EVITA'S PEOPLE'S PARTY

Evita Bezuidenhout on Parliament steps

Links

www.pdu.co.za

www.evita.co.za

www.thedarlingtrust.org

The Way Forward

_________________________________________________________________

DATE: 25 January 2009

 The leader of Evita's People's Party, Mrs Evita Bezuidenhout, presents a
 prelude to the manifesto of her party:
 ________________________________________________________________________

 "Some South Africans are scared to vote in our pending General Election in
 case something bad happens to them. Believe me, the bad things only happen if
 we don't vote.
 'Yes Tannie Evita, but if someone asks me if I am going to vote for the
 new Congress of the People, and I say yes, maybe I'll lose my job? My friends
 might be upset? I don't know what to do.!'

 Why do so few South African voters know the most important detail of our
 democratic election process: the vote is secret. Which simply means, don't
 tell anyone who you will vote for! Keep your secret. If anyone comes to
 you and says: 'Vote for our party, or else we burn down your house.'
 Lie!
 Say: 'Of course I will vote for you! Amandla! Viva!' And then on election
 day, when you are in that voting booth away from the eyes of the world,
 you decide. You make your cross next to your choice. No one need to know.

 The problem is that if we hide our votes, we buckle to intimidation. We're
 still too scared to say upfront whom we support. It could lead to the rigging of
 ballot boxes, which will be difficult to counteract because no one will
 admit they voted for the opposition. Yes, ideally we should tell the bullies to
 get lost if they can't tolerate democracy. Weg is jy, Malema! Some people will
 and must do it. Diversity and tolerance of opinion is better than kowtowing to
 thuggery. I think we are on the right path. But for those who need secrecy
 to protect the exercising of their opinion, don't be scared to use it.

 Many of our people have also approached the EPP with confusing comments
 about the fact that they don't know who to vote for. Why should you
 already have made up your mind? Each party is still presenting their plans and
 intentions, roughly called a Manifesto. Some parties are detailed and thorough. Others
 fly familiar flags of fashion and don't really tell you anything new. The
 point is, once the election date has been announced by President Motlanthe, probably
 at the Opening of Parliament on 5th February, the fun really starts. Out of
 the 400+ political parties registered with the IEC, the real contenders will
 then step forward. In order to get onto the final ballot, the party has to have
 a definite commitment of intent and a huge financial deposit to be paid.
 That cuts most out. The Cat and Dog Party in Goedehoop will not be on the
 ballot. But the ANC will, if they remember to register in time. We will
 see COPE, the DA, ID, IFP, UDM, ACDC, and FF+. I doubt if any of the other
 minor fleas on the flank of the democratic elephant will be able to afford the
 struggle to Parliament. Proportional representation means that if you get
 that handful of votes that qualify the first name on your list for a seat,
 your financial troubles are over. There's lots of money in the golden pot at
 the end of that rainbow. Politics and governing have very little do with it.
 The real competition to find the winners, our political version of
 'Idols', will be between the ruling ANC and the potential opposition. That will
 either be one party in coalition with others, or a massive swing behind a
 specific alternative to what the present government offers.

 I always go back to the kitchen. We have a democratic dining room called
 South Africa. It has many kitchens serving the voting customers. So be a
 fussy shopper. Go into each kitchen: the ANC one, DA, ID, IFP etc - and look
 into their pots. Taste their starters, their main courses and their just
 desserts. Choose your dish. Decide what will be right for your children
 and family. Find what you want for your rosy future and for the rainy day
 after tomorrow. Expose the struggle tsotsis and political pirates who are hiding
 behind their Constitutional rights to demean our freedoms and avoid
 strengthening them with your support.

 We are sick of lies. We are tired of corruption. We are bored with
 excuses.
 Barack Obama enthused an entire American Nation with three simple words:
 'Yes we can!' Evita's People's Party wants to inspire the South African
 voter by reminding all our politicians: 'No, you can't!'

