Short walk to corruption

OUR late honourable icon Nelson Mandela wrote about his long walk to freedom from the oppressiveness of apartheid.

We had a dream, a beautiful promise that after 1994 in the new fledgling democracy, the people would govern and there would be a better life for all and that long walk to freedom would be realised.

On July 18, 2017 in honour of Mandela, speaker after speaker said we must take up his legacy.

How can we in a new democracy start that long walk all over again when after 23 years we should be enjoying a racist-free and a fair life for all. However, in the last few years some officials in public office can be seen daily in our media which shows us that in a short walk of corruption, public assets are being stolen to the detriment of the poor and our economy.

We do not see the thieves arrested or our stolen monies and properties recovered. No, the thieves on this prosperous short walk are free and wealthy and are still in positions of power and authority.

Our honest politicians cannot say we must carry on the legacy of the long road to freedom, because what you are saying and allowing is a road with no end and somewhere our road has to end.

We must demand that our law enforcement agencies without further excuses, start opening dockets of theft, start arresting the perpetrators and show us the complainants, the people of South Africa, that those on that short road of theft are not above the law and justice must be done.

Either that, or that short road is going to lead to a revolution that will make the French and Russian revolutions look like fairy tales.

A quote by Adlai Stevenson tells our story the best: “Those who corrupt the public mind are just as evil as those who steal from the public purse”.