduating from Rhodes University, I had no doubt I was destined for the city of gold. South Africa was full of hope and it would have been dim-witted of me not to seize the boundless opportunities provided by our democratic government.

“After a few years in the private sector, I yearned to make a positive contribution in the public sector. Even when my job applications were unsuccessful, I wasn’t discouraged. I guess I was in denial of the stark reality. A friend once joked about my commendable persistence, but added that I’d “never get a job in the ANC government because I am not politically connected”. But I am black, young, educated, and I am from a previously disadvantaged background, I thought to myself. Is that the true nature of my government? Impossible. How did we get here? What happened? Is it greed? What happened to the idea of unity and “A Better Life For All”? This is not the reality my teen mind imagined back in 1994.

“I’m baffled by the contrast between skills and political connectedness. Why should I be politically connected when I qualify for a position and have the necessary experience? Why are people not employed on merit?

“It has become clear that I am living in a confusing country – one that provides few answers and solutions to its people, especially the young. Where did it all go wrong?”

These are the most poignant words that I have read in a long time!  On them, I rest my case.  Triumphalism reigns.  Constitutionalism is down, but not out.  Disparity is the enemy now, not racism.  The ANC is not the champion of the poor, it never was.  It led another Struggle.

Tapes and Presidents

Richard Nixon, America’s 37^th president, faced a similar conundrum to Jacob Zuma, democratic South Africa’s 4^th president.  They both preferred that the public not hear their tapes!

Of course the circumstances are quite different.  Nixon lost the presidency over his tapes, and it was the emergence of Zuma’s tapes that basically saved his run for the presidency in 2009.

Nixon’s tapes showed him trying to interfere with the FBI’s investigation of the Watergate break-in.  Of course they contained many conversations with other heads of state as well -  none of whom knew (officially) that they were being recorded!  So he could say that the tapes should not be released for national security reasons.  It’s not much different from Zuma’s lawyer’s current excuse - that he is withholding them “on the basis of confidentiality”.

Another big difference is that when Nixon’s fellow Republicans were confronted with the truth about his actions, they announced that they would vote to impeach him in Congress.  This caused Nixon to resign – before they could do so.  Meanwhile, Nixon had erased 18.5 minutes of his tapes.  This was seen as betrayal - even by his own party.

Whereas even Zuma supporters are still in the dark about why the charges against him were dropped by the National Prosecuting Authority just before his bid for re-election.  (Not really re-election… because he didn’t enter the presidency by winning an election.  It was rather by party appointment - replacing the ejected Thabo Mbeki).

In American democracy, it was transparency and the rule of law that toppled a president.  Whereas the people of South Africa are being denied transparency, while the president seeks yet another term in office!  It is pretty obvious that he does not want these tapes released before the leadership conference next month in Manaung.  Maybe not even before the next elections in 2014? 

Two sets of Zuma tapes

It is easy to lose track of the fact that the NPA’s decision to drop its prosecution of Zuma was based on intelligence that emerged in two stages…

First, Zuma and his attorney Michael Hulley came into possession of “spy tapes” – but they have never disclosed from what source.  So no one knows if the evidence was admissible, but once the NPA heard them, they made two contacts looking for “legal” corroboration:

• The National Intelligence Agency (NIA)
• SA Police Force’s crime intelligence division

It is suspected that the second source may have been the one that “leaked” the spy tapes to Zuma and his lawyer in the first place – they have never said.

Meanwhile the NIA responded to the NPA that it had intercepted corroborating intelligence, while investigating another case.  Mpshe of the NPA explained:

“NIA indicated that it was able to share these legally with the NPA for the purposes of the investigation and for reaching a decision in this matter.  Thus the NPA was able to make transcripts of the relevant portions of the recordings for this purpose and NIA has declassified these transcripts as they are not relevant to its own investigation.”

The key phrase is “the relevant portions”.  The tapes were not declassified – only transcripts were… and only of “relevant portions”.  The rest remains in the dark – and you can bet that it’s a LOT more that Nixon’s 18.5-minute black-out!

