People who are 40 years old and those that are 31 years old

Let us begin with a bit of arithmetic, move to logic and finally to why all of this.

If in the year 2011 you are 40 years old that means you were born in 1971. If you are 31 years old that means you were born in 1980. Ok, even if this is not arithmetically accurate, the margin of error would be very small to be of any consequence.

Now, if you were born in 1971 that means:

You could not have participated in the 1976 uprisings, because you would have been 5 years old. There is a possibility that you did not go to exile because when Tata Madiba was released from jail in 1990, whey you were 14 years old, the numbers of people "skipping the country" , for the first time, were very low if it was still happening.
If you have any tertiary education, it means some of the years of your tertiary studies would have been under the democratically elected government.

If you were born in 1980, what does it mean?

When South Africa became a democracy in 1994, you were 14 years old and therefore all your high school education, if you have it, could not have been Bantu Education. I do not believe the democratically elected government could have taught people Bantu Education.

It also so means that you did not vote in 1994.

So, where are we going with all of this…

I do not know Mr Fikile Mbalula enough to know his age. I only gathered in the media, specifically some of the print media on Friday 28 October 2011 that he turned 40 this year, 2011. I also understand that " there are some amongst us" who would like to see him being the Secretary General of the ANC sooner. If that were to happen in 2012' as an example, he would be 41 years old.

Ms Lindiwe Mazibuko has just become the DA's parliamentary caucus leader at 31 years old. Some of the same Friday newspapers are even talking about her moving higher.

Let me declare before I proceed, that I am not a fan of politics. I am a business person and very happy at that. My point below is not about politics but about a different "new" generation.

So, it's possible that when South Africa goes to vote in 2014, there will be people who are from the different generation who will have a lot of influence on policy matters. I am hoping that South Africa will go back to discussing policy matters.

This is not necessarily about these two individuals, because they say a day is too long in politics, but I have no doubt that by the time we get to 2014 people born in 1971 and people born in 1980 will be in very influential political positions in South Africa.

This makes me so excited and those that are in their 20's today (28 October 2011) will have a huge responsibility then, because some would be voting for the second time. Their views and decisions would be very crucial.

I have written before about young people but it looks like they are now taking their rightful place.

Help us God, The All Mighty, to be around then to witness this era of significant change is our country.



Sango Ntsaluba