Could we run out of water?

For a long period, South Africans enjoyed some of the cheapest electricity rates in the world. Our grid was well managed and power shortages were a figment of the imagination. Within a fairly short space of time we were reduced to scheduled and spontaneous load shedding and an uncertain future.

The ACDP has now drawn attention for strong, but important, remarks to the effect that the present government needs to look ahead towards a potential water crisis and take necessary action now rather than later. In industry they call it "preventative maintenance", as opposed to "reactive maintenance", which was how our electricity crisis was handled.

The full press release is available here:
http://www.acdp.org.za/press/releases.asp?show=press558.txt

Water has always been a national concern, hence what seemed to be a huge overreaction to the political crisis in Lesotho several years ago, owing to our considerable investments in the Highlands Water Project. What is of particular concern now is that we have a growing economic base in this country, with new consumer power and expenditure. For the same reason that our electricity supply fell short, we face the very real prospect that our once adequate water supply may also fall short of the new demand.

Compared to some of the droughts we've experienced over the last few decades, these have been good years as far as rainfall is concerned. This lends itself to the possibility that we're living a lot closer to the border line than we anticipated. A few years of drought could be very bad news.

Of course the problem of water supplies in South Africa has been well explored and I won't explore possible resources now. All that needs to be said is: let's learn from our experiences and prepare well for the future.

Jo-Ann Downs Delivers the Goods With Scopa Role

If you follow current affairs closely, you'll be aware that reports indicate Jo-Ann Downs is to be removed as chair of the Scopa committee. It is understood that the ANC had concerns about her exposing material to the media, although the general consensus in the media is that her role posed a threat to corruption within the ANC.

Interestingly, it appears the post may be given to former ACDP leader, Rev Hawu Mbatha, who crossed the floor in the formation of Nadeco.

Jo-Ann Downs' approach to her role is a trademark of the role the ACDP has needed to play since its inception in 1994, namely to be a voice, to punch above its weight and to carry its cross despite the impending threats. If Downs were to have played the game of politics, she would have known well to keep her mouth shut and play along, assured of appropriate rewards, a pat on the back and the invitation to cross floors at a convenient time. Ultimately, when you know what is right and fail to do it, the after-taste of failure outweighs the avoidance of responsibility.

While the ACDP will never settle on being just an opposition party, like the DA, there is a time to be faithful with the small things, and see God entrust us with more when the time is right. May Jo-Ann's example inspire us to continue working hard towards future reward rather than present comfort.

Who's The Boss?

It might be fascinating to walk down the street interviewing people, asking them: "Who is the boss of your life?" You'll probably get fairly similar responses ... myself, my wife, my parents, God.

In fact, this question of who does the bossing is an incredibly important shaper of our decisions, our policies and our outlook on life. I had no idea how significant this was until I started to analyse political views in light of this issue. Let's take a look at a number of divisive issues in this light...

The "boss" issue is crucial to the issue of abortion. Pro-choice is distinctly about showing that the mother is the boss and has all the choices. In homosexuality and gay marriage, once again its about individual choice - that the individual is the boss and nobody can impose morality on them. Move along to pornography and clearly we're dealing with the same issue - personal preference rules over a general morality that is imposed on the individual.

Without much effort, we'll see that this emphasis on being your own boss is a key agenda in the liberal and humanist movement. Personal independence is closely related to the humanist concept of man as god and the intrinsic good nature that is everyone's makeup.

At that moment a party like the ACDP walks in and demands that God be recognised in the constitution as the head over all things. This is not just a bunch of wording in the constitution to appease the religious right, but rather a very distinct answer to the question of: who is the boss? When you begin to walk down that road, you'll see policies change.

On the question of abortion, the mother is not the boss anymore, but she is under a greater law and a greater duty, that of protecting what has been entrusted to her. In homosexuality, when God said marriage is between one man and one woman, that's the way it must be if He's the boss. Pornography falls away under a similar greater law.

It won't take long to study modern media and know that there is a distinct emphasis on choice, independence, questioning of authority and doubt in the wisdom preached by leadership. While there is a healthy position of awareness and pressure on unfair authority where one has the scope for such a position, where would you say the pendulum has swung to? Would you say it's fair to admit that we're repulsed by the thought of subjugating ourselves to a "greater power"?

