Beefing it up for Pandor

Beyond a bored former MP Willie Madisha texting her “hong hong hong” at 3am, International Relations and Cooperation Minister Naledi Pandor is receiving actual threats. The State of the Nation Address last Thursday was so boring that the post press briefings became about a minister’s extra security.

Imagine? Needing security in South Africa? Who would have thought?

It’s as if there were no political killings in KwaZulu-Natal, no attorneys being killed. I wonder how judges feel when violent prisoners they have had to put away are released on parole.

It’s as if we don’t live in a country where the threat of violence is involved in serious decision-making and intimidation isn’t in contention to be declared a national sport.

Is it not a bit on the nose that a minister who was elected as an MP in 1994 and has been a senior politician at a national level since is reacting to increased threats?

Threats are awful and should not be the norm. It’s just ... under whose leadership has the culture of political intimidation been allowed to fester?

Let’s be honest, it’s not like there was no political intimidation pre-’94 but 1994 is a long way past and with a new democracy, one would hope that one thing we’d get right is to have the system being functional.

And a functional system requires some form of respect for the law. If nothing happens to you when you break the law, you can’t expect the system to function that well.

So what do our ministers expect? That they’ll only be making popular decisions? Because if they were to reign over a country with a stable, resourced and effective police and security service, would there be a need to beef up security if an unpopular decision was made?

What about the little plebians who run small companies and get potted in Bloemfontein parking lots? Where was their additional security?

Why, living in the system the ministers created, are they unworthy of the beef that the ministers can get on our dime?

Obviously, we’re hopeful that Pandor and her family remain safe physically and emotionally.

This is just the country we’re living in and we can’t ignore the glaring question, “why is it so?”

Why do we live in a state where people believe political intimidation is an acceptable, and assumingly effective, political tool?

It’s not like this is a new phenomenon, especially in Pandor’s circles. Remember when current ANC chair Gwede Mantashe admitted some eight years ago that selections of candidates can be a life-and-death issue?

I guess you can never really prevent jackasses from being jackasses and threats will always be there, so sure, we’d need to beef up security where needed.

We’re idiots for thinking it’s okay to just shrug and accept that this is the life we need to live; a life where we address threats with extra beef in the country where most are lucky if they can afford pap.

If you want to be safe, in your home, in your street or wherever, you need to pay for it.

It’s not the way to live, and now that Pandor and Police Minister Bheki Cele are feeling the brunt of it, maybe there will be more action to prevent this kind of terrible political pressure.

It would be great if we could live in a world where ordinary citizens could be safe. It would be ideal if ministers could be safe.

What is really upsetting is that one of them has access to the security needed while the others have to pay for it.

And as long as that’s the structure, why should it change?

We’re idiots for thinking it’s okay to just shrug and accept that this is the life we need to live.