SA declining into terminal condition

TO BETTER understand the consequences for the country of the goings-on at Eskom, SAA, the SABC, SARS, Prasa, Sassa and Parliament, one can liken the situation to finding out your heart, lungs, kidneys and liver are all on the verge of shutting down.

These institutions are the organs that keep the country alive and, considering the rate at which they are collapsing, terminally ill will soon be the only appropriate description for our predicament.

As the country watches in disbelief, our institutions are systematically being strangled by greed, corruption, the dereliction of duty, deceit, arrogance, ignorance and incompetence.

Media freedom, freedom of expression, the rule of law and the independence of the judiciary are the only weapons at our disposal to bring about the necessary changes – and these are being taken away from us.

Should those hell-bent on destroying the country succeed in their efforts to remove these weapons from the people, they will become Mugabe-style untouchables and the opportunity to save the country will be lost.

A disturbingly large number of influential ANC members continue to tolerate Zuma and his cabal of cronies. By neglecting their civic responsibility, they are aiding those strangling the country.

Many seem prepared to trade the country’s future for a share in the gravy train. The only other possible motive has to be that they are so intellectually challenged that they believe the country is somehow immune to the disasters that have consumed much of subsaharan Africa.

With the ANC incapable of solving the country’s problems, are we just going to have to roll over and die? The only people who can answer that are members of black civil society who, for reasons still unknown, are yet to stand up and be counted. GLYNN WILLIAMS Westville