Editorial: We stand on the side of the people

By Libuseng Nyaka :Editor The Guard on line/newspaper

Today we mark a major milestone in the short life of The Guard. In moving with the times, we are going. This will guarantee our readers the freedom to read the publication from the luxury of their private space, wherever they are.

In keeping with our mandate as a regional news outlet – to serve as a voice for the voiceless – we will strive to entrench a culture of democracy in the Thabo Mofutsanyana borough.

The key word here is DEMOCRACY. This is one concept with many definitions and interpretations. It is for all practical purposes, a coat of many colours. Think of these terms: American democracy, people’s democracy, World democracy, Directed democracy, Totalitarian democracy or Military democracy, One-party democracy, Multi-party democracy or No-party democracy. Or think of Social democracy, Christian democracy and Economic democracy.

The community of Thabo Mofutsanyana have to be helped to form reasoned judgements rather than just superficial opinions. We will act as a forum where the people can learn about and begin to examine issues to find for themselves common ground for action.

It is first and foremost a normative word. It does not describe a thing; it prescribes an ideal. Democracy has historically been used in progressive circles to negate what had to be destroyed. In other words, democracy so conceived is simply the reverse of absolutism, injustice and coercion.

Our important role in this regard is that of leadership, also referred to as ‘setting the agenda’. We promise to do our best to dig deep to provide information that focuses, frames and illuminates important issues for the vitality of the Thabo Mofutsanyana community. We will, to the best of our abilities, play the role of explainer, that is, to clarify what is happening on an issue and dispel myths that may exist in our community.

The community of Thabo Mofutsanyana have to be helped to form reasoned judgements rather than just superficial opinions. We will act as a forum where the people can learn about and begin to examine issues to find for themselves common ground for action.

Of course, we understand that people have different layers and dimensions and it is our duty to move between and within them to capture the mosaic of voices, viewpoints, events, problems and solutions that exist. We will look beyond conflicts to explore underlying issues and perspectives as this will help engage people and create a greater sense of responsibility.

Since democracy does not end at the polling station, we will be engaging people through news coverage and, perhaps, through more directs interaction. This is because we understand that it is essential to nurture and promote a healthy democracy.

All these actions, at the end of the days, are geared towards understanding and participating in poverty reduction and development, which is about achieving a higher quality of life (fairly distributed) by making sustained and rapid alterations in society’s productive capacity and social organisations.

Therefore, we will be examining, and encouraging the people to examine policies and regulations which are a hindrance to activities that would generate income among the poor. For example, they have to examine licensing regulations for small-scale business enterprises and credit systems, and establish whether they are not a hindrance to easy setting up of such businesses.

Finally, it is worth noting that people have to be made aware of their economic rights and that it is their responsibility to strive to meet these rights. That’s where we come in: we will attempt as much as we can, to monitor funds allocated for social services and make follow-ups to ensure they reach the targeted groups.

We will look at disbursements from the treasury all the way to the grassroots level to ensure they are used for the intended programmes and services.

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