During his press briefing, Mpshe confirmed that the withdrawal of charges against Zuma had nothing to do with the merits of the case or the fairness of the trial.

The Loyal Opposition has been pushing for full disclosure.  But the NPA felt obliged to show Zuma’s lawyer Hulley a full transcript first, in case he had any objection to it being disclosed to the DA.  Guess what?  Hulley has objected and says that Zuma will go to court to prevent the DA from having access – although these are not even the tapes that were leaked to him in the first place!  They are the second set that emerged later, after the NPA went scrounging around for a “legal” version of what they had heard on tapes from an undisclosed source.

Triumphalists vs. Constitutionalists

I cannot think of a better example of this new drum that C4L is beating!

There are Constitutionalists in all parties – including the ANC.  This is not about partisan politics.  There are those who champion transparency, the rule of law, non-racialism and accountability (even of presidents) to the Constitution.

There are also Triumphalists galore!  This does not break out along the usual fault lines of race – for example Zuma’s lawyer Michael Hulley is not black.  It is about who is in control – who is reaping the benefits - and about keeping it that way.  Transparency, the rule of law, non-racialism and accountability are basically inconveniences.

Just as we may sense revulsion at the prospect of McCarthy, Ngcuka, Mzi Khumalo and others discussing the timing of Zuma’s case - back in the days when president Mbeki had “released” his vice-president… it is equally  repulsive to see Mpshe, Hulley and Zuma shutting down the Loyal Opposition’s attempt to get what is in darkness out into the light.

History suggests that behaviours like these will boomerang.  Ask Richard Nixon!

Post-script

 

C4L finds itself embroiled in a similar fiasco.  In early 2012, we entered a Joint Venture, only to find that our co-hosts are Triumphalists par excellence.  The more C4L has to say about transparency, the Service Level Agreement, non-racialism or giving account - the more they try to marginalize us!  But in our view, performance is not enough, without integrity.

Whilstle Blowing Week: 17-23 October 2011

Last week President Zuma appealed to South Africans not to run their country down.  The very same day, Thabo Mbeki broke a long silence on the occasion of delivering the Oliver Tambo centenary lecture.  One quote that gives the gist of what he said is that he is “deeply troubled by a feeling of great unease that our beloved motherland is losing its sense of direction.”

C4L is located in Mpumalanga province.  It is divided into three districts, the one where C4L is being Ehlanzeni.  It has five local municipalities, the one where C4L is being Mbombela.  In the news over the past week you have 3 big stories:

1. Some rigging is suspected in the voting for Party leader, who then becomes State President

2. One of the corruption cases reported by Jimmy Mohlala, the former Speaker of Mbombela’s municipal legislature, is delayed again in coming to trial

3. A former Municipal Manager has been arrested for embezzling millions

Rigged voting

ANC members have claimed that auditors padded the figures for provinces crucial to Jacob Zuma's party presidency re-election campaign.  ANC members aligned to the anti-Zuma group in ­Mpumalanga have accused provincial and district party leaders of colluding with its auditors to inflate membership figures in a bid to boost Zuma's re-election prospects.

Mpumalanga, KwaZulu-Natal and the Free State are expected to be central to Zuma's re-election at the party's national elective conference in Mangaung in December. These provinces have recorded a significant increase in membership over the past few months.

• More than 2 000 ghost members in Bohlabela region in Mpumalanga were added to the final audit report, which Luthuli House conducted in August

• Nkomazi local municipality alone is bigger than the Northern Cape province and Western Cape province. It is bigger than some district municipalities in Mpumalanga. It is now second after eThekwini (Durban). “Only God knows how they recruited the new members," said an ANC member

Corruption scandals

Former Mbombela municipal speaker Jimmy Mohlala blew the whistle on two corrupt deals, one related to the new stadium tender and the other to housing tenders.  Both eventually led to convictions, but first he was gunned down in January 2009.

