Brave Political Warrior

Being challenged to be a designer of your future, is definitely not an easy task. It’s definitely not something I have pondered on before. However, Mr. Gavin Mageni gives us no choice but to adopt the mindset of being an active citizen, within a democratic state - and making a difference in the lives of those that does not have a voice to speak for themselves. Mageni contests us all to start thinking like designers: but what does this mean for a PUMA 314 student?

Mageni describes the term ‘design’ so simple, yet gripping. He states that design is concerned with people, making things better, and generating simplicity from what is complex and chaotic.

This leads to the obvious: what can be done to help those with no voice? Mageni explains this in very simple terms: change should be brought along through co-operation, and co-creation. In order to affect this change, a radical rethink of antiquated status quos is needed. A very important role player that is needed to bring out this change, is none other than t

he public sector. Social entrepreneurs has a reputation for decreasing costs, and operation on hair-thin budgets – they are also more renowned for adopting the ‘client-based’ strategy.

However, bringing about change and development is music to the ears of local governments, but one aspect is not to be overlooked – and that is conveying all these changes in a manner that is sustainable. Now, how does one become ‘sustainably developed’? It refers to the development (whether it be economic, social, financial or even natural), that is performed without the depletion of natural resources, in order for future to meet their own needs.

Sustainable development can be achieved through a number of ways, they can include of the following:

• Social development – citizens should be encouraged to participate in environmental sustainability, where they are made aware of the dangers (such as the health and well-being of citizens) if these sustainable goals are not being achieved;
• Economic development – this refers to meeting the demands of all people (such as housing, and public transport) without compromising the quality of life, and reducing the financial burden;
• Environmental protection – this could be achieved by recycling, reducing power consumption, and limiting air pollution.

One of the bigger challenges Mageni aims to address, is to bring about socio-economic change. Globalization enables companies, worldwide, with countless opportunities to conduct business, in areas where social and economic boundaries are failing. Technology enables us to extract data at any given point, whereas new behaviors will lead to new communities being built – which would then lead to a higher sense of collaboration.

One of the challenges Mageni also addresses in his speech, is the lack of adequate, safe and cheap means of transportation for those citizens living in the North West province. This caused a few problems within the community, as these citizens were marginalized from educational prospects, they were cut off from the economic mainstream, and they were also lacking the access to social services. Mageni suggests the concept of ‘inter-design’, and it means that a problem that is of global significance, needs to be addressed. The idea of co-creation is then further emphasized, as it invites all students within the community to share their ideas and inputs in such a manner that a solution is opted – in a way that it is both sustainable, and economic sound.    

In the past two decades, many frameworks have been developed to encourage a democratic, and prosperous society. One of these all important frameworks, was GEAR (Growth, Employment and Redistribution) – which opted to steady and salvage a poor economy. With more support to programs like GEAR, it will also help to address the needs of housing, basic education, health services and land.

By wanting to become designers, and being the engineers for a better tomorrow, citizens needs to speak up about the issues that matter the most to them.

Jaco Barnard

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