SA is well down path of self-destruction but we can’t afford to give up all hope
It is height of stupidity to expect the corrupt to lead war on corruption
A few years back, a Justice Malala book title declared: “We have now begun our descent.”
Indeed, most of us would agree that the descent is well under way and the landing is likely to be rough.
We are descending into kleptocracy, more poverty, higher unemployment levels, higher interest rates, slower economic growth, less tax revenue and less capacity on the part of the state to pay for education, healthcare, social grants, public security and similar state obligations.
As a home of kleptocracy, we are likely to see less investment, higher inflation, weakening of our currency and reduced ability of the poor to buy food and other necessities of life. This in turn will lead to social strife and unrest. The rich are better placed to cushion themselves against such economic shocks than the peasants, workers, pensioners and the unemployed.
And as some have noted, most revolutions start with an empty stomach.
To be honest, things have been going in the wrong direction for a while. But the reckless firing of the minister of finance and his deputy accelerated our rush to the precipice.
No one should question the prerogative of the president to appoint and dismiss ministers. But did he have to do it in such a reckless and dramatic manner?
All this drama happens in an environment thick with rumours of a nuclear deal that has either been signed surreptitiously with the Russians or it is about to be penned.
By all accounts, that deal will bankrupt our country and leave future generations with unbearable debts.
That would mean that our children and their offspring would be even more impoverished than our generation. If this prospect does not spur us into action, nothing would.
It would be the height of stupidity to expect the governing party to do anything to halt and reverse this downward spiral.
The governing party is so consumed by corruption and sleaze that are paralysing some in its ranks while others are intent on beating the current path.
When Zimbabweans were to go back home after many years of armed struggle against the Ian Smith regime, the legendary Zanu-PF secretary-general, Edgar Tekere, is said to have expressed his dread of facing a new enemy called corruption. He feared this new enemy they would be confronted with as a Zimbabwean governing party than he did the guns of the Rhodesian security forces.
The thing with corruption is that there is no frontline. The enemy is not as clear and visible as in the Struggle against colonialism. In the fight against corruption, you might not know who to shoot at. Your comrades and colleagues might be smiling with you whilst plotting schemes to steal from the public purse.
In our case, people in the governing party are now using leftsounding rhetoric to camouflage their gluttonous feeding frenzy. Suddenly, there are shrill railings against white monopoly capital and a need for radical economic transformation.
Where was this language in the past 23 years of democratic rule? There are fears among some that we could be tumbling down towards a failed state. It is a fact that quite a few of our state institutions, such as Sars, NPA, Public Protector, different branches of the police service, parliament and the executive have been significantly weakened or corrupted.
Almost all of our stateowned enterprises have become the main sites of looting and are floundering from one mess to another. We are fortunate that other arms of state, such as the judiciary, continue to function admirably. We need to protect them at the same time as we try to restore the others to proper functionality.