Alec Hogg: “I have a dream…for SA in 2017.” Here’s mine. Please send us yours.

By Alec Hogg

It was 53 years ago that Reverend Martin Luther King delivered his stirring “I have a dream…” speech on behalf of the 10% of Americans who were oppressed by their racist fellows. 

Martin Luther King

Five years later, this Man of God paid the ultimate sacrifice when assassinated by a 40-year-old escaped prisoner. But his words lived on, inspiring the previously hopeless everywhere. South Africa had its own version of this great leader in Nelson Mandela who, like King, dreamed to see his country free of domination by any one race of another.

Like those two iconic personalities, we, too, are entitled to dream.

And the dawning of a new year is as good a time as any to remind us of how Albert Einstein explained in his eulogy to Spanish musician Pablo Casals that: “The world is in greater peril from those who tolerate or encourage evil than from those who actually commit it.”

So how about dreaming about the SA you want? And then doing something about it?

I’ve asked a few people to share their dreams, so look out for them this week. Hopefully they will inspire you to put down your own dream for SA and email the contribution to [email protected] so we can share it widely. Here is mine.

I have a dream that in 2017…

  • South Africa regains its moral compass and takes the first steps to reclaim the admiration of the world. 
  • The country rediscovers its God-Fearing heritage, judging all proposals by its leaders against the standards of a Higher Authority.
  • The nation rejects the wicked agenda of self-centred beings who create myths to divide people along racial lines.
  • The plan to bankrupt the country through a deeply corrupt and unaffordable nuclear build programme lands in the dumpster of history.
  • President Jacob Zuma remembers he serves at the pleasure of the South African people and starts to put their interests ahead of his own and that of the ANC.  
  • Those who have plundered the public purse are arrested and assets spirited out of the country seized and repatriated.
  • A Government of National Unity is created, galvanising the nation through a shared belief SA is not pre-ordained to become another corrupted, failed African State.
  • Thuli Madonsela’s report into State Capture enjoys the respect it deserves with Chief Justice Mogoeng Mogoeng appointing a Commissioner to fulfil its recommendations.
  • A second commission of inquiry is launched into the sale of South Africa’s entire strategic oil reserve at below the market price, the miscreants apprehended and their ill-gotten gains seized.
  • The compromised heads of law enforcement services are ejected, replaced by a new wave of committed civil servants who prioritise actually serving the public. 
  • Archbishop Desmond Tutu is awarded South Africa’s highest civilian honour that he so richly deserves; and in October celebrates his 86th birthday in Cape Town with the Dalai Lama in attendance.
  • Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan fires SARS head Tom Moyane and resuscitates the investigations unit to aggressively pursue all tax dodgers, including the politically influential, without fear or favour.
  • The Office of State Procurement works with the new leaders of law enforcement agencies to eradicate tenderpreneurship and recover money stolen from the public purse.
  • South Africa embraces the diaspora, its 10th Province. And rolls out the welcome mat for those who would love to return, bringing home much needed skills, capital and tax-paying capacity.

Is this an extravagant dream? I think not. It begins with a commitment to promote democracy for the good of all the people. And a determination to fight evil wherever this Medusa raises her ugly head.   

  • Alec Hogg is the founder and editor of Biznews.com
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