Mohlala had been told by the ANC’s leaders for the Ehlanzeni region to resign, but he refused.  It is quite typical of senior management in most organizations to close ranks against whistle blowers, as we are finding out first hand at C4L.

Mohlala’s killer or killers have yet to face the law. The stadium tender irregularities involve fraud, forgery and theft… in relation to allegations that false SA Revenue Service documents were submitted.

Now a former Municipal Manager is also in the dock for taking millions in kickbacks.  It is the front page story in today’s Lowvelder.

The Constitutionalists and the Triumphalists

There is this on-going tension in South Africa between the rule of law and those whose sense of entitlement makes them believe that they are bullet-proof.  Some cherish Accountability and others prefer Impunity.

The biographer of Thabo Mbeki, Mark Gevisser, wrote in the introduction of The Dream Deferred: "Mbeki allegedly worried that Zuma and his backers had no respect for the rule of law, and would be unaccountable to the constitutional dispensation the ANC had put into place… There was also the worry of a resurgence of ethnic politics, and - given his support from the left - that Zuma's leftist advisers would undo all the meticulous stitching of South Africa into the global economy that Mbeki and his economic managers had undertaken."

Yet Mbeki fired Vusi Pikoli, head of the National Prosecuting Authority, who he perceived as a threat.  No wonder that when Zuma took over, Pikoli’s successor Mpshe decided not to prosecute the new state president!  The Scorpions were disbanded and replaced by the less independent Hawks.  Two successive police chiefs have lost their jobs since, the first one ending up in jail.  The second one is still in limbo.

These days the champion of the rule of law seems to be the Public Protector, more of an ombudsman.  Her name is Thuli Madonsela and she just nailed Julius Malema, the populist youth leader, this week.  Being a “tenderpreneur” can be synonymous with looting! 

Mo Ibrahim Prize

This has become Africa’s equivalent to the Nobel prize.  Jay Naidoo, a South African, is a Board member of the Mo Ibrahim Foundation.  This week in a speech he said that Africa's future will hinge on the continent's citizens taking a proactive role in governance:  “It is not individual leaders who will take our continent forward, it will be an overall leadership directive driven by Africa's people".

The language that I have used in the past that followership is as important as leadership.  Until voters understand Democracy and until terms like “loyal opposition” sink in, the rule of law will continue to be undermined by greed for money and power.

Whistle blowing

This brings me to the near and present dangers at C4L.  The leadership team at C4L, not any one individual, recently decided to withdraw from dispute negotiations when they quite suddenly realized that fraud had been uncovered.  C4L reported the crime believing that it is good citizenship to do so.  Not to mention the harm done to C4L as a result.

As was expected, those accused have turned quite nasty.  Here is what Wikipedia says about this topic:

“Whistleblowers are commonly seen as selfless martyrs for public interest and organizational accountability; others view them as "tattle tales" or "snitches".

“Persecution of whistleblowers has become a serious issue in many parts of the world. Although whistleblowers are often protected under law from employer retaliation, there have been many cases where punishment for whistle blowing has occurred, such as termination, suspension, demotion, wage garnishment, and/or harsh mistreatment by other employees.”

There is relatively new legislation in South Africa called the “Protected Disclosures Act”.  C4L is exploring if that can offer any refuge for the reprisals that have begun since it blew the whistle.  But in the last analysis, the only way to deal with corrupt and abusive leaders is for the followers to take a stand.

In October 2011, there was a Whistle Blowing Week.  But there is no sign of it in 2012!  One can only hope that this is because it got the job done, and not because it got taken out by the Triumphalists!

The last straw

Matric exams started today.  Only in Mpumalanga do you find the exam paper being delivered to high schools in armoured cash-in-transit vehicles!  Truth is stranger than fiction.

Happy Birthday Tutu

The archbishop emeritus turns 81 today.  It is Thanksgiving Sunday in Canada – so give thanks for his life.

To celebrate, he helped a cancer-related NGO with some fundraising.  This is fitting, as he himself has fought prostate cancer – and won.  Cancer can be beaten!

