The erosion of moral values in SA political movements

"WHAT I fear is that the liberators emerge as elitists who drive around in Mercedes Benzes and use the resources of this country to live in palaces and to gather riches."

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There is a saying in various circles, often spoken in whispers, that there is a moral difference between Inkatha and the IFP. The two carry vastly different connotations.

Before 1994, Inkatha Yenkululeko Yesizwe was a movement of voluntary activists - men and women driven by love and passion for liberation, not personal gain.

Contrast this with the post-1994 IFP, a political party whose activists are, to some extent, motivated by "What's in it for me?" - Ngizotholani.

The same troubling shift applies to the ANC. The pre-1994 ANC was a movement of selfless revolutionaries, individuals who sacrificed careers, freedom, and even their lives for the emancipation of our people.

Today's ANC, however, is glaringly consumed by greed, its moral compass shattered.

The veterans of both movements decry this inversion of values, where the Struggle's principled disdain for wealth accumulation has been replaced by a merciless contest in conspicuous consumption.

This is an era where narrow selfinterest trumps the collective good - something the late Dr Margaret Mncadi of the ANC and the living stalwart Abbey Mchunu of the IFP would have condemned in the strongest terms.

At the risk of undermining the work of contemporary women, one cannot help but contrast the women of the struggle era with those of today.