This past Tuesday I went to the National Assembly and witnessed the passing of the Secrecy Bill. To see MPs voting as slaves to their party rather than as servants of the people was sad — the notable inspiring exception being Gloria Borman. But as Upton Sinclair said: “It is difficult to get a man [sic] to understand something when his salary depends upon his not understanding it.” The Secrecy Bill goes against what we know to be true about the human condition and that is when we mess up — we cover up. Adam and Eve taught us that. And therefore laws should make it more difficult to cover up and not easier. Laws should encourage people to be whistle-blowers of the truth rather than threaten to criminalise the truth-teller. Let us stay awake….
In the evening I bore witness to another meeting — this time in Khayelitsha and of mostly young people. The venue was very different to parliament’s plushness and that was not the only difference. The conversation was defiantly hope-full. I listened to people dream of “one Cape Town” and declare that they “cannot wait for government to deliver” so they must “deliver themselves – through education” and I listened to speakers encourage young people to become “lawyers for the poor”. How the crowd appreciated being seen as a generation full of potential rather than a lost generation. Today is the first Sunday of Advent — a day of hope-filled expectation. For me Advent started on Tuesday evening. Alan