During his birthday party, he heard that he had received the Mo Ibrahim Foundation award in recognition of his contribution to justice, freedom and democracy.

Tutu said: “I have been very fortunate throughout my life to be surrounded by people of the highest caliber, beginning with my extraordinary wife.  It is these generous people who have guided, prodded, assisted, cajoled – and ultimately allowed – me to take the credit.”

I see that Graca Machel delivered the annual Desmond Tutu International Peace Lecture at the University of the Western Cape.  She is quoted as saying:

“It may sound presumptuous, but I have observed, as a South African and a Mozambican, that we have huge difficulty in communicating in a serene, peaceful, accommodating manner.  We have a lot of anger in our communication.  We are harming one another because we can’t control our pain.”

Food for thought!

In its first few decades in the USA, Democracy took a bit of a different turn from the political parties in England – the Conservatives and Liberals.  The two parties that emerged are still with us – the Democrats and the Republicans.  Each country is a different context and Democracy has to adapt.  So there is not just the Democratization of Africa, but there is the Africanization of Democracy!

In South Africa, although the names have not stuck yet, the distinction could be described as the Constitutionalists and the Triumphalists.

Constitutionalists

These are the citizens from all parties including the ANC that believe the Constitution is paramount.  To quote a recent article by Opposition leader Helen Zille:

• Defending our constitution and securing its promise of equal rights and fair opportunities for all
• Nurturing genuine non-racialism on the basis of reconciliation and redress
• Growing an appropriately regulated, market-driven economy that can achieve the levels of sustainable growth needed to reduce unemployment significantly and lessen inequality
• Building a state that puts competence above party loyalty, values service and punishes self-interest and corruption

Triumphalists

And in the other corner, wearing the red shorts, are the Triumphalists!  A political biography of Deputy President Kgalema Montlanthe was recently released.  The author Ebrahim Harvey mentions some of his concerns:

“Moves within Luthuli House after Polokwane to unseat premiers said to be close to Mbeki worried him most because they were driven by the same factionalist manoeuvring vices the Zuma-ites had accused Mbeki of not long before.  If the period before Polokwane left him very worried about the state of the affairs in the organization he had dedicated his life to, then the period after Polokwane was not much better.

“Many in what was called the Zuma camp did not clearly understand what was really wrong with the previous leadership, because if they really did understand, they would not in fact be repeating many problems committed by the previous leaders.

“Within the earlier leadership, when they manoeuvred and were wrong in this or that, you could invoke the constitution, pull them into line and they would back off, but leadership after Polokwane were extremely triumphalist and did not really listen when you invoked the constitution. Instead they thought you don’t understand power. 

“For them the form and manifestation of the problem was simple: Zuma was victimized and we lined up behind him and removed Mbeki.  But they failed to understand that other than and independent of this problem there were many other accompanying problems.  It reminded me of what Mandela once said: ‘A crisis or chaos can give rise to a leadership which is ill-suited to solve the problems and in fact can worsen them.’

“I was unhappy that after Mbeki resigned he was not kept in the loop and serviced as Mandela was when he retired.  Right up to Polokwane, I briefed Mandela on all important matters, but in the case of Thabo, we were not treating him the same.”

C4L’s Case Study

We are caught in a similar conundrum at C4L.  We entered a Joint Venture earlier this year only to find that our partners are basically “tenderprenuers”.  We do not condone some of their conduct and we have even dared to become “whistle blowers”.  This means, like it or not, that we have taken the Constitutionalist road out.

Meanwhile the Triumphalists are proving ill-suited to solve the partnership problems and as Mandela indicated, actually worsen them!

These are the fault lines in South Africa – no longer black and white but Constitutionalists and Triumphalists.  The erstewhile youth leader Julius Malema comes to mind.  He finally got pushed out by ANC Disciplinary action and he is now getting the heat for corruption.  But he continues to be influential because he is a populist who relates well to young people.  In fact, he has represented his constituency well, but sadly used his contacts in public service to feather his own nest.  Thank God for “The Arch” who remains the role-model par excellence.

