An all bark, no bite president?

DEAR Mr President, Cyril Ramaphosa, in the aftermath of your State of the Nation Address, my crystal ball reveals nothing much will change for a while.

In fact, it reveals that our dire situation will get worse as a lethargic and inept leadership steers us aground at almost every turn.

The startling revelations by General Bheki Cele, the Minister of Police, at the South African Human Rights Commission hearings, that our intelligence agency withheld reports that could have helped the SAPS tackle the unrest of July 2021 is nothing short of stupefying. Is this the reason why we pay taxes?

As president, are you not briefed regularly by the different security apparatus, including Crime Intelligence, so that, as commander-in-chief, you are in an informed frame of mind to make telling decisions to protect the citizens of this country?

Decisions, I might add, that are encumbered by your oath of office that you swore to uphold at all times.

Politics and the zest for power, with the concomitant corrupt skulduggery that goes with such zest, have imperilled an entire nation. And unless there is radical and fearlessly drastic action from the head honcho of the country, we can brace ourselves for further decline and destruction.

To be brutally frank, the ANC and its sycophants have repeatedly hoodwinked the electorate into believing that they have the interests of all people at heart – and will deliver them to the promised land. That is a fallacy and a pipe dream.

Sadly, the majority of the electorate, who, I dare say, cannot see beyond their noses, especially when it comes to the realities that face us, yield to the bait of falsities election after election and return to office the very ineptitude they detest.

The tragic irony of July 2021 is that opportunists and thugs in our society have made that event into a racial aspect. It was never a racial thing.

You only have to look at your bureaucratic corridors – and yourself particularly – to find out what it was all about.

The Indian South African community were being demonised as the villains of peace, yet who exactly were the real villains?

If this is the level of treasonous conduct within the ranks of those entrusted to protect us, then we, the citizens, are nothing more than cannon fodder for the likes of those in power who are impotent to act when action is needed.

I wrote to then presidents Thabo Mbeki and Jacob Zuma about tackling crime in a radical manner.

But like you, they too were fettered by political heartstrings that prevented any real form of leadership that could have protected our country. Another dismal failing of the highest office of the land.

If this was the despicable and almost seditious conduct of our Crime Intelligence agency that allowed a near-insurrection to occur, what would have happened to us had a foreign power decided to attack us? To be honest, South Africa has become fair game for another country to invade us noting our weak security apparatus and rather querulous leadership that fight each other rather than for each other.

Why are our docile and inactive army not being strategically deployed into suburbia and other hot spot areas, merely as a deterrent against a burgeoning crime industry that is literally running rampant?

I would wager that the majority of law-abiding citizens would have no qualms about such action. I am certain you take pride in your presidency, but what kind of legacy will you leave when the dogs are barking but the caravan goes on?

Sir, a president worthy of his salt will not act like the dog that caught the car. He will go beyond the call of duty and make uncomfortable decisions – sometimes unconventional decisions – so that we, the people, are best served and protected at all times.

Is it possible that you are so wary of your slim chances of being returned to office in the next election that you display the proverbial dog that is all bark and no bite? Are you really that president?