Building collaborative partnerships for social cohesion: Building a nation with ethics

ntroduction

We are in the fourth term of our democratic government. This milestone presents us with a momentous opportunity to asses the progress which our government has made in conjunction with the broader society in its historic mission of building a better life for all our people since the inception of our democracy in 1994 after three centuries of colonial rule followed by institutionalised racial segregation.

The attainment of this democracy which is fully recognised in our constitution as well as in Chapter 8 and 9 institutions creates a critical space for the creation of partnerships that will be conducive to social cohesion.

The Director of the Institute for Global Cultural Studies, Dr Ali Mazrui in his 2011 Africa Day lecture at the UFS titled: “Democracy Uprisings in Africa’s experience: From Sharpville to Benghazi” once said: “Amongst the intriguing paradoxes in South Africa’s history is that this country was the last one on the continent to be liberated and is among the first to be truly democraticised”

The fact that we have attained full democratisation requires that we build a nation with ethics through the creation of collaborative partnerships for social cohesion. The essay delves into more details on how these partnerships can be created.

1.The definition of social cohesion and its importance

First and foremost before we discuss the issues of how we go about creating collaborative partnerships for social cohesion. We need to establish what we mean when we speak of social cohesion in the context of non-racial South Africa as this would intensify the collaborative partnerships that we aim to create.

As a descriptive term, social cohesion refers to the extent to which a society is coherent, united and functional providing and environment within which its citizens can flourish. This cohesion can be attained through a partnership that will be creating through the various stakeholders with an aim of building a nation with ethics and morals.

The creation of collaborative partnerships is very imperative because social cohesion is an on-going process of developing a community or a society of shared values, shared challenges and equal opportunities.

Social cohesion is important is it encapsulates inclusivity and equality as well as the values of moral regeneration, and ethics which is the kind of nation that we need to build in south Africa, a nation with ethics.

The Arab Spring in 2011 has shown how partnerships created by the masses can be conducive to bringing about change by overthrowing oppressive regimes. Partnerships such as these are imperative in order to build a nation with ethics.

There is little doubt that South Africa is a country with great and complex challenges as well as tremendous resources, assets and possibilities. These avenues can be fully utilised in order to create collaborative partnerships for social cohesion as well as social justice.

The importance of creating the collaborative partnerships

Successful societies generally can unite in common purpose. Can South Africans overcome a legacy of division and unite around a progressive, non-racial, non-sexist and pro-poor programme that promotes prosperity for all?

South Africa has the means, goodwill, capacity, resources as well as the people and organisations in civil socities that can contribute actively towards the attainment of social cohesion and social justice through the creation of strong effective collaborative partnerships. Such partnerships help towards the realisation of creating a nation with ethics as the composition of the partnerships is made of people from various social backgrounds.

Since 1994 various organisations and movements have been established, institutes were established and commissions were established with an aim of engaging the broader society on ways of promoting social cohesion, moral regeneration as well social justice and ensuring the elimination of past imbalances. It is through these structures and organisations that the collaborative partnership for social justice can be created with an aim of building a nation with ethics. Examples of such organisations are the Moral Regeneration Movement, and other civil society organisations which exist. These collaborative partnerships can be viable through active citizenship participation thoughtful dialogue, critical thinking and debate on all the issues that are affecting the society. The partnership will also be key in trying to redefine the confines of society with an aim of promoting social cohesion social justice, nation building and the promoting of moral regeneration within society.

The creation of the partnership is important because it helps to do the following:

• Ø Find ways that would be conducive to building a just, tolerant and moral society for the common good.
• Ø To promote the values of equality, equity, responsibility and accountability, honesty and integrity, respect and tolerance, and environmental awareness.
• Ø The creation of thoughtful dialogue in order to come with effective tangible solutions.
• Ø The upliftment of Batho Pele principles which are today overlooked which as led to the reason for the lack of ethics in society.

Conclusion

Despite the fact that we cannot fix the loopholes created through the 300 years of colonialism in 300 years, what we can do in this 18 years of our democracy is to promote the values of humanity and create partnerships that would be conducive to social justice and social cohesion. In order to achieve the South African that we want to have in 2030 as envisaged in the 2030 National Development Plan we must first uphold the values that will instil ethical behaviour within the masses.

A just and prosperous society cannot be created overnight, it takes time to build it and this work cannot be done by the government alone. Our emerging institutionalised democracy has provisioned active citizenship participation which can be exuded through the organisations that must be involved in the creation of these partnerships. Strong effective partnerships must be in place that will be active in collaborating and coming with ways of creating a just South Africa.