All the wrong heads seem to have rolled

SO, THE time has arrived for our politicians to run around electioneering, kissing babies and catching trains.

“Heads must roll” says Cyril Ramaphosa, looking suitably aggrieved after being stuck for a couple of hours on a non-functioning train.

Ja, right. Try all your government departments Mr Ramaphosa – go to Home Affairs and try to get anything done, try to lay a charge at a police station, try to get treatment at a state hospital. And in these dark days of a floundering Eskom, try and boil a kettle for a cup of tea.

In short, Mr Ramaphosa, everything the ANC touched has turned into a disaster. And our health minister expects us to believe the NHI will be fully functional and wonderful. Dream on.

Mr Ramaphosa, with this “heads must roll” thing, how come further up the food chain, very obviously guilty, very greedy heads who have ridden roughshod over this country’s laws and its constitution have not rolled?

Commissions ad nauseam, a few whistleblowers charged (that will show them). But no heads of any substance have rolled.

Are you compromised? Afraid to act against the former (and some present) head honchos lest some unsavoury facts come to light? We are angry, and very tired of empty rhetoric, empty promises, gross incompetence and corruption on a grand scale – the list is endless.

The New Zealand mosque shootings took place against the backdrop of a rise in Islamophobic hate crimes, racist violence and an increase in farright extremist activity.

Attacks on Islam and Muslims are the central organising principles of far-right movements across Europe.

Islamophobia is deeply structured into European society as it has played a central role in attempting to create the conditions in which Europe can fight unpopular foreign wars, particularly in central Asia and the Middle East.

Whether its extreme right-wing Christian fundamentalism or Islamic extremism, fear and hate continues to fuel the violence and destruction that continues to afflict communities worldwide.

We must continue to speak up against all forms of systemic racism and religious discrimination. There is clearly a need to better understand and study the growing trend of Islamophobia.