Imagine a country where young people have a vision of how they would like the country to be, actively playing a part in shaping the country’s political landscape.
Where one makes a conscious decision to harness their people’s skills and not only remain in the background, but also be at the forefront of making Mandela’s rainbow nation a reality.
Well, Ayanda Allie didn’t just imagine it but decided to wake up every day and fight for a better country because all her life she says she always had a strong sense of justice.
As a journalist, she covered human interest stories, and as a news anchor, she was always moved by stories of everyday people. She released an album called We, The People. It was a socio-commentary activism album that addresses social ills, as well as encourage the young people to be involved in the change they want to see.
She used her voice to advocate for human rights.
“Having access and being able to have interviews with prominent people in the politics I saw the wrongs of society, and the right as well because you meet people who give off their time to fix their community.
“When you are exposed to all of that, you then have to reflect and think about what you are seeing, that was one of the limitations of journalism that frustrated me. Something told me that I could do something about it, and I then started Ubukho Bami in Soweto.”
Ubukho Bami is an NGO she started to help women and children who are victims of abuse, as well help teens dealing with teenage pregnancy.
She then left journalism and went back to school. She studied community development and joined the department of transport. She says she wanted to understand how the government works, and how it creates policies, implements them, and solves some of the issues that they are trying to deal with at her NGO.
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“Being in government was a huge learning curve. I got to see and understand a lot about how this big machine called government works. What works well, and what could work better and that is when I did my master’s because I wanted to understand how I could do better, and it starts with equipping myself. Understanding more and asking the right questions.
"But I found that when I was in the government I was speaking on behalf of the state, and I could not speak out on the injustices that ordinary people got through. People had to wake up at 4am just so they could be able to get help at home affairs. I realised that the queues are long because the system is not functioning to serve poor people.”
Now as an aspirant candidate at Mmusi Maimane’s party Building One South Africa, Ayanda doesn’t have to picture the kind of South Africa she wants to live and her four boys to grow up in, but she can ensure that the people’s needs are met.
It all started with her reconnecting with Mmusi, who lived in the same township as her and went to the same school.
“When he started his party, he came to our organisation and worked with them. I got to know more about them and what they are doing, and I found there was a space for people who were advocating for social justice but could potentially do it on a political platform. I joined the party first as head of communications, and then I thought I wanted to get into the skim of the game because I believed what they were doing. I found like-minded individuals who did not wait for the government but started wherever they are.”
Quoting rapper Drake, she says when she joined the party, nothing was the same, everything changed.
“The one thing that tied everything together, as a candidate I was able to communicate, advocate for peace, and unity, and hold power to account. This is where I can bring all my qualifications, and experience together and I got my uh-huh moment. I feel fulfilled that every part of me finds expression and a candidate at BOSA.”
People have a perception of what politics is, and with this year’s election being compared to 1994, the young are on the fence unlike the 1994 youth who made sure that they fight for their right to go to the ballot box and cast their votes. The current youth want change, however, most of them didn’t register to vote.
Ayanda says there is a stigma attached to what and who the politician is, and, in most cases, they resemble the worst in communities and when you get into politics people question your integrity and motives.
“That means we are happy as South Africans to resign our future as a country, courage, goals, and aspirations to people who we say are low-lives, crooks, and scammers. That tells me we have now then relegated the trajectory of this country to people we don’t believe can do that job. When I looked around and saw the current leadership that we have, I asked myself what kind of South Africa I want to live in as well as my children.”
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She then realised that South Africa has the kind of leaders that can take the country to the future, but they are doing other jobs and not involving themselves in politics. She says she hopes that the new crop of politicians will awaken South Africans’ spirit to lead and turn the country around. And they can do the work.
“The future leaders are everywhere but the corridors of power where we need them. Why is it that we leave such an important job of running a country and deciding the political things that affect us directly to people who we think are not competent to do the job? I hope this election season opens the eyes of the many young people who want the country to move in a different direction. Lend us your vote, just try us and let us do the work to take South Africa to its full potential."