Tilting with Windmills

A good friend recently used this metaphor from Don Quixote to describe his and my lifetime efforts to make a difference through international development work.  There is some self-effacing humour in it, a dose of reality, and a deep reminder of where we should put our trust (and not put it).

Why am I discouraged?  Why am I restless?

I trust you!  And I will praise you again

Because you help me, and you are my God.

These lines are repeated twice in Psalm 42 and again in Psalm 43.  They capture the mood swings that C4L leaders are going through as we await recovery. 

In April, the C4L bulletin was called Glimmers of Recovery.  Certainly we had received 3 major “letters of appointment” that month, all from government, but 3 months later we are still waiting…  Promises, promises! 

Then in May the C4L bulletin was called Putting it Back – encouraging individuals, families and churches to do their part too, in terms of contributing to charity.  The truth is that half of 2012 has passed, and so far it’s only the self-generated income and those charitable donations that have fueled C4L.  Not one Rand yet from government!  It makes me wonder if these higher levels of funding that we strived for as the year started are worth the wait?   Are we really tilting at windmills?

The logic seemed sound – get C4L accredited which I started working on immediately upon my return from South Sudan.  That finally came through in January 2012.  Then play for the higher stakes in terms of Learnerships – we competed in several tender bids, and won two in April.  On paper!  (Another bid submitted in February is still being processed.)

You are my mighty rock.  Why have you forgotten me?

Why must enemies mistreat me and make me sad?

Even my bones are in pain

While all day long my enemies sneer and ask,

“Where is your God?”

I remember once laying in a stream in Yellowstone Park.  The scalding water on one side flowed out of a hot spring.  The other side of the creek was icy water flowing off a glacier.  It was amazing, you couldn’t stay on either side - you could only lie in the middle of the creek bed where the hot and cold waters mingled a bit.  I resonate with Psalm 42: 9 & 10 (above) on this.  C4L is get scalded by unfavourable conditions and at the same time frozen out by bureaucracy.  Did we take a wrong turn?

Show me that I am right, God!

Defend me against everyone who doesn’t know you;

Rescue me from each of those deceitful liars.

I run to you for protection.

Why have you turned me away?

Why must enemies mistreat me and make me sad? 

I second the emotion of Psalm 43:1 & 2.  I need reassurance that we were on the right track to take C4L up to the next level.  But it doesn’t come.  Just more delays.

Government steps to the beat of its own drum.  We submitted two tender bids on November 15^th.  If we had been 8 minutes late, past the 11 a.m. deadline, we would have been disqualified.  We thought it might take 8 weeks to get an answer.  It took 5 months – to get a letter of appointment.  Now 8 months have passed and we are still waiting.

Why am I discouraged?  Why am I restless?

I trust you!  And I will praise you again

Because you help me, and you are my God.

We were approached to co-host the Community Work Programme in our province.  I had already written a lot about youth unemployment before being invited into this Joint Venture.  Some one said recently that youth unemployment has become “the new AIDS” – meaning that it has replaced AIDS as the primary social evil of 2012.  So we rose to the challenge.

But the way that government works and the way that NGOs work are not in sync.  Government sees our Joint Venture as a “contractor” and expects it to pour in money that we don’t have to get the job done.  To them, it’s a pay-later plan!  This is causing havoc because the NGO that approached us to co-host the CWP with them had understood that government would award grants, or at least monthly reimbursements.  At this stage, 3 months have gone by without any drawdown from government.  This is double-jeopardy for C4L – short on reserves and being expected to front finance for the roll out of a government programme!

That one certainly qualifies as tilting with windmills!

Now here we go with another windmill – the Jobs Fund.  We have been shortlisted, and we now are formulating the full project proposal.  It’s always exciting to look ahead, to imagine, to envision, to foresee… but are we back in that Don Quixote-esque syndrome of expecting government to behave differently on this one?  Einstein said that insanity is doing the same thing over and over again, and expecting a different result.

Wake up!  Do something, Lord!

Why are you sleeping?  Don’t desert us forever.

