Is ANC proud of state Zuma has left the country in?

REFLECTING on the 10-year Jacob Zuma catastrophe, one cannot help being appalled that this beautiful country, emerging from the shackles of apartheid, an erstwhile beacon of hope for its people and a jaded world, now finds itself as just another failed African tragedy.

That so many of us stood by and allowed it to happen without so much as a whimper, is a crying shame.

Is the pathetic ANC regime proud of the last 10 years, proud of their tragic former leader who, as the custodian of our values, has set such an obscene (words fail one!) example to our people?

Is the ANC proud that despite its often vaunted policy of collective decision-making that in reality they all danced like mindless marionettes to the Zuma puppeteer’s music?

Is the ANC proud that statistically our homeland wallows in the company of the dregs of the world: arguably the worst murder rate, the worst gender violence, the worst crime rate, the worst child rate of abuse and so on?

Our ineffectual police force cannot cope, are corrupt and a disgrace.

The present police commissioner, General Khehla Sitole, is the eighth since 1994! No wonder then we have a police force lacking direction, integrity and leadership.

Is the ANC proud that our economy has been reduced to junk status; that our young people walk the streets with no possibilities of jobs; that we are bordering on starvation in many areas and that a disproportionately large section of our people live in slum conditions?

Conversely, our obese ANC hierarchy blame it all on white monopoly capital, ride in their helicopters and Range Rovers, flaunting their importance as if this country did not have a care in the world.

Is this regime proud of its RDP roll-out, the electrification and provision of water and flushing toilets to our people?

One must ask how much more could have been done with all the trillions that have been corrupted and stolen?

Is the ANC proud that despite our constitution declaring we are all equal before the law, racism is now worse than ever; the polarisation between white and black fanned by all-consuming fires of hatred?

Is the ANC proud that it has to resort to all sorts of clichés like affirmative action, racial imbalances, etc to hide its apartheid practices?

Is the ANC proud of our education and health services in South Africa?

Our education rates among the very worst in the world, our children unable to read and as for our national health systems, they are virtually non-existent!

Is the ANC proud of the youth burning down institutions, out of control and delinquent, all under the guise of destroying colonialism?

Is the ANC proud of the dilemma its former president has caused by stating education will be free for everyone without any idea of how a penniless treasury will achieve this?

Is the ANC proud of the Life Esidimeni tragedy?

What a pathetic example of the ANC regime placing people in controlling positions way beyond their capabilities!

Is the regime proud of Eskom, SABC, SA Airways, Denel, Telkom, Sassa, SARS, state capture and just about any other state mechanism?

The total chaos and disastrous management in these organisations is nothing short of a calamity, a tragic testimony to corruption and cronyism.

Is the ANC proud of ministers Bathabile Dlamini, Faith Muthambi, Lynne Brown and Mosebenzi Zwane, deputy secretary-general Jessie Duarte and others who so glaringly expose lack of leadership and integrity, making one cringe in embarrassment that these are our leaders?

Is the ANC proud of its new leadership under President Cyril Ramaphosa?

He now champions against corruption, trying desperately to bring unity to a fatally fractured organisation; to project the ANC’s ethical turnaround to the world at large.

However, lest we forget, Ramaphosa was part of the government, in fact for years Zuma’s right hand man as his vice-president.

He was a party to all Zuma’s transgressions and cannot escape responsibility for the mess we are now in.

His silence when it was glaringly obvious the country was being raped was deafening, making one wonder whether he has the will, integrity and charisma to provide our beloved South Africa with leadership and hope.

Talbot Cox, Schoenmakerskop, Port Elizabeth