The Interfaith Forum of SA highlights the dire state of public trust and calls for a radical rehabilitation amidst daily protests.
With South Africa rocked by 26 protests daily, a deepening public distrust of formal politics has reached worrying levels, the three-day Interfaith Forum of SA heard yesterday. Conceding that the government has failed the people in its mandate of implementing a developmental state, with people’s interests topping the list of priorities, delegates – who included the clergy, traditional leaders and organs of civil society – called for “a state of emergency”.
Describing the gathering as “momentous time in the history of democracy”, Ashwin Trikamjee, president of the SA Hindu Maha Sabha, reading a statement on behalf of the forum, said: “One way leads to a social, economic and political precipice. “To get ourselves to the latter pathway of promise, South Africa needs a radical rehabilitation to address the national crisis. Many have been disheartened by the failed promise of our democratic dispensation. “It is a failure to live up to the promise of the post-apartheid South Africa – a just, reconciled, equitable and sustainable SA.