Putting SA right starts with us

What can go wrong?

I would say plenty can and will, given the schizophrenic character of the ANC.

This is no doubt another impediment bequeathed to the nation by the colonials, or just maybe it might be something handed down to us by philosophers of olden times. Blame there has to be! Evidence of what is not only a dilemma for the ANC, but has become one for the country, emerges daily from utterances at electioneering rallies, scenes of insurrection and civil disobedience, a plethora of commissions, parliamentary kangaroo courts and, importantly, social media.

Why is it that significant discoveries and advances in areas such as technology, which promise so much for society, get used to inflict so much evil?

But, we do not suffer only because our politicians are dim-witted or are not allowed to think for themselves or the system is corrupt or because we, like most, can legitimately describe ourselves in some way or other as a victim.

We ourselves have a lot to do with the parlous state the country is in and, dare I say, also prevailing racial conflict.

In all the time the ANC has been at the helm it has made the claim that its brand of morality is “top dog”, while that of other groups is nothing but an attempt to exercise power over others.

This is easily understandable until one digs down to the ultimate twist.

For its own invariably the decent thing to do, given how arbitrary society’s moral values in any event are, has given the movement licence to show tolerance for party supporters who “think and do” very differently.

The ANC’s emphasis on tolerance towards its own is so paramount that for constructive critics one of the worst character flaws such a person can have is to be judgmental – guilt can now only be pronounced by a court of law, which is nonsense.

This is what cadre deployment and centralisation has produced for SA, which does not fit with a progressive constitution.

Why should we not speak out about right and wrong?

A very strong relativist characteristic within the ANC chooses to devalue thousands of years of human knowledge about how to acquire virtue, dismissing it as being irrelevant or oppressive, and someone using it is labelled anachronistically moralistic and self-righteous.

Beware undeserved tolerance in one direction only.

The other lobe of the ANC make-up is that it is idealistically inclined.

Ideologues, history has proved as indeed is the case here in SA, are always dangerous when they come to power because of a simple “I know it all” approach, which is no match for the complexities of existence.

Moreover, sovereignty demands authority coupled with competence, yet the ANC saw fit to vote Jacob Zuma into office.

This had everything to do with corruption, which had already soaked into the DNA of the movement.

The only practical way forward is for each of us to set our own houses in order first.

An antidote to chaos best described as a loss of groupcentred beliefs and values can with a good dose of goodwill be re-inculcated by the introduction of folk to a framework for the development of individual rules of life.

People adhere to rules all the time.

They like to know where they stand, but very easily slip into slack habits that become a rule often made up “on the hoof” to suit some or other moving target.

Failure to make proper sacrifices, to reveal ourselves, failure to live and tell the truth – all that weakens us – and so too does betrayal of principle and wilful blindness.