We Strongly Condemn The Kidnapping Of The Nigerian School Girls
Let me start by firstly congratulating the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) for delivering a free and fair election. It is credit to their hard work and systems that our elections do not have to wait for days on end after the last vote has been counted before the results are declared. Neither have we ever had to resort to the courts to resolve any disputes around our election results. The IEC is one of our best performing Chapter 9 institutions and we should all give it our support.
Congratulations to the ruling party are also in order for the renewed mandate it has received from 62 percent of our citizens who cast their votes. I pray that it takes its renewed mandate with humility and an increased sense of service to the people of South Africa. It must extend the dividends of democracy to the poor and to those who still remain on the margins of society.
Well done to the Democratic Alliance for the increase in voters that it has shown in these elections and for retaining the Western Cape. Opposition politics has a role to play in any democracy worth its salt. The opposition encourages accountability by government and we need it to keep issues alive and on the front burner. Through healthy debate, it can promote a national conversation and push democratic discussion to a higher level. In this regard, the DA has played its role and has been duly rewarded - in the form of an increased number of votes - by some of our citizens.
The elections have been robust and fiercely contested, thanks to all the parties that participated in them. Now that they are over, we need to put our shoulder to the wheel and continue building our country. We may all wear different colour T-shirts but ultimately what binds us together should be our South Africans, a common desire to see our country succeed and a commitment to contribute to the well-being of Africa and the world.
Talking about the well-being of our continent, it should rile every African and indeed every citizen of the world that in this day and age that we could have 276 schoolgirls be abducted by religious fanatics. The abduction of these innocent girls in Nigeria by the Islamic militant group Boko Haram (loosely meaning Western Education is sin) is religion gone mad. This group is supposedly propagating the teachings of Prophet Mohamed through the terror and fear it has unleashed in Nigeria.
I was glad to hear an Islamic cleric on television two days ago condemning Boko Haram and lambasting it for distorting the Islamic religion. Also reassuring to hear was the pronouncement by Saudi Arabia's Grand Mufti, the top religious authority in the birthplace of Islam, condemning Boko Haram and accusing it of being "misguided" and "smearing the image of Islam". It would seem what prompted the leadership of Islam to denounce Boko Haram is the claim by its leader Abubakar Shekau that Allah had told him to sell off the kidnapped girls as forced brides. What religious nonsense!
As a religious leader, albeit of a different faith, I welcome the pronouncements by the Islamic authority and urge those of my faith and of any other religions to join the "Bring Back Our Girls" campaign. Equally, I commend countries such as Britain, China, France and the United States of America for sending practical help to Nigeria to help trace the schoolgirls. The United Nations has also weighed in on this matter and its Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon has also dispatched an envoy to Nigeria to help find the girls.
While we should welcome the international help, it is regrettable that a lot of time had to elapse before the world appreciated the magnitude of this problem and the plight the faced by the parents of the girls. When a Malaysian plane recently disappeared the swiftness of the world's response and the resources that were made available affirmed the brotherhood (and sisterhood) of mankind. We expect the same when African lives are involved.
I must say I am somewhat disappointed by Africa itself in its response to this crisis. Except for the diplomatic statements declaring solidarity with the people of Nigeria in the face of the terror by Boko Haram, I have not seen any resolve and throwing of resources to deal with what is clearly getting out of hand - if Boko Haram is not kidnapping innocent children then it is planting bombs. The group’s atrocities are becoming too much and we need to see a strong resolve, first by the continent, to deal with it.
So, as we bask in the glory of our democracy as evidenced in our recent elections, let us not forget about the kidnapped children in Nigeria and the struggles of others on the continent. Without peace and security on our continent, our democracy is incomplete.
