State capture, Eskom and Transnet, dysfunctional municipalities, corruption on a grand scale, road carnage, lawlessness, criminals roaming freely, heists and household robbery, murders, mass killings, poor water quality, taps running dry, townships overflowing with rubbish, pot holes, scrap metal industry in league with copper cable thieves who leave trains without power, spaza shops springing up like mushrooms in the townships and now a spate of food poisoning cases which has resulted in over 10 deaths of children.
All of the above are symptoms of a country in the throes of a severe epidemic. And what do our leaders do while the country and the people grapple with the numerous problems affecting their daily lives?
They sit with their feet up in their offices and boardrooms and engage in meaningless drivel.
You can’t say they are doing nothing. They are busy attending endless meetings which end in empty promises.
Many of them who hold important posts in the public service are cadres who have no inkling about running a modern state.
They are not there for the upliftment of the country and its people but for lining their pockets. Where are the health inspectors?
Do they care about the health of the township people?
Or are they collecting a fee from the spaza shop owners and illegal food making businesses?
Why let the electricity, water and food poisoning reach crisis levels before the authorities get off their butt and make some noise?
Yet, at the end of the day they get their fat salaries, get into their big SUV’s and drive off to their palatial homes in the exclusive, upmarket suburbs.
They have no care for the poor in the townships. They have no conscience.
For thirty years the ANC let the country go to rack and ruin. Now it’s decided to form an alliance with other parties and tackle the myriad problems confronting the country. The GNU has a mammoth task to sweep the country clean.
T MARKANDAN | Kloof
The views expressed here are not necessarily those of Independent Media or IOL.
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