Our promised land was sold to thugs

South Africa is under siege. The real cost of democracy lies in the price tag put on the political powers who are bought by thugs daily.

That a Cabinet minister would find their name linked with criminals who have bartered with the country’s security by peddling drugs and trading in arms.

This leaves one with nothing but a sour taste in the mouth… the country is being sold, bit by bit – one tender at a time?

Political players may shout on electioneering stages how the rot runs deep, how heads will roll and the disdain they hold for the perpetrators of stealing from state coffers.

But the very same people – who sing this rhetoric – are the ones we should have removed from power.

I, for one, refuse to be led by people whose characters reek of nothing but thievery.

Lives are being lost in a country slowly being throttled by looting. Some try to revive the country’s soul and, as valiant as their efforts are, so, too, are the efforts of those who bleed it dry.

The ANC screams, together we can do more, let’s do it for Nelson Mandela or Walter Sisulu’s legacies.

Then they silently turn around and sell the country – if not to the ones in Saxonwold, then it’s to the Boko Haram of Mamelodi in Pretoria.

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We are a country under siege from those we have put into power. They sold us a dream.

We bought the dream and were left with the ruins in the form of a nightmare of a failing economy and the arrogance of ill-gotten gains and a Cabinet that answers to no-one.

Former Bantustan leader Lucas Mangope once said the ANC would lead us to suffering because it was filled with ex-convicts with no leadership skills.

South Africa needs laws that are not just in black and white, but are also implemented. These laws need to apply even to those in power.

The law should remain unmoved and consistent. It should not be gender- or racially biased, there should be no such thing as white privilege.

Once we realise this by conducting ourselves in an orderly fashion, we will be able to uphold the law.

You see, for reformed criminals to say: “I did it because I had a choice to either go hungry or to hijack and kill,” is disturbing.

This is not just the ANC, maybe some other political parties do the same – which makes me wonder about the risk people take when we place our trust in a government.

We all partook in the dream but some of us never made it to the promised land because of politicians and their thieving friends.

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