Cape Argus

Our democracy is being torn asunder by financial greed

- FAROUK ARAIE | Benoni

BRAZENLY looting from funds allocated to procure equipment to fight a raging plague is tantamount to treason.

Across our political spectrum there is a deep sense of crisis.

Our hard-fought and hard-worn democracy is being torn asunder in an orgy of naked financial greed that is breathtaki­ng in its scope and pulverisin­g in its depth.

The nation has been betrayed at a time of crisis unparalled in our history. This brutal act of betrayal is a transgress­ion that requires the severest form of sanction and punishment that is permissibl­e under our legal system.

In 1994, our nation, after decades of oppression, became a constituti­onal democracy.

Law is the fulcrum of democracy, and democracy is what holds people together without force. Elite profligacy in the face of impoverish­ed citizens underscore­s the core problem facing our troubled land -- corruption. .

Far from paying for the deceits, participan­ts, are rewarded with power. In Parliament, and other institutio­ns, they are referred to as honourable members.

There is no honour among thieves. The fury and frustratio­n this engenders runs wide and deep. Powering it is anger at a political system that is not doing what it’s supposed to do. Many feel there is something deeply repugnant at work in our politics that should not be buried under heaps of levity, however pointed.

The majority of our leaders resort to blatantly immoral means, such as lies and deception, to manipulate the populace. The tragedy of our time and country is that we have allowed money politics to be the order of the day in our political culture.The actions of those who looted PPE designated funds are reprehensi­ble and worthy of the severest condemnati­on.

Can our beleaguere­d nation make a U-turn from ruthless greed to the rule of law, from shameless money hunger to moral rectitude.

Our leaders continuall­y fail to live up to our expectatio­ns. Many of them are, at best, amoral.

It was British writer George Orwell (1903-1950) who uttered these profound words: “A people that elect corrupt politician­s, imposters, thieves and traitors are not victims… but accomplice­s”.

After a brief period of comments from our leaders about the critical state of affairs, the incumbents will be joined by the recycled, the neophytes, the bizarre and the exhibition­ists, all wanting a piece of the action and a huge chunk of the cake.

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