Blame a lack of moral compass for normalised crime

Recently, I read a media report detailing the senseless murder of 31-year-old Viwe Dalingozi, who was allegedly doused with petrol and set alight in her Johannesburg flat by her boyfriend. The cause of her senseless killing, according to this report, was her being in “contact with her former lover”. What struck me after reading this report is that I was neither shocked nor awed by the details. But why would I react in this manner to such a gruesome incident. Well, weird as it seems, my reaction has been moulded by the fact that each morning when I pick up a newspaper or tune into a news channel, I am almost assured I will find a story about a woman or a child who was raped, assaulted or murdered.

Put bluntly, the frequency of these incidents has nullified all my emotions. I have not suddenly become a robot or anything, I just don’t feel anything anymore. For me it seems the abnormal has alas become normal. Hence the absurdity of such heinous incidents no longer strikes a chord.

It is undeniable, therefore, that a dark storm is sweeping across the the nation. The volcano of moral degeneration is stretching endlessly across the horizon and is threatening to cause the most severe damage to the moral codes and value systems of our society. So where do we as South Africans then seek a moral compass? One might have imagined that the patent starting point would be the Moral Regeneration Movement (MRM), launched as a response to the insistent call for a campaign of moral regeneration made also by the IFP in the infancy of our democracy.

The main objective of the MRM was to be a “centre of collective activism for moral regeneration initiatives aimed at building an ethical and morally conscious community”. This initiative started on the wrong foot. It was placed under the guardianship of former president Jacob Zuma, who would go on to prove that he does not subscribe to the values underpinning the moral appeal of our society. Ultimately, sanity prevailed to the ANC that having such a person of absolute ethical bankruptcy as an overseer of the MRM was to invite contempt and he subsequently resigned from his role. But even with his exit, the failure of the MRM stands as proof that choosing the right person for the job is critically important. It further demonstrates that instead of leading the moral regeneration of the country the ANC has rather led the moral degeneration of our social fibre and thus it cannot be trusted to solely lead the process of moral regeneration.

Perhaps it is time we ditch this initiative which is merely a drain on state resources. And at some point, also consider doing the same to its custodian.

Now more than ever, South Africans need an inspired, principled and visionary leadership that will serve as the voice of reason and keeper of our nation’s moral and political compass.

A leadership that strongly advocates for the promotion of family values and faith-based values as keys in building the moral wellbeing of families and the creation of a nonracial, nonsexist and nonviolent society in which human rights are protected. A leadership that sees moral values as a privilege and responsibility of us all rather than something to be left in the hands of politicians, teachers or even our religions though these have important ethical responsibilities. The big question now is: do we currently have that kind of leadership?

Dhlamini is Gauteng province chairman of the IFP