South Africa now faces a new struggle

"Struggle is a never-ending process. Freedom is never really won, you earn it and win it in every generation."

This is a quote from Correta Scott King, an American activist, leader and wife to Martin Luther King Jr.

I was reminded of this quote as I reflected on the events of the past few weeks in the country following the sacking of then finance minister Pravin Gordhan and the downgrading of SA's economic status to junk.

It was also in response to a question that I have been asked since the evening of March 30 2017 when the Gupta-inspired President Jacob Zuma executed a cabinet reshuffle - now what needs to be done in South Africa? Should the current generation just fold its arms and watch the country sink deeper into the abyss?

In answering this question, I took time to recall how excited I always was when former freedom fighters told us stories of how they fought the apartheid system, how they would spend many days running away from the police's security branch.

I was born in a homeland of Gazankulu in 1983 in a small village of Lefara, far away from most things - apartheid tortures, arrests, etc.

By this I mean far away from police harassment. Unlike some people born around the same time as me in places like Soweto, Alexandra, Umlazi and Kathorus, I never had to see first-hand my family being harassed by the police. I was staying in "another country" that was said not to be South Africa. Little interest was paid on the well-being of the villagers. Thus, every time I met a freedom fighter who had been in exile or imprisoned by the apartheid system, I was fascinated by the stories they related.

Many people sacrificed their lives to have a democratic SA we have today. There are many unsung heroes of the Struggle that stood up against the oppressive and evil system that apartheid was.

Every time I listened to these experiences, I always wished to have been old enough to be part of the Struggle against apartheid and get to live to tell the experiences of how apartheid was defeated. I wished to have contributed to the freeing of South Africa and the building of a democratic and prosperous South Africa.

By now you are wondering why I am narrating my wishes with regard to the fight against apartheid 23 years into democracy. The reason is simple - we have a new struggle in SA.

It is a struggle to realise the dreams of the many freedom fighters, a struggle of building a united, non-racial, non-sexist and prosperous South Africa.

It is a struggle against those that continue to use their Struggle credentials to loot the coffers of the state - the Jacob Zumas and the Guptas of this land.

A part of me is excited, not because we have been downgraded to junk status and can be downgraded even more. I am excited that our generation has an opportunity to fight and stop this slide, to fight the corrupt elements in society who have sold the country over a plate of curry.

I am excited for I am part of the struggle to build a great South Africa for the next generation. Unlike the Struggle against apartheid - which had the international community behind it - this struggle against Kleptocracy that Zuma and his ANC represent will be fought for and won by our generation.

It will be won in our lifetime. I do not want my grandchildren to one day ask what my role was in destroying this country, whether I was too blind to see that the ANC was taking the country down and did nothing.

As a generation, we need to unite, arrest the slide and build a great South Africa. Like Fanon said: "Each generation must discover its mission, fulfil it or betray it..." Ours is to build a great South Africa and defeat Kleptocracy that is taking the country down.

This mission we will fulfil as a generation. It is the ANC that brought us to this state and we cannot expect or trust in them to take us out of this situation. I will dedicate myself to this mission, I will not betray it.

Gana is a DA member in the Gauteng legislature