Spy tapes, court cases and floundering banks, and the arrest of more than 250 wanted suspects this weekend in a national tracking operation, made for a rather exciting week in South Africa.
Our President, in whom we place our trust to run the country we call home to the best of his ability, might face a veritable landslide (more than 700) charges ranging from corruption, money laundering and fraud, to racketeering. National debate has taken the ‘should we or shouldn’t we’ tone, yet we applaud the arrest of vigilante killers who decide to take the law into their own hands.
When there is debate regarding whether or not justice and integrity should prevail above all else, can blame be appointed when justice is meted out on the sidewalk?
The streets have erupted into a veritable war zone, with more cemeteries than schools. We stand at the precipice of destruction, a chasm looms, filled with excuses churning the debate.
At a time where this country should be prospering, we stagnate.
We salute our brave police force for arresting a large number of wanted suspects, in a tracking operation. Question is, if they could do that in a weekend, what could they do if such an operation was a daily occurrence?
At a time when the headlines tell stories of lies, failures and dubious appointments, what has been on the minds of every true South African for two decades is bursting to be shouted from the hills.
During a special MUNIMEC meeting last week in Newcastle, the KwaZulu – Natal MEC for the Department of Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs (COGTA), Nomusa Dube-Ncube, spoke about ‘clean and ethical governance’.
She also spoke about ‘bridging the gap between IDP and service delivery on the ground’ and going ‘back to basics’.
“We cannot accept business as usual,” she said, while speaking about ethical and ‘clean governance’.
It’s a hard nut to crack, clean governance, because apparently it isn’t happening currently.
Well, that’s the image the MEC for COGTA imprinted on Five Cent Piece anyway.
We have municipalities where the municipal manager literally has no idea where money will come from to fund basic things such as a reliable electricity infrastructure, yet departments are spending left right and centre on events that pay no apparent dividends to the public.
The problem with returning ‘back to basics’, Honourable MEC, is that you have to know the basics to begin with.
And where do we stand, the average man, the workaholic, the South African who enjoys this country because it is so unique and beautiful? We stand underneath a massive TV screen, watching the drama unfold in a language we don’t understand, squinting to read the subtitles.
Commentary by Kyle Cowan
