Ranjeni Munusamy
Victims of a fallen state
Every year on the anniversary of the September 11 attacks in the US, an article that was first published in Esquire magazine in 2003 is reposted and widely shared online. “The Falling Man” by US journalist Tom Junod is a compelling read about a photograph of a man plummeting from the World Trade Center in New York.
The picture, taken by Associated Press photographer Richard Drew, shows the man suspended mid-air with the towers behind him.
We know that the man and the towers perish, but in that moment all three appear resilient.
“Although he has not chosen his fate, he appears to have, in his last instants of life, embraced it. If he were not falling, he might very well be flying. He appears relaxed, hurtling through the air. He appears comfortable in the grip of unimaginable motion. He does not appear intimidated by gravity’s divine suction or by what awaits him,” wrote Junod.
His article is about the agonising process to try to identify the man and establish whether he jumped or fell. There are no answers, just a journey into human suffering.
Like Sam Nzima’s picture of Hector Pieterson during the 1976 Soweto uprising, the falling man is a representation of the events of the time in the way words are unable to describe.
The pictures serve as poignant and eternal reminders of the human cost of acts of evil.
I wonder what image will represent the time we are living in.
The catastrophe in our country might not be a brazen terrorist attack or an illegitimate regime gunning down schoolchildren, but it is a sustained political, economic, moral and societal decline.
While the economic data paints a distressing picture of the state of the nation, the deterioration of our society is more graphically reflected in human conduct.
Earlier this month SA slipped into a technical recession as economic activity declined by 0.7% in the second quarter. During the same period, the unemployment rate rose to 27.2%. The agitation in society over the VAT increase and numerous petrol price increases is set to intensify. A huge hike in the price of fuel is expected in October.
The crime statistics released this week depict a violent society at war with itself.
According to police figures, between April 2017 and March 2018, 57 people were murdered in SA every day — an increase of 1,320 compared with the previous year.
A travel advisory issued this week by the US state department warned its citizens to exercise increased caution when travelling to SA.
“Violent crime, such as armed robbery, rape, carjacking, mugging, and ‘smash-and-grab’ attacks on vehicles, is common. There is a higher risk of violent crime in the central business districts of major cities after dark,” the advisory states.
“Demonstrations, protests, and strikes occur frequently. These can develop quickly without prior notification, often interrupting traffic, transportation, and other services; such events have the potential to turn violent.”
It is difficult to argue that the warning is alarmist or inaccurate. South Africans are in need of the same warning.
The decline in societal values is also reflected in continuous outbreaks of xenophobic attacks and displays of racism.
Statistics have long shown that SA’s children are growing up in violent households and the greatest proportion of violence against women is domestic violence. Our homes are places of fear, not safety.
SA is in serious trouble and in desperate need of strong leadership across society. That leadership is not evident anywhere, certainly not in politics.
The lesson from the experience of state capture is that the government should never be trusted with too much power and the citizenry always needs to be aware of the activities of their elected representatives.
No matter what the state capture inquiry uncovers, it cannot reverse the damage of 10 years of endemic corruption and deliberate subversion of democracy.
Despite the fact that our society is now fully aware that SA was run by a shadow state, the governing party, whose leadership is still largely populated by the people who delivered control to a foreign family, is not under any pressure to account for what happened.
The ANC is instead plotting against itself, ready to place the country in peril again in another reckless battle for power.
It is alarming how much ANC leaders distrust one another and how their primary motivation is self-preservation rather than the national interest.
The rapid degeneration and erosion of values, the restlessness of people stuck in a perpetual cycle of poverty and the lack of leadership can only mean that social upheaval in our country is inevitable.
I do not know how the descent of our society will be depicted or remembered.
But it is unlikely that the political players who caused the collapse will pay for it.
The most profound suffering will be that of the victims of the fall.