Is anyone in Pretoria listening to us?

DAILY, South Africans witness protests related to service delivery, marches against corruption and protests against brutal crime. Are those in power listening?

Our economic future is bleak as growth contracts. General Motors has decided to leave our country after many years, and Stuttafords, a household name, is about to fold. Another downgrade seems set to become a grim reality.

The ruling elite lack the kind of philosophical and ideological vision and orientation to develop a progressive society.

This country is where it is because the political system is self-perpetuating and no party is accountable to anyone except a coterie of people who dominate all decisions.

Unless the political system is accountable, going after individual cases of corruption will achieve little.

Corruption is a crime against humanity and amounts to a gross violation of individuals’ rights and freedoms.

It is a complex economic, political and social problem that can be tackled only through a multidimensional and multifaceted approach.

It was Thomas Jefferson who said: “Government big enough to supply everything you need is big enough to take everything you have. The course of history shows that as a government grows, liberty decreases.”

Corruption has entered every single aspect of our lives and is all-pervasive.

It is on the increase in huge proportions, and there is barely any sphere of social, political and economic activity that is free from corruption of some kind.

It is now regarded as a fact of life. — Farouk Araie, Benoni