DA Branch East 32, More action than talk

Politics can be a real drag, so much talk so little walk.  Politicians hide underground, not making a peep until election time, then they are all over us like a rash.  This puts many off playing an active part, we’ve all heard so many promises and seen so very few results.  Why bother?  I’ll tell you why bother, because if you don’t play some part in your community, if you do nothing but stand around complaining and getting depressed, you become part of the problem.  If you treat election days as free holidays to chill and not vote, you are part of the problem.  Heavens knows we don’t need more problems in South Africa what we need is solutions.  This year I joined the DA and am now part of a vibrant team, the members of Boksburg branch East 32.  What we have is a strong leadership structure and an amazing group of volunteers, many of them unemployed.  These people want to DO something, they want to make a difference.  They are not sitting around saying that South Africa is going to hell in a handbasket, they want to change our course and our future.  You don’t need to be a politician to get involved, you don’t need any qualifications, all you need is to fill in a membership form for the party of your choice, roll up your sleeves and get involved, show up and give a bit of your time.  You say that you don’t have time, rubbish, these days no one has time, you make time if you want to and are willing.

Today Branch East 32 arranged a clean up of our town.  The executive members were in town at 6am (I was not with them that early)  identifying focus areas and picking up members who needed transport.   A lot of planning went into creating posters and advertising on social media.  100 Refuse bags were donated along with latex gloves.  A truck was arranged to remove the full bags of litter.  We had hoped for about 100 people to pitch up, we fell short of this number but the spirit and the energy was there.  Teams sporting their DA shirts moved through the streets of Boksburg picking up litter and removing illegal notices and signs.  Passing members of the public showed great support, they asked for membership forms and took photographs.   We can’t live in fear, we need to live in hope, seeing members of a political party actually doing something provided hope and created a spirit of good cheer around us.

As with most things, we learned a few lessons which will help us when we conduct future ‘blue waves’.  If we hadn’t been out there today, those lessons would not have been available to us.  I look forward to our future clean up campaigns.  Slowly but steadily, one step at a time, those who get involved can be part of real change.   Today we achieved our objectives, leaving our community a little better than it was before.  This is not a one-off publicity stunt, it is one step, which will be followed up by more steps, and with each step we grow stronger.   Will the real people all stand up, those with heart and those with spirit.  Ah sorry if this sounds very much like it was delivered from a soap box but I love my country deeply and I feel strongly about apathy.  I may have a romance with language but sometimes I get so sick of words, empty, hollow, negative words.