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A valuable idea
Editorial:
Mail and Guardian July
21-27, 2006
Not enough has been made of a national
conversation about values. And given that former president Nelson Mandela is
the architect of many values we hold dear, and which appear to be under threat, there is no better week to launch such a dialogue than the week of Mandela’s 88th
birthday.
Heartlines
is a multi-sector initiative to talk about values
in an eight-week programme. With
support from the major faith groupings and the endorsement of Archbishop
Desmond Tutu, it is a conversation worth joining.
The values they have chosen to highlight
are those of “second chances” (for those who have fallen prey to crime, drug
abuse and the like); responsibility; forgiveness; perseverance; self-control;
accepting difference; compassion and honesty.
The SABC, which usually comes in for a
drubbing, deserves praise for making Heartlines
its showpiece public broadcasting initiative for the year.
But it will only work if South Africans
take it to heart and begin the process of introspection. When Mandela led the
ANC, it was the receptacle of many of these values. But, now embroiled in a
vicious power struggle, it no longer provides the national leadership it once
did.
Ordinary South Africans must take Mandela’s
baton and inspect whether we live out our values. Compassion and selflessness
are being torched by an overriding greed and an acquisitive national spirit. A
supposedly developmental state (with money to deliver its programmes) appears
unable to provide even the rudiments of compassion.
One need only look at the billions siphoned
from the welfare grants budget and the Human Rights Commission’s damning
findings on the education system to prove the point. The commission found that,
12 years on and many, many millions of rands later, schoolchildren are no
better provided for.
What of honesty? Growing crime, corruption
and cronyism suggest that acquisitiveness is undermining public integrity. And
diversity? We seem to retreat into our various “native clubs”, showing no real
commitment to realising the promise of non-racialism contained in the
Constitution.
Acknowledging Mandela’s birthday must go
beyond birthday cakes and special supplements. Standing on his shoulders and
respecting his legacy means building on the values he bequeathed. It is hard
but necessary work.
Heartlines
is broadcast on SABC 2 on Sundays at 20h00 and rebroadcast on Saturdays at
14h00 on SABC3.
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