Overhaul of NPA crucial

AS TAXPAYERS there are certain things we should be able to take for granted. This would include our safety and security, health care and education.

There is also nothing wrong with having an expectation that the government will provide for our energy and water needs.

However, in recent times, there has emerged a new group of providers for these services. Unfortunately, they cater only for those who can afford to pay.

In some areas people know the private security guards better than their local police.

They send their children to private schools and access the private healthcare system.

A few years ago, when the lights went out, people invested in gas stoves and generators.

Now everybody is buying tanks to store water – as our drought disaster is a ticking time-bomb in the Western Cape.

It speaks of a government and/or municipalities that are not able to effectively manage their affairs.

However, there can be little more humiliating than a right-wing organisation taking up the fight for justice on behalf of a black family. But that’s the scenario with AfriForum going to court to fight for justice on behalf of the Dube family.

Their loved one, Phumzile, was killed in February 2014 when a Porsche driven by Duduzane Zuma – President Jacob Zuma’s son – collided with a taxi in which she was travelling.

Despite an inquest court finding that Dube’s death was caused by Zuma’s negligence, the National Prosecuting Authority decided not to prosecute.

AfriForum’s move is a smart one that will advance their agenda.

Let’s remember there are many more Phumzile’s out there and not many fighting for their cause.

At the end of the day we need to overhaul our prosecuting authority and justice system as a whole if our democracy is to survive.