Politicians are ignoring the rulebook
CITIZENS’ ACTIONS: SOUTH AFRICANS DIVIDED
It’s the results of years of shrugging off responsibility.
Illusionists trick us into thinking they’re capable of impossible feats. But we have our own tricksters: the political elite.
Irresponsible in their actions and speeches, they believe the rulebook doesn’t apply to them. Across all political parties, these illusionists have become power-seeking lords of misrule, rather than leaders who are supposed to serve and uplift people.
In the last two months, they’ve worked hard to show the people their primary concern is themselves – not the law or the economy, or tackling entrenched structural challenges and providing a functioning government.
Our former president’s blankness about his years in office during testimony at the state capture inquiry, is indicative of a man determined to absolve himself from taking responsibility for what transpired during his presidency.
Curry favour
Then there’s the “new dawn” of President Cyril Ramaphosa’s ANC that has held summits and lekgotlas and gone on investment drives.
There’s also the hot-and-cold coalition between the DA and the EFF.
They are all part of the recurring self-delusions of politicians who think they’ll be in charge for a long time.
In the last six months, politicians have shown they’re determined to help bring a calamitous socio-economic condition and politically unstable future to SA.
At a national, provincial and even party-political level, they’ve displayed an unwillingness to solve the problems besieging the country.
Consider that in the Western Cape, provincial government deems gang-related crimes and violence a problem it cannot solve. How else do you justify intervention by the national government?
Is this not an indication of renouncing responsibility?
They want the keys to the bank …
Consider too the recklessness of playing catch with ideas that can have lasting damage on the economy and thwart any chance of recovery. Talks about the Reserve Bank’s ownership continue to dominate ANC discussions.
Is this not a signal of economic nationalism as a way out of the economic crisis? A potential sign of a party dominated by populist policies based on ideology that failed the once-socialist states?
Tellingly, it reveals politicians’ short-sightedness and inability to think globally.
In Gauteng, political parties are playing petty politics while the province faces urgent issues such as slowing growth and an increasing urban population without infrastructure.
The province’s public health sector has a severe shortage of nurses and doctors to deal with the increased demand.
Much of what’s happening in SA is a consequence of the political class united in its disunity to avoid accountability, while absolving themselves of the responsibility of leading the country out of its economic and social crisis.
The unrest in communities countrywide, the total disregard for authority displayed by immigrants recently in the Joburg CBD and the boldness of Western Cape gang wars is driven by the conscious shift in society.
It’s a move away from a responsible, accountable citizenry to one based on mimicking political leaders’ attitudes and behaviour.