Avatar photo

By Kekeletso Nakeli

Columnist


SA’s moral crisis: A nation in free fall

Explore the disintegration of moral values in South Africa, where corruption, sex scandals, and societal decay have become the new norm.


South Africa is going through a period where nothing is sacred – where our morals are negotiable and it is not necessary to uphold them. What is set as a standard of public decency in our time seems to have been blurred. I am a child of the ’80s and I grew up in a time where my mother was just my mother. I hardly saw my father laugh with me, but his love I could never question. My childhood and, to an extent, even my adult life, was moulded by my parents and their norms and values that have…

Subscribe to continue reading this article
and support trusted South African journalism

Access PREMIUM news, competitions
and exclusive benefits

SUBSCRIBE
Already a member? SIGN IN HERE

South Africa is going through a period where nothing is sacred – where our morals are negotiable and it is not necessary to uphold them.

What is set as a standard of public decency in our time seems to have been blurred.

I am a child of the ’80s and I grew up in a time where my mother was just my mother. I hardly saw my father laugh with me, but his love I could never question.

My childhood and, to an extent, even my adult life, was moulded by my parents and their norms and values that have been anchors in the world.

We are now in a place where corruption does not move us, with sex scandals and ministers sharing girlfriends and their bedroom secrets as tabloid fodder.

ALSO READ: Durban’s tourism: Once a gem, now a shadow of its former self

Schools are now labour wards as teenage pregnancy continues to rise.

Presidents and their families are sold to the highest bidder, femicide and child murder are soaring.

Child rapists confess to taking drugs with their mothers.

If this is where we are, where are we headed?

Now, in the midst of all the other struggles we face as a nation, we have people with no capacity summoning the president to Gordon’s Bay for him to resign.

ALSO READ: Zuma must just learn to let go

This country is on autopilot and the conduct of its citizens is in free fall.

Our country is becoming a joke. If it was not so sad and detrimental in terms of investments and how the international community perceives us, it would be funny.

We cannot, as a nation, continue this way.

We must rein ourselves in.

But before we engage the country, we must ask ourselves if everyone here respects the country to begin with. That is the first point of correction.

ALSO READ: Artists are walking a tightrope

We are on autopilot and the plane is going down.

I, for one, with my children in tow, cannot afford this.

This country is the only home we have.

Even when people post on social media platforms, a level of respect is due.

I certainly hope there are consequences for the actions of the former defence force member.

ALSO READ: Empty gestures: The hollow reality of 16 Days of Activism Against Violence

Access premium news and stories

Access to the top content, vouchers and other member only benefits