Why do you keep looking away?

Don’t forget our sufferings and all of our troubles.

We are flat on the ground, holding on to the dust.

Do something!  Help us!  Show how kind you are

And come to our rescue!

The double-entendre is intended when I say that C4L is on its knees.  But I am encouraged to know, as I read Psalm 44::23 – 26 (above), that it is déjà vu.  So…

Why am I discouraged?  Why am I restless?

I trust you!  And I will praise you again

Because you help me, and you are my God.

Fashions Come and Go, but Style is Forever

 

Recently the Constitutional Court announced that the government’s refusal to give a visa to the Dalai Lama (to come to Desmond Tutu’s 80^th birthday last year) was unconstitutional.  Was there ever any doubt that this was a quintessential case of Triumphalism?  I mean, if there was ever a case of shooting Bambi, this was it!  It was the ANC sucking up to China and nothing more.  Hooray for the Constitutionalists who challenged it, and won!

The Arch joked that the Dalai Lama could now be invited back – for his 90^th birthday party!

This reminded me of an old adage that politicians think of the next election, but statespersons think of the next generation.  I have to say that in my view, too many politicians are mere triumphalists, whereas constitutuionalists tend to be statespersons.

We are on the ever of the ANC’s next leadership conference.  The party has rejected efforts by both business leaders (from the private sectors) and church leaders (from the voluntary sector) to add value to the decisions that will be made.  Nevertheless, many delegates are still people of faith and many of them also realize the supreme importance of public-private partnership.  The composition of the conference delegates will be subjected to various kinds of analysis.  In my case, I am still beating the drum that some of them will be triumphalists and others will be constitutionalists.  But in what proportion?

One optimistic note is that perhaps the most triumphalist of all – the deposed leader of the ANC Youth League – has been sidelined.  This bodes well for the outcomes.

Yesterday’s Business Day carried an article by Carol Paton called What has changed from Polokwane to Mangaung?  (In other words, from the last leadership conference which led to the removal of then-President Thabo Mbeki, til this one.)  It was very insightful…

“In essence, what the Polokwane leadership has achieved in the past five years is to stop the post-1994 trend towards modernization and return to a world in which it is believed that a command-driven approach works best – and one in which the liberation movement and its interests are paramount.

“At the most obvious level, this has meant a significant shift away from constitutionalism, at least ideologically, but also in practical ways, such as the party’s attitude to the judiciary, the criminal justice system, policing, state information and intelligence and, more recently, the economy.  Many of these developments have been criticized and challenged by civil society organizations, intellectuals and the opposition.

“In a less obvious way, what the Polokwane leadership has also achieved is to refashion the party’s relationship with the government, making itself the more significant and important partner.  So while, during the presidencies of Nelson Mandela and Thabo Mbeki, it was the government that took the lead in policy-making, drawing on the expertise and knowledge of public officials, ministerial advisers and experts in various fields, the ANC now has primacy in the making of policy.”

I found this to be very relevant.  It illuminates how potent Triumphalism has become.  Minister in the Presidency Trevor Manuel is quoted as saying: “The system as it is doesn’t work because it structures a relationship between people in the government and people in the ANC, but there is an asymmetry of information between them which is quite profound.  For example, we will have people in government making proposals on nuclear energy and ordinary branch members (having) no idea of what they are talking about”

The Grapes of Wrath

Triumphalism is rooted in the structural inequity that South Africa cannot seem to shake off. 

This has been highlighted of late by striking farm-workers in the wine-growing region of the Cape.  They want a 100% increase in pay from the R75 per day they earn now ($10).  The estate owners say that they cannot sustain such an increase and remain profitable.  This is a stand-off.  You can’t run a business without a profit; but you just cannot live on R75 per day either.

There are still people around who are not fatalistic, who do not accept that “poverty is part of life”.  And they/we are increasingly disappointed that the expectations that rose with the dawn of Democracy have not materialized.  The gains to date are largely because of government largesse – with 15 million citizens now on some kind of direct government aid.  (That is more people than there are in the work force – producing.)  Not all of those who still envision and champion change are Triumphalists, who have a short-sighted tendency to think of the next election as opposed to the next generation.

