EDITOR – Having just read a heart-searching article in The Bugle captioned “What is SA coming to” by Mandy Swart, it compelled me venture an analysis of what she said and given the gravity of the topic as South Africans are we not all seeing it in the same way.
Just to add indisputable facts of what happened in the past 60 days. The Minister and Deputy Minister of Mineral Resources (Mining) bought new cars totaling over two million rand which exceeded the limit of R750,000, ministerial official residences are being refurbished and revamped to the tune of over R130 millon and that the SABC is in the red for billions of Rands of unaccounted and unexplained expenditure and these are some of the extravagancies that newspapers have been able to “dig up”.
Early this year we had the SABC being hauled before the Parliamentary Committee and we witnessed the performance of the Communications Minister Ms Faith Muthambi and last week we witnessed the Parliamentary Public Accounts Committee grill the Social Development Minister, Bathabile Dlamini on the Social Grants saga. Both failed miserably to restore some sense of confidence that they are capable ministers. The latter minister stunned the committee when she replied as follows: “I’m not an expert – I didn’t ask to become a Minister”.
That response says a lot and needs no further amplification. In between all this craziness the Health Ombudsman released his report on the investigations into the death of over 100 mentally-ill patients as a direct result of negligence by the Department of Provincial Health. The Minister of Transport dissolved the PRASA Board and its Chairperson Popo Molefe has threatened to take her to court claiming that its was unconstitutional. We must be mindful that all this happened during the past 60 days and we still have 305 days to go for 2017.
Cadre deployment is sure to be the Achilles heel of the ANC. That coupled with patronage, blind loyalty, factionalism, nepotism, sycophancy, cronyism and group thinking will ensure that the ANC does not rule until the “return of Christ”.
In conclusion I would like to answer Mandy Swart’s question of” What is SA coming to?” – SA is on a slippery slope to becoming another failing state on the continent.
Sicario
Durban
