LETTER: Cookie-cutter politics no help

Even during our unemployment crisis there is one industry that keeps adding jobs no matter what: politics (“Activist-turned-banker Roger Jardine states his political ambitions”, December 10).

Roger Jardine’s outfit, Change Starts Now, is the latest addition to the long list of new political parties that are emerging in the run-up to next year’s election.

Unlike some of its competitors, this endeavour seems to be an explicit pitch for the presidency by Jardine, which may turn out to be astute in the long run. Should a multiparty coalition win enough seats to form a government, he is precisely the kind of safe pair of hands they might settle on.

However, while Jardine could end up being the right man for the right moment, his current contribution to our politics is to further oversaturate the market. Let it never be said that SA does not have an entrepreneurial spirit.

However, unlike a competent hairdresser, not everyone needs a political cause. Players like Jardine and Rise Mzansi’s Songezo Zibi are competing for the same voters, using roughly the same message. Their proposition is hollow, their policy platforms as of yet nonexistent and their rhetoric deserving of — at most — a third-place finish at a dodgy high school public speaking competition.

These cookie-cutter movements are vulnerable to similar attacks, but they have also received similar praise. Ultimately, the net effect is nil, and we are better served focusing our attention elsewhere.

Justin de Swardt
Via email

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