If C4L wants to champion Constitutionalism during the next 2 years, in the run-up to the next elections – among those youth who have never voted before – then we cannot ignore these “grapes of wrath”.  There is just no getting around the need to bridge this gap – to validate our message.  But how?  Corruption is but an economic way of looting and burning.  It is not thinking of the next generation.  It is becoming the fashion – but it is not Style.

This week, Desmond Tutu was speaking at the memorial service for Kader Asmal.  Minister in the Presidency Trevor Manuel (quoted above) had also spoken.  Tutu got quite animated and asked “What has happened to us? I mean, what has happened to us that we can just go on going on? What is the matter with us?”  He said that he had spoken to Trevor Manuel earlier and said, “You don’t belong in this government”.

Then he said: “Trevor, you tell your boss, that this old man who said he was retired, I am going to come back.  No, I am not going to come back… But there’s at least one thing that I can do which doesn’t need anybody’s permission – I am going to pray.  You tell him that this old man is now going to pray, like he prayed for the Nats” (the apartheid regime).

Thinking globally

Here is a thought from a recent article in TIME magazine called Africa Rising: “With a very few notable exceptions, our leaders are not part of accountable governments,” says Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu, chairman of the international mediation body and rights watchdog the Elders. “It's still, if they perform abominably, so what?” The continent's leaders are, by one important measure, less accountable than they were in the past. Since it was set up in 2007 by a Sudanese telecom billionaire, the Mo Ibrahim Index of African Governance has recorded a striking divergence: material improvement along with political deterioration. This year, for the third time, Mo Ibrahim's foundation declined to award its $5 million prize for African leaders who leave office peacefully and democratically. “We are not completely out of the past and into the future,” says Ibrahim.

Acting locally - charity begins at home

C4L cannot find this way through the gauntlet alone, and obviously it is not the only one looking for the way through!  But a reliable road map has not been found.  The Jobs Fund has been a huge disappointment and the Community Work Programme in C4L’s experience has been more of a spawning ground for corrupt triumphalists than anything.

My gauntlet metaphor may mean more to Canadians than Africans.  As C4L runs down this metaphorical corridor, it has triumphalists pounding it on the Left and constitutionalists hammering it on the Right.  They are both correct – the Left saying that the white right has become fatalistic and hardened its shell around its hold on Capital.  The Right saying that there is no future for social justice if it means putting the rule of law on the altar and if South Africa going down the road of (God forbid) a president-for-life. 

On the left, C4L’s Livelihood Security Unit has become the “centre of gravity” for 2013 programming.  It continues to incubate enterprises run by youth in the “green occupations” (including solar but now broader).  This includes entrepreneurship training.  This is what C4L is doing about the glaring gap that has caused the “grapes of wrath” scenario to unfold.  This unit is attracting some donor funding, but it only offers some of the ingredients for enterprise development.  Others are micro-credit for the tools and equipment youth need, business mentoring, and linkages to market opportunities in the formal sector.  Combined, these offer youth a hand up – not a hand-out.

On the right, C4L’s Opportunities for Youth Programme is positioning itself to influence youth who have never voted before, in the run-up to the next elections in 2014 (that is, youth who are 16 – 21 years of age today).  But this voter education has to be delivered very judiciously and as inconspicuously as possible!  Even though it is civic education, not politics.  C4L will have to use tools like social networking, blogging and cellphone sites – where youth congregate virtually.  This is not the kind of work that lends itself to grantseeking – few Donors will want to risk it.  So we ask you to consider pledging support to this cause for the next 2 years, or to make a one-off donation to help get it going in early 2013.  Please keep this in mind as you are closing your accounts for the year.

Remember that gifts in Canada can be sent through:

            St Paul’s United Church

PO Box 88

            Warkworth, ON

            K0K 3K0

Please mark the gifts “for C4L outreach”.