Durban - uMngeni mayor Chris Pappas is trying to find a sponsor to get him to New York for a networking dinner along with 99 others selected by “Time” magazine as the 100 Next leaders in 2023.
“Time” describes the 32-year-old as having “an impressive track record made possible by penny-pinching measures”.
The publication uses its TIME100 Next project to “push us forward, showing what is possible as well as what society’s future and future leaders will look like”.
“This year’s list includes dozens of individuals, like Abbey and Goel, who are engineering new solutions to society’s most pressing problems. They are scientists, CEOs, artists, an astronaut, and, naturally, a librarian too: Brooklyn Public Library’s Nick Higgins, who is offering teens across the country access to books banned by their local libraries.”
And Pappas, the isiZulu-speaking, gay, DA politician who, since 2021, has the experience of being an opposition political figure and a leader in government.
“It is not something I was expecting,” he told “The Independent on Saturday”.
“I am quite surprised. I am very grateful and humbled to have been included. There are many young people doing amazing work in our country who could equally have been chosen.”
This year, he also featured in an article in the “Economist”.
He said that being in a government was very different from being in an opposition.
“In government, you are responsible for the good and the bad. You are responsible for implementing and oversight.”
Pappas said South Africa could make huge steps in fixing its past, from the legacy of apartheid to the present government collapse, by focussing on equal opportunity.
“By this, I mean we must ensure that all South Africans have access to quality and supportive opportunities that can help with social and economic upward mobility,” he said.
This includes good health care and education, safe and reliable transport, housing, access to information, water and electricity.
“If South Africans are able to access good quality services, you empower them to be able to make decisions that can lead to development and progress and thus, the accumulation of generational wealth and assets.”
The way forward involves jumping through hoops of prejudice, from racism to sexism, things Pappas believes are a product of failed systems and institutions.
“I believe that some of these issues have been bastardised. They are thrown around freely, without context or real substance. This delegitimises real cases and incidents of these different issues.
“We need better education, better criminal justice systems, more collaboration with NPOs, tighter legal frameworks, active programmes for reconciliation.”
In a country of such diversity, understanding and tolerance should be encouraged in as many different ways as possible, said the white mayor known for his fluency in isiZulu.
He believes South Africans, particularly those averse to voting, need to understand the importance of voting because they have only two options: “Either we change the status quo or we go down with the sinking ship. Most would want the former.
“And, if you want change, you need to realise that no one is coming to save us. The power to bring about change is up to us. No one wants a revolution, riots, civil wars, and so on, which means the power to bring about change is at the ballot box.”
The Independent on Saturday