Columnist and political commentator Malaika Mahlatsi recently posted on Facebook that the most potent weapon in the hands of South African politicians is not policy, nor persuasion – it is the short-term memory and fleeting attention span of the citizenry.
It is a brutal truth. We are easy to outrage, and even easier to distract.
Mahlatsi’s argument is simple. When corruption scandals break, there is immediate fury. Statements are issued. Suspensions are announced. Heads appear to roll. But within days, the noise fades. The public moves on. And quietly, almost predictably, the same officials resurface – redeployed, reinstated, or simply forgotten. Accountability dissolves in the space between headlines.
I was reminded of this uncomfortable reality recently.
The opening round of the ShuttleStars Badminton Power League was rescheduled due to water and power issues at John Barrable Hall. That alone should have triggered outrage. But it didn’t. Perhaps because dysfunction has become so normalised that it barely registers anymore.
Yet the problems at the venue do not end there. The potholes leading into the facility are so severe that motorists are forced into a careful zigzag just to gain entry – a symbolic dance around neglect.
And it doesn’t stop at one venue.
A drive past Primrose Swimming Pool in Germiston revealed a facility in a state that can only be described as shocking. Germiston Stadium, which recently hosted the ASA age-group track and field championships, is hardly better. One of the floodlights is out. Parts of the tartan track – the very surface athletes depend on – is riddled with holes.
Elsewhere, the story is the same. Boksburg City Stadium. Sinaba Stadium. Countless facilities in the townships of Ekurhuleni. Names change, but the script remains identical – decay, neglect, and indifference.
And yet, when South Africa’s elite athletes deliver on the global stage – when the Springboks lift a World Cup or the national relay team claims a medal at the World Athletics Championships – these same politicians are front and centre. Celebrations are organised. Speeches are made. Flags are waved.
The irony is staggering.
We celebrate excellence built on broken foundations.
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Even now, reports that the high schools’ track and field championships in Rustenburg have been postponed due to venue issues feel less like breaking news and more like a recurring headline. It is, after all, the same venue that failed to host the sub-youth champs just months ago.
So, my question is, why do we allow this? Why do we not demand better?
The answer, as Mahlatsi suggests, lies with us. Our collective amnesia has created the perfect environment for political complacency. Promises made every election cycle are repackaged and presented as new, because those in power know that, for many, they are.
We have been outplayed, not by brilliance, but by our own forgetfulness.
Until we lengthen our memory and sustain our outrage, the cycle will continue. Stadiums will crumble. Facilities will fail. And politicians will keep dribbling past us with ease.
The game, it seems, is not only played on the field.
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