Gangsters in suits are in power in SA

Picture of Kekeletso Nakeli

By Kekeletso Nakeli

Columnist


Political leaders thrive in scandal and excess, while citizens endure daily hardship and a broken system.


There is a fundamental flaw in our society. The mechanisms used in an ordinary setting are a complete waste.

In recent weeks, we have seen the crumbling of political careers, merely by being named as tainted by association pending investigations and inquiries.

The rot has found itself, eating away at the taxpayers’ table, knowing well the people live in squalor and barely get by.

The price of electricity has gone up, again. This when we sing to ourselves as a means of entertainment because the electricity has taken a stroll; yet the prices increase.

When we are ferrying water in buckets because the alternative is to drink and bathe in cool drink, as the water supply has gone to find the electricity that has taken a stroll.

ALSO READ: When mothers are no longer seen as protectors

The road has left the road and everything is in ICU. Yet, in the dramedy of things, we, the people, must continue to pay when the exchanges are not to our benefit.

One would be naïve to believe the flaws of the systems are entrepreneurs who fund holidays, election campaigns and private schooling for those in power. Our monies, hard-earned as they are, are hard fought for, only to bankroll the lives of the corrupt.

In the greater scheme of things, I cannot undermine the importance of tax that the country requires all to pour into it, for it to produce a world-class country.

But why does the pouring seem to only come from the taxpayers?

From the elections and beyond, whoever ascends or remains in power, may they give as good as they take. But we are all dried up from being looted by those we have entrusted with leadership; who we finding out are the very pushers of the crime that has been begging for a chance to breathe.

ALSO READ: Our promised land was sold to thugs

Absolute power corrupts and we are watching this in real life. We are appalled.

But more than anything else, we are bystanders in our own country as we have ascended criminality to offices of great power with massive budgets.

The ANC has allowed rogue and criminal elements; people have continued to keep it in power. The EFF has its VBS scandal. The DA has been associated with gangsterism and tainted names in Cape Town. It is kept comfortable by its voters.

The Patriotic Alliance is having its moment in the spotlight with the arrest of businessman Katiso Molefe. The less said of the uMkhonto weSizwe party, the better.

We, the people, must understand we have not been loud enough about the calibre of people we give power to, and that is where we need to reconfigure our moral compass.

NOW READ: Politicians dangle immigration control as election bait

Read more on these topics

Columns corruption politicians politics