Ponder state of SA for 67 minutes

It’s amazing what politicians can say – and do – with a straight face.

on Sunday, topping the billing in that respect was President Cyril Ramaphosa, Gauteng Premier Panyaza Lesufi and Naledi Pandor, chair of the Nelson Mandela Foundation Board.

They were all marking Mandela Day – the anniversary of his birthday and the time when all South Africans are called on to dedicate just 67 minutes of their time to community service, in honour of the 67 years he spent fighting for freedom in this country.

Naledi Pandor shows up for 67 minutes

Of the three – and this will anger her critics – it was probably Pandor who has come closest to echoing Madiba in real life, having spearheaded the campaign to have Israel charged in the International Court of Justice for the genocide in Gaza.

Lesufi, of course, presides over a province where decay and collapse are the order of the day and one of the biggest anti-poor actions since 1994 was carried out: the looting of about R2 billion of state money from Tembisa hospital.

Ringmaster for SA political circus

Ramaphosa, as the current ringmaster for the South African political circus, still faces fingers pointed at him over the whole Phala Phala “dollars-in-the-couch” affair and the possibility of impeachment.

His confident promises, in 2018, to herald a “new dawn” where corruption would be rooted out, seem today like little more than a cruel taunt as the thieving has intensified.

Is this the country Madiba fought for?

Across the country, municipal services are plunging – water supply is sporadic and untrustworthy from a health point of view; infrastructure is falling into its open gaping potholes; and the country will never get out from under the accumulated debt of towns and cities.

We doubt that this is the South Africa Madiba dreamed about and fought for. Perhaps all of us need to think deeply about that. For 67 minutes… or more.