 You can't go to Parliament with a criminal record. You can't get away with
 crime and fraud. You can't ignore your responsibilities to the communities
 that voted for your party. You can't hide behind the word 'racism'. You can't
 think that just because you're a cadre on a list you can rule the world without
 rules.
 You are not our Royal Family. You are more important: chosen by the people
 to work for the people.

 Let us do our homework and make sure we audition these Idols properly.
 Make them sing for their supper. Question their intentions and their
 commitments.
 Force them into the spotlight of fame and watch them sweat out their
 talents, some small, some great. And then we will also be able to say: 'Yes, we
 did!'
 Let the people lead and the government can follow.

 So don't feel panicked. It's still early days. Jacob Zuma has a few more
 wives to marry before we go to the polls. No one can predict who will win,
 because for the first time in our history, we have the possibility of a
 healthy balance of potential political power.

 The vote is secret. The vote is sacred. Each one of us has it, like a key
 to the door to the future. Know that you could be that one citizen who with
 your vote can change the future of our country. For better, or for worse."
________________________________________________________________

LOOKING AT A NEW YEAR 2009

 The great thing we learnt about democracy in 2008 is: it is
 misuser-unfriendly.
 If you decide that politics is the only way to get rich quickly, the
 strain of living an honest life will probably kill you after a few years. No one
 wants to know a politician who is only after personal gain. Politicians are
 supposed to be servants of the people, working for the people and caring for the
 people.
 So they have to lie and pretend that they do care and hope no one finds
 out that they couldn't give a damn about the people. And believe me, having
 gone through some decades of National Party rule, I can see a 'skynheilige'
 façade a mile off.

 Today with a hungry media poised to pounce on the slightest suggestion of
 rumour, politicians can no longer get away with a moral high ground tucked
 away in their official briefcase. BEE does not help either. For even though to
 white eyes all black names start with M and look alike, the proof of that
 Butibond corruption is in the width of the seat. Compare the pictures of the
 majority of our leading political energies. Mandela's cabinet of 1994 was trim, slim,
 elegant and looked their age of hope and optimism. The same people today
 are so wobbly and bulbous, they can scarcely move without an entourage of
 underlings there to bounce them along. I pity those ministers who have had to admit
 to hiring private jets to fly around the world. The width of their bums won't
 allow them to fit into economy class seats. To get into their private
 Fokker 456s they need a hoist that costs the taxpayer a few million extra rand.

 Of course during the apartheid regime there were no checks and balances.
 Ironically today there are just cheques in bank balances. But please make
 no mistake: the Broeders enriched themselves thoroughly while working for
 'Volk en Vaderland'. And with God on their side. I see Jacob Zuma is now
 bringing the Almighty into his election campaign as a junior partner. Beware
 Mshowerlosi.
 The Lord doesn't take second billing to anyone, even when that person, in
 desperation to attract votes, pretends to suffer as much as His Son did.

 As leader of Evita's People's Party (EPP) I find myself very much on the
 sidelines. But I get on very well with all leaders of other parties
 because no matter how we might differ on issues, they deserve the respect that I
 expect from them. Sadly, in the panic of preparation they don't have time to even
 look after themselves. I watch the chaos and confusion swirling round the
 foundations of this fragile democracy. My trump card is the fact that
 there is only one member of my party. Me.

 I don't have to tolerate a barrage of dropouts, suddenly appearing in
 their best suits and CV's, drooling over the possibility of wealth, contracts
 and power. I see it happening with COPE as old rubbish hits the new fan. It's
 impossible to even think of supporting a new party, when the windscreen to
 the future is so encrusted with the garbage of the past. I saw it happen to
 the Democratic Party, when they greedily embraced the worst of the defunct New
 National Party and welcomed them into the inner circle. Inviting the
 cholera germs into the water supply.

