It is allegiance to the nation that they will not betray the people who voted for them. And so our current crop of Ministers and MPs have pledged this to the nation and it is only fair to expect them to deliver on their promise.
The media, the civil society and all citizens have a right to and should hold these representatives accountable. In the presence of a strong opposition and/or civil society, the media as the mirror of the nation has to articulate the nation's concerns. In this country the private media plays that role. We have said it many times and will keep warping around it for as long as we need to: democracy, respect for human rights, and some of the pillars that shaped this nation such as botho and consultation have been dumped. It is moot to discus any national concern without opening doors for dialogue, as is increasingly the case. It is wrong when force is used unnecessarily and people are murdered. The Kalafatis murder is a case in point. It is wrong when government refuses to sign important international right-assuring instruments such as the SADC Gender Protocol. We say it is wrong when people are dismissed willy-nilly - as in the case of the DBES directors, only for government to settle out of court and use the taxpayers' money to pay for its carelessness. It certainly is wrong when government issues ill-thought directives from time to time and takes away people's liberties and rights. We cannot afford to remain mum when we see our country going the direction of many failed African states.
