Imagine a Free South Africa
We made this video on 27 April 2024 to mark 30 years since the first election in South Africa and highlight the advances we have made as well as the limitations of our constitutional democracy.We are calling on everyone to imagine South Africa where the majority are included and democracy works:
Some of us are old enough to remember when the government served the white minority. When Telkom was a network of copper wires connecting leafy suburbs, the black majority were citizens of independent bantustans.
We remember how in 1993, the ANC opposed the ruling National Party giving cellular licences for Vodacom and MTN. The ANC said the restructuring of the telecoms industry represented “a form of privatisation through the back door”. We remember how the ANC went along with the NP after aligned unions were given BEE shares.
Like many other compromises that saw the adoption of the 1996 Constitution, this new telecommunications ragtime has produced obscene contradictions – technological marvels of high-speed fibre internet for some, mobile connectivity for many, profiteering that has seen the people paying the highest data prices in the world.
It’s Time to invest in democracy. Time to Stop the Thief!
In 1994 we made history when over 85% of the voting-age population voted in our first democratic election. We were filled with hope that democracy would deliver a better life. By the last national election in 2019, the ANC was returned to office with the votes of only 26.8% of the voting-age population. The majority of voting-age South Africans did not vote!
There are many reasons the promise of democracy has turned to anger and despair for most people. One problem: People lack access to information and platforms to express themselves. The democratising potential of the internet has been frustrated by Vodaom and MTN in the name of profit.
Voadaom and MTN are holding our democracy hostage. Join us on 17 May – World Information Society Day – when we protest and demand access to free and affordable data for all.
Please share the attached flyer in your networks and encourage everyone to watch our Freedom Day video.
Let’s imagine a free South Africa for all!
