Sihle Lonzi
There is a British expression that says “Turkey cannot vote for Christmas.”
Although, the origins of this archetypical expression are still contested, it gained greater popularity when it was used by British Prime Minister, James Callaghan, in a House of Commons debate, in 1979, where he described members of the minority parties as “Turkeys who will be voting for an early Christmas,” after being successfully tricked by the Conservative Party of Margaret Thatcher.
Turkey is the most popular dish during Christmas in the United Kingdom (UK).
It is estimated that of the odd 14 million turkeys which are consumed in the UK, annually, 10 million of them are eaten on Christmas Day.
No other meal is consumed more than Turkey during Christmas in the UK.
Therefore, “Turkeys voting for Christmas” is used to describe a person and/or people who act in a way which is harmful to themselves.
As foolish as it would seem for a herd of cows to come together and vote for the expansion of the industry of butcheries and butchers, so it is for Turkeys to vote for Christmas.
In other words, voting for their own demise.
The former President of South Africa, Thabo Mbeki, has over the past days led a campaign as the Turkey-in-Chief calling for Turkeys to vote for Christmas.
In a campaign trail he officially launched in Soweto he has asked the people of South Africa to vote for the African National Congress (ANC) in the upcoming general elections, something he once proclaimed he would not do.
Over the years former President, Thabo Mbeki, has been very vocal about the demise and moral decay of the organisation he once led, the ANC, and subsequently the destruction of the country as a result of the ANC’s corruption and inability to govern South Africa.
Speaking at a UNISA Dialogue hosted by the Thabo Mbeki African School of Public and International Affairs, last year, former President Thabo Mbeki said that it would not be possible to convince anyone to vote for the ANC when he knew that the ANC is led by criminals.
He went further to say that the ANC has attracted, in its ranks, people who didn’t have the values of the ANC but saw the ANC as a step ladder to government in order to have the possibility to steal.
His onslaught on the ANC and its leadership did not end there.
He also wrote a letter, which he directed to the ANC Deputy President, Paul Mashatile, raising concerns about the manner in which the case of the illegal dollars found at the game farm of President Cyril Ramaphosa, Phala Phala, was being handled.
Mbeki likened the manner in which the ANC is protecting Ramaphosa on Phala Phala to the days it protected Zuma on Nkandla.
He wrote, “In that sense this is no different from the 'Nkandla matter' which, once again, many among our people suspected involved corrupt practice!
History had made the firm and unequivocal statement that we should never have acted as we did for a long time - to support Comrade JZ… Without doubt, the wrong positions we took with regard to the Nkandla matter, impacted negatively on the standing of the ANC with many among the masses of our people. It is equally without doubt that any wrong position we take with regard to the Phala Phala matter will also, in equal measure or more, impact negatively on the standing of the ANC with many among the masses of our people!”
In the same letter Mbeki decried why the ANC would vote against the findings of an independent panel led by former Chief Justice, Sandile Ngcobo, which they appointed simply because it found that President Cyril Ramaphosa has a case to answer with regards to the impeachable offence of having stored, concealed and/or traded in illegal and undeclared foreign currency in his game farm, Phala Phala.
Mbeki made a crucial point that the findings of the independent panel were merely setting a foundation for the establishment of a Multi Party Committee (MPC) to investigate Ramaphosa’s corrupt dealings, and if the ANC truly believed that Ramaphosa was innocent then why stop the investigation? An investigation had the potential to exonerate and clear President Cyril Ramaphosa’s name, unless of course, the ANC did not believe that Ramaphosa was innocent.
He wrote, “OR ARE WE SAYING THAT WE SUSPECT OR KNOW THAT HE HAS DONE SOMETHING IMPEACHABLE AND THEREFORE DECIDED THAT WE MUST PROTECT OUR PRESIDENT AT ALL COSTS BY ENSURING THAT NO MPC IS FORMED?
IF THIS IS THE CASE, WHAT MESSAGE ARE WE COMMUNICATING TO THE MASSES OF OUR PEOPLE ABOUT THE VALUES AND INTEGRITY OF THE ANC?
The way we voted on 13 December 2022 to block the process of the formation of an MPC communicated the unequivocal statement to the masses of the people that we do not want Parliament to seek and gain a deeper and comprehensive understanding of the Phala Phala matter.
In other words, we acted as we did because there is something to hide!”
Why would this same Mbeki, who told us that the ANC has something to hide, tell our people to vote for the ANC?
Why would the same Mbeki who told us that the ANC is protecting its corrupt President, yet again, at the expense of the people of South Africa, tell our people to vote for the ANC?
Why would the same Mbeki who told us that the ANC has Inkabi, whom it uses to assassinate its political opponents, on the payroll of various municipalities around South Africa at the expense of service delivery, tell our people to vote for the ANC? Why would this same Mbeki who criticised the corrupt direct payment scheme of the National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS), tell our people to vote for the ANC?
The reality is that nothing has changed from the time President Mbeki said it would be impossible and irrational to campaign for the ANC till now.
In fact, the state of South Africa under the government of the ANC has gotten worse. Our levels of unemployment are among the highest in the world, especially among the youth, our State Owned Enterprises (SEOs) continue to collapse, corruption is still rampant, crime is uncontrollable, our murder rates are higher than countries which are in war, violence against women and children has increased exponentially, the banks are manipulating our currency, our public hospitals have become mortuaries and our schools run down.
It is Mbeki who said to the youth of South Africa that, "If I come to say to the young, please vote for me, they must ask me why. Ask the ANC, given what has happened over all these years, what justifies that I vote for you?”
Yet, today he goes around contradicting himself, and misleading our people to vote for an organisation that he, himself, does not believe in.
It is becoming more evident as the days pass that Mbeki has lost the courage, moral fibre and boldness to speak truth to power. He has sacrificed and abandoned principle for political expediency. He has succumbed to political trickery, swindling and skulduggery.
To ask the people of South Africa to vote for the ANC is as foolish as asking cows to vote for butcheries, and turkeys to vote for Christmas. We refuse to vote for our own demise and destruction!
Sihle Lonzi is the Economic Freedom Fighters Students’ Command (EFFSC) President.
He writes in his personal capacity.
** The views expressed here are not necessarily those of IOL.
IOL Opinion