The reality is that we're all sheep, led along by silly impulses, vain thoughts, short-term grievances, long-term cynicism. We have strains of beauty, moments of clarity and dashes of kindness, but when we stop and take a long, hard look at ourselves, we all know there's a selfishness that rules us to the point that our decisions our not always in other's interests, and even worse, not always in our own interests either. We hate to bend our knee to God, but at some point, by volition or without, we're all ready to admit we haven't got it all together.

The ACDP's position is not that we want a country under God in subjugation, control and manipulation. Rather, we believe that there is a better way for South Africa, a greater good, a bigger love, a gentler kindness, a superior wisdom. We know as everyone does, whether they admit it or not, that humankind is hell-bent and fails to walk the line they know is best, despite their best intentions. Our position is first humility and then gratitude. Humbled that we fall so far short; grateful that God keeps giving us a second chance and a hope and a future. Bow our knees? Happily.

The Only Multi-Racial Party?

Every political party in South Africa sets out with the objective of being multi-racial - of having a healthy blend of black, white, coloured and Indian members. It's an enigma that's hard to chase down, because you have to pull different worldviews together and have everybody focusing in on the same objectives.

Let's for a moment look at the different political parties and be frank about their ethnic make-up. The ANC has always had strongly black roots, including a strong Xhosa influence, but pulling in considerable sections of Indian and coloured support too. The IFP has undoubtedly always been primarily a Zulu party. The UDM gets most of its support from blacks in Kwazulu-Natal and the Eastern Cape. The Minority Front represents the Indian vote, and the Freedom Front has a conservative white representation. The PAC and SACP have nearly always been primarily black parties. The ID are perhaps more difficult to class. The DA are still primarily a white party, with decent support from Indians and coloureds and some disenchanted blacks.

That brings us to the ACDP. The ACDP was founded from a black president's vision, has always had good white involvement, and has been effective in both the Indian areas of KZN and the coloured areas of the western provinces. The current NEC (National Executive Committee) is a full mix of the four of the primary ethnicities. Black support has always been a strong part of the party and Limpopo is a huge growth area among the blacks.

This is remarkable - can any other party in South Africa claim the representivity that the ACDP enjoy? How can it be possible? Simply, it's the Christian message that pulls everyone together. Christianity has been a stunningly successful unifier across the globe with millions of converts across China, Brazil, India, Europe, Africa, North America, etc. The ACDP has a rigorous set of values that don't shift with the winds and the party has always stressed its values over its personalities, which is why its members have less trouble looking beyond skin colour and looking to the issues themselves.

The implications are huge... the ACDP's ethnic balance simply makes the party better placed than the DA to replace the ANC. The DA will either need to shake off its "white party" image, or pull the majority black population to the point where they are disenchanted with the blacks' ability to run a government. On the contrary, the ACDP already have the ethnic balance that the DA crave, and with their emphasis on federalism over centralism are better able to adapt to the cultures of specific areas.

For the Record: ACDP Stands Against Abortion

The recently passed Choice on Termination of Pregnancy Amendment Bill went through with 266 votes to 52, with 12 abstentions. The bill makes provision for maternity centres to perform abortions without the prior 24-hour approval, and also allows nurses to perform abortions in addition to midwives as before.

Once again, the ACDP has stood up loudly and raised its voice about the heinous crime of abortion. It needs to be pointed out that the Democratic Alliance again refrained from taking any action on matters that hurt the country - their grant of a free vote to members on this issue is proof yet again that the DA serve only to be an opposition party and refuse to stand up and be accountable as one for the issues that face our country.

We're grateful for the media attention granted to the ACDP on this matter and look forward to more as we continue to fight the good fight. And it is a good fight.

For further reference, see the Mail & Guardian: http://www.mg.co.za/articlepage.aspx?area=/breaking_news/breaking_news__national/&articleid=329930&referrer=RSS

Also see the views of Christians For Truth: http://www.cft.org.za/actions/2007/20070808_info_from_dfl_term_preg.htm

And finally, the bill itself: http://www.info.gov.za/gazette/bills/2003/b72-03.pdf

Media Caught in a Tug of War

Jacob Zuma for once made his stance a little clearer by some rather provocative statements about the SA media recently. Among his writings come some interesting quotes:

"There are few, if any, mainstream media outlets that articulate a progressive left perspective."

"Those with power, particularly economic power, are keen that the media serves to reinforce their privileged position, while those who seek a more equitable distribution of resources campaign for a media that serves the cause of a more equitable society."

