16/10/2025
South Sudan Politics: The Theatre of Convenience Where Yesterday’s Loyalists Become Today’s Rebels Once the Table Is Cleared
By Ajak Deng Chiengkou
16 October 2025
What makes South Sudanese politics both fascinating and exhausting is how easily alliances shift. Loyalty has become a matter of opportunity rather than conviction. Those who once defended the system with passion now walk away from it, claiming new revelations about its failures. They speak as if they have just woken from a long sleep, forgetting that they helped shape the very problems they now condemn.
In recent months, several figures who once stood firmly beside the leadership have begun to distance themselves. They speak of reform, democracy, and accountability, yet their sudden awareness seems less about principle and more about timing. When positions change hands and privileges narrow, that is when consciences begin to rise. What we see is not transformation but repositioning.
This pattern is not new. It runs deep through South Sudan’s short but turbulent political history. Since independence, loyalty has been tied to survival. When one side of power closes its doors, the next becomes a new home. Those who were once the loudest defenders of government policies soon reappear as reformists or opposition voices. They claim to be correcting mistakes, but their records show a history of silence when it mattered most.
Between 2013 and the years that followed, I spoke with many who were then in the opposition. They spoke powerfully about justice, equality, and national unity. Yet, when they returned to government, few translated those words into tangible action. Comfort replaced commitment. Grand speeches about reform were buried under the weight of new houses, new cars, and new titles. The fire for change cooled the moment the rewards of power returned.
The tragedy is that this cycle repeats itself without shame. South Sudanese politics has become a carousel of convenience, where everyone is buying or selling loyalty. Political conscience is replaced by personal interest. Those who once cried betrayal now walk the same path. Those who claimed moral authority now rewrite their stories to suit the season.
This is not to say that people cannot change. Change is a natural part of human growth. A leader can indeed learn from experience and come to see things differently. Yet, in South Sudan, a change of mind rarely comes from reflection; it often follows rejection. When access to privilege fades, principles are rediscovered. When a leader loses a position, they remember democracy. When a contract is denied, they remember the poor. This is not moral awakening but political recycling.
The saddest part is that the people keep watching, hoping that something will finally shift in their favour. Ordinary South Sudanese have seen the same play for years: the same faces trading sides, the same promises repeated, and the same outcomes delivered. Meanwhile, poverty deepens, services collapse, and hope grows thin.
Our politics should not be a revolving door for the ambitious. It should be a sacred space for those willing to serve with consistency and truth. That can only happen when integrity is valued more than access. Until then, South Sudan will continue to produce politicians who are loyal to opportunity, not to nationhood.
The real reform South Sudan needs is not about who defects or who stays. It is about who remains honest when there is nothing to gain. The country needs leaders who can serve in both comfort and difficulty, who can stand firm even when standing firm means standing alone.
History will not remember those who defected the most. It will remember those who stayed consistent in vision and faithful to truth, even when the political winds changed. Until that spirit returns, South Sudanese politics will remain an endless performance where everyone plays a part but no one carries the burden of the story.
For now, I am simply watching, because the pattern has not changed.