 I saw it happen when my favourite political whirlwind, Patricia de Lille,
 stood bravely alone and serene in the knowledge that if she alone could
 lead, the country would follow. A David in her pantsuit and sling, ready to take
 on the Goliath of ANC bla-bla. So much made sense with the ID, a new party
 that crossed political borders to speak loudly for the millions that are still
 voiceless, and in many areas like the Western Cape, also toothless. But
 soon the 'kakkerlakke' and 'goggas' came out of the  political garbage.
 Loyalties depended not on passionate care and commitment, but insistence on 'my kar,
 my huis, my geld, my kantoor'! The good in each party is being suffocated
 by the flotsam and jetsom of failed movements of a failed yesterday.

 Oh yes, they have come to me too.
 'Tannie Evita? Do you remember me? I was the one who fought the Struggle.I
 freed Mandela.I voted for democracy.I will kill for you.' And I have to
 put on my sweetest face of remorse and through tears of regret, tell them that in
 my party there is no democratic freedom to make them rich and a burden. There
 is only the freedom to protect democracy from chancers like them.

 Various party manifestos are being rolled out, from ANC, through COPE to
 DA, ID, IFP, UDM and the other little noises. They all sound the same.
 'Poverty' is once again the beach ball of the next election. As in the past, each
 party will catch it, run with it and then score a few goals. And once the votes
 have been counted, the ball will be deflated and left to lie in the gutter,
 along with the many promises that simple people clutched at and voted for. More
 lies, but chillingly less façade.

 The President of the African National Congress, a superstar in the mould
 of a Michael Jackson, (though not ashamed of his colour,) sweeps through
 communities with his promises to all. 'Yes to you, okay to you, definitely
 to you.' Death penalty on Monday. Amnesty on Tuesday. God on Wednesday. A
 fifth wife on Thursday. Honest man on Friday, umshini wami on Saturday. And on
 Sunday he rests. Every time this nice man (and he has treated me with great
 respect - always. Well granted, I've never been in a room alone with him for more
 than a minute. But Jacob still allows me to call him by his Zulu name: Innocent!)
 opens his mouth, a thousand votes fly to some other destination. Julius
 Malema (could he be a DA mole?) could make a career in Idols singing 'I did it my
 way'. He threatens to become a Cabinet Minister in a 2009 ANC Government.
 Is this not a reason to vote in the next general election?

 No. The reason to vote is because you want to be part of the future of the
 most extraordinary country in the world. The 2009 Election is not about
 power or politics. It's about the grandchild who is still trying to work out if
 Harry Potter is a cousin of Liewe Heksie. It's about the teenager who doesn't
 think he (or she) will ever get a job. It's about the raped child, the
 abused wife, the jobless father, the sick gogo and the dying matriach. It is
 about the future five years from now. For if we don't vote in 2009, our children
 and grandchildren might not have that luxury.

 Time to say stop to the greedy chancers. Time to say enough of the
 reality-tv show called 'Party Politics'. We know these people. They have nothing to
 offer.
 It's time we focused on those who did. So, voters? Do you homework.
 Evita's People's Party wants you to see our democracy as a dining room for all
 people.
 But there are many kitchens: the ANC kitchen, the DA, the ID, the IFP,
 UDM, ACDP, PAC, FF+, COPE. Demand to see their menus. What dish do you want?
 Because whatever you choose, you will have to eat it for the next five years.
 Democracy is not a picnic. No takeaways. It's a sit down dinner for a
 nation and it takes 48 months. What you eat you will become. A fat wobbly greedy
 comrade who grabs whatever they can? Or an honest citizen who somehow
 believes that people must lead and the government can follow.

 'So what's all this about, Tannie?' you might ask. It's about you. Do you
 care? If you don't care, don't complain. It's your choice. But if you do
 care, make sure you are registered as a voter. Tell everyone that the light on
 the edge of the hill ahead is not the end of the world. It is the rest of the
 world. And they have the key to that door. Barack Obama shows us that
 anything is possible. We did it in 1994. So let us keep influencing the rest of our
 world, now and beyond the end of a troubled 2008. Maybe beyond is where
 the rainbow is hiding.

_________________________________________________________________

Evita's People's Party (EPP)

P.O. Box 175 / Darling 7345 / South Africa

email: evita@evita.co.za