"At times, the media functions as if they are an opposition party"

Funnily enough, many members of the ACDP hold the opposite view much of the time: that the media is overly left-aligned and distinctly humanist (which is a bad word in ACDP circles). Perhaps in light of Zuma's comments we should be grateful that the media is not more left-aligned than it already is.

While the media does clearly dish out criticism of the present government, most of that criticism is deserved - for that kind of criticism to be withheld would be a violation of the integrity of the media. But then again, violation of integrity seems to have become far less of a taboo within the ANC than it should be. We watched with fascination in 1999 as the SABC covered the election build-up. The cameras covered each party's campaigns, throwing in little curse words over each one. When it came to the ACDP, the narrator said the event being shown was more like a sermon than a political campaign. But no bad words were said when the ANC event was shown. This was a blatant indication of ANC bias within the media. How can Zuma dare to suggest that the SABC is insufficiently aligned to his movement?

South Africa's media can undoubtedly improve. It can start leaning closer to integrity, good values, work ethics and basic human values, like the right to life of an unborn baby. If Zuma thinks the media leans too far to the right, he is wrong. It should lean even further.

Inside View: An ACDP Meeting

With a world of shenanigans, wild promises, concealed corruption and a bag of tricks up any given sleeve, you might wonder just what goes on inside a political party. Just what do they discuss at their meetings?

Well, here's an inside look at a typical ACDP meeting, a regional one I attended on Saturday in my role as a Provincial Executive Council member...

Not particularly well attended, numbers were typical of a "mid-season", the time between elections. Election time naturally draws a small crowd of hopefuls, and of course the energy levels rise when the competition heats up. Nevertheless, there are always the faithful few who keep the fires burning and spur the others on. Again we were the faithful few, the stalwarts.

Personalities? Looking around the room that day, I saw a steady-eddie type, very principled but mostly a gentle, understated motivator. Then there was a real rock - a solid, well-weighted person who gave a good answer to every question. A quiet person to the right. Then next to me a loyal servant of the party for many years, enthusiastic but more likely to follow than to lead - good people to work with. Another three who made small contributions with regards to council matters in the city. And then another with a very principled view and keen to emphasise any good points that came up. To my right, a more proactive type, quite involved in a poor community, helping poor families fill out grant forms - working at the grass roots, an eager beaver for community matters. And lastly, a strong person, not saying as much, but with a lot to say, if you get what I mean. Overall, a gentle, cohesive bunch made up of 3 different ethnicities.

The agenda was very well adhered to, with particular emphasis on protocol - a record of apologies, a register and a brief word of encouragement from each person in turn. There is a strong Christian emphasis in the party, with plenty of prayer, a Scripture here and there, and frequent mention of the Lord. My personal contribution was a reminder from the Bible that those who are faithful with little will be entrusted with much. It was met with thank you's, approving mm-hms and amens.

Formalities aside it was a really productive meeting. We tackled the inevitable issue of funding. I suggested selling ACDP marked merchandise, with would bring in funding, help with marketing and give the buyers an increased sense of belonging. There was mention of opening a bank account for one of the branches. Of course an account incurs bank charges, but the ACDP is the only party in South Africa that keeps its books completely open, so transparency of funds is important.

So maybe this is boring and you want juicy titbits? Well, it emerged that one of the members had been a key member of a local organisation taking care of orphans. The ANC mayor recognised the threat this councillor held with such a good role and promptly spent R500,000 (apparently) on a Christmas party for the orphans. A video was made of the work the ANC "is doing with orphans". Of course, we have no chance of competing with this, except to make a story of it, which our media person will now do with the local paper.

Other administrative matters aside, we discussed marketing, always a key point. Attention was pulled back to the ugliest but most important marketing method: door-to-door visitation. Simply, every representive in an area needs to knock as many doors as possible. It's pretty daunting! And of course you don't get paid for it, except that if you do well and get elected, then you get a councillor's salary (R9000 - R14000 per month). Personally, I'm thinking of just going down a local business street and walking to every counter and saying: Hi, just want to let you know that the ACDP are in the area. If they tell me to foetsak, I'll promise to be back in one month just to prove that we keep our promises!

I guess a meeting like this would bore most people, but running a political party is far more about administration and motivation than about planning where to plant secret microphones in rival offices! In the ACDP we have this small hope: that all of the hard work we've put in over the 14 years will be justly rewarded and not undone by an unjust political system. Here's hoping. And praying.