The ANC is trying to reduce the country to smouldering ruins

An old proverb reminds us that when clowns move into a palace, they don’t become kings and princes. Instead, the palace becomes a circus.

Our parliament gives the impression of being a tent to a great many unfunny clowns, who seem hellbent on ruining the country, impoverishing the people and driving the country into a state of anarchy, disaster, and economic ruin.

Is this a scorched earth policy the ruling party is silently implementing to ensure the country is reduced to smouldering ruins when they are voted out of power?

The numerous arson attacks across the country are indicative of a nation that has been led by clowns, posing as leaders, but with no moral compass; and who have entrenched the belief that such attacks against our historical past are neither serious nor punishable.

Instead, they want to erase everything of our past, including their blatant corruption and thievery, and rewrite it to suit their agenda and false narratives.

Arson appears to be fast becoming a new trend of causing destruction in our once great, but now smouldering, country. Criminals walk into our historic buildings and simply firebomb them. This is neither coincidental, nor accidental.

These arson attacks appear to be planned with the full understanding that our corrupt and failed law enforcement agency will do little to nothing to bring those who did the deed to book.

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Is this indicative that the factions within the ruling party have resorted to “war” against one another and the people? Or is this indicative of how government members, posing as leaders, continue to act as hooligans? Of course, the usual hot air will be blown. “We will bring the perpetrators to justice…”;

“The full might of the law will be used…”; and “We will throw the book at them…” are merely empty words to placate those who demand action. Is this what we voted for?

Our parliament, which in reality is a bad joke, was the first high-profile arson target. With damage estimated to run into millions of rands, it appears that no one will truly be held to account. Apparently, historical documents lost in the blaze can never be replaced. And now the circus has pitched its tent in the Cape Town city hall.

This was recently followed by the burning down of the historic Komani Town Hall, which houses the Enoch Mgijima local municipality in the Eastern Cape. What will that damage amount to? Or is it really of no concern to those who have denigrated our parliament?

Not too long ago, a Gauteng hospital storeroom caught fire after allegations that the Hawks were investigating irregular personal protective equipment (PPE) purchases for Covid.

Was this just another case of destroying evidence related to state capture and tender fraud to protect the guilty?
If one was a conspiracy theorist, it would follow that the government deliberately, purposely, and with ill intent, neglected the country’s fire departments. Was this a plan to ensure that if historic buildings and critical infrastructure were firebombed, they couldn’t be saved?

It will be interesting to see how quick – or not – the fire departments react to a government minister’s palace burning down… One can only hope they respond as “quickly” as they do to the destruction of our historic buildings and infrastructure.

By allowing the uncontrolled and unpunished anarchy and destruction and a collapsed national energy provider, aimed at placing the entire country under siege, the government is again merely proving its incompetence, while furthering its desire to destroy our future.

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Our countryside is dotted with open pit latrines, filthy and dilapidated schools, corruption, extreme violence, rampant criminality, racism, xenophobia, hooliganism and abandoned factories, yet our clowns believe this is a good thing.

It isn’t. It is a reflection of government incompetence, flavoured with a couldn’t-care-less entitled attitude. Clowns are usually able to make people smile and laugh. They bring joy to our lives. They transport us for brief moments
in time to a different world filled with happiness.

Not so our clowns. And when we don’t laugh or smile, they place the blame elsewhere.

While we wallow in the misery and increasing poverty they have cast our way, they devise their next sick joke to further erode our trust and confidence in them. Having now indebted us to the tune of billions of rands with international lending institutions, one must wonder where the bulk of that money will go. No doubt, some clowns will be in for a pay rise.

And the taxpayer’s burden will simply increase. It is said that a new broom sweeps clean. We will need a very large broom to clean out the circus the government has created.

The proverb is true: When clowns move into a palace, it becomes a circus.

• Mashaba is a political advisor