Complaining is easy; being proactive is hard.
When I was around 12, I was walking in the CBD of a major city in the Free State when I was mugged. I shouted for help, but no one batted an eyelid. A child’s plea fell on deaf ears with street vendors and pedestrians alike.
This is the experience of dozens of people across the country on a daily basis. Apathy is a pandemic that is eroding us as a nation.
And yet those who turn a blind eye are the first to complain about the “injustice” around them and shout amen when the pastor tells them to serve others like Jesus did.
From the top down
There has been anger over Police Minister Senzo Mchunu admitting in Parliament on Tuesday that there is no evidence of threats he was so adamant were made against him by KwaZulu-Natal police commissioner Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi.
He is the latest in a long list of ministers found to have lied, with The Citizen reporting less than 24 hours earlier on the alleged fibs told by Social Development Minister Sisisi Tolashe.
Mchunu spent hours deflecting, even accusing the evidence leader in the ad hoc commission’s inquiry into police corruption of not being prepared, while he himself had not even heard or seen the evidence he claimed to hedge his innocence on. It was a Hail Mary throw that flopped like a paper plane.
His blatant disregard for Parliament, his ministerial pledge and the South Africans he serves point to a deep selfishness and self-preservation that should see him being axed on the spot.
Do as I say, not as I do
Sadly, when the officers he leads see their leader so morally bankrupt, it gives many of them a pass. Corruption becomes not just a rare “under the table” transaction but a blatant policy.
The lack of care or respect for the office is seen at many roadblocks and police stations. The problem is so large that Gauteng police have now had to step in after several complaints of officers refusing to open cases or help victims.
In a recent Victims of Crime report by StatsSA, it was found that most South Africans don’t even bother reporting theft, robberies, burglaries, and sexual assault anymore. One of the main reasons was “police would not do anything about it”.
And yet, one of the main criticisms of communities is crime.
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In schools and the streets
Another common complaint is community violence, with National Police Commissioner Fannie Masemola visiting Wetbury, Johannesburg, on Wednesday to address murders in the area.
On the other side of the country, eight pupils were suspended after a group hit a 16-year-old pupil using a belt and a hockey stick. Like when someone is mugged in broad daylight, those in the room during the abuse could not have cared less. In fact, many of them were singing and dancing.
Whether it was an “initiation” or an act of intimidation, it is thuggery that has no place in schools.
While the outrage over both incidents is necessary, it should also be a moment for reflection on parenting and the community that helped raise these children. If a child must face a case of murder or assault to cause grievous bodily harm, then their parents should too.
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What are you doing to help?
Complaining is easy; being proactive is hard.
There have been calls to regulate street traders in the Joburg CBD and praise for the jobs they have made for themselves, but many of the same praise singers complain about pollution and decay in the inner city, which vending contributes to.
Outside the city centre, suburb WhatsApp groups explode in anger over backrooms, shacks, and room renting mushrooming in their street, yet they don’t take their complaints further.
The offending homeowners are happy for the extra income such arrangements provide, but then they pile on with complaints about water outages and power cuts in their area.
We ride past leaks without reporting them, but complain about a water crisis. We complain about never having electricity, but watch as our neighbours connect to the grid illegally.
We complain about bad traffic, but cut each other off as if we are the only ones with somewhere to be.
The National Dialogue has been delayed, but we don’t need to rush to community halls or expensive hotels to decide what is wrong with our country: it’s in our home.
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