Frequently these previous few weeks, I’ve heard many of us South Africans lamenting about the place we discover ourselves as a rustic. To underline our frustrations and disappointment, we are going to finish off with “Cry, the Beloved Country”, the title of the 1948 novel by Alan Paton.
Trust me, I share the frustrations. But I believe there’s a much more apt Alan Paton quote that finest describes our present state of thoughts and the feelings we really feel as South Africans:
“South Africa is a rustic the place you hope on Monday and despair on Tuesday,” Paton is quoted as saying in 1985. In some ways, it’s nonetheless very true right now. South Africa is a rollercoaster of feelings.
I wished to let you know this week concerning the progress being made by the NPA, the Investigating Directorate, and the Hawks in the battle towards state seize and corruption. They delivered on their promise of bringing 9 seminal circumstances to court docket by the top of September and that deserves applause.
For years we’ve got been ready for the prosecutions to come back and now we’ve got the proof that the wheels of justice are turning.
State Capture devastated the nation in so some ways. It value us enormously. State entities had been eviscerated. Capacity was eroded. Parastatals had been hollowed out. Looted. Brand SA was left badly tattered.
There must be accountability. We have needed to be affected person because the NPA was rebuilt and recapacitated.
But lastly, listed below are the prosecutions and a motive to rejoice!
Seminal circumstances enrolled in the previous six months embrace:
- former Minister Mosebenzi Zwane being arrested and showing in court docket on the R280 million Estina Dairy Farm case
- Former National Police Commissioner Khomotso Phahlane being arrested for a R54 million SAPS tender
- Former Transnet Group CEO Brian Molefe and former CFO Anoj Singh being charged in the R398.4 million Transnet corruption case
- McKinsey SA, a key company participant in state seize, was added as an accused in that corruption trial, a large milestone
Other circumstances embrace the Tegeta Exploration and Optimum Coal Mine matter, the ABB and Impulse case, a SAPS R8,5 million PPE contract corruption case, an illegal contract involving SA Express, and a matter involving the Winnie Madikizela Mandela Museum and mismanagement of cash.
Plus don’t neglect, the Gupta brothers stay in jail in the UAE.
“The NPA will take bold and innovative steps, to bring justice and restitution to the nation,” it mentioned in a press release final week.
I additionally wished to applaud authorities for lastly performing towards consultancy Bain & Co – National Treasury banned it from tendering for public sector contracts for a decade for participating in corrupt and fraudulent practices involving state seize and SARS.
It took far too lengthy for this to occur, but it surely has, largely because of the stress from whistleblower Athol Williams and comparable motion taken by the UK authorities.
Instead of appreciating the satisfying successes of South Africa this previous week and permitting ourselves to really feel hope that we’ve got turned a nook, as a substitute, we’ve got been thrust into despair.
We are in the longest ever stretch of loadshedding ever skilled in the nation. The knock-on results of which might be manifesting in a crucial method. Consistent water provide is now being impacted. Key healthcare establishments are struggling as a result of of the dearth of water. Cellphone protection is sporadic at finest. Infrastructure is breaking down in a giant method and that may be a harbinger, an early indicator of elementary deeper issues.
It was infuriating listening to the Joburg Water spokesperson laughing nervously on air, saying the state of affairs is ‘very critical’ and ‘our systems are very strained’ and ‘we can only do the best that we can’.
There isn’t any obvious urgency by elected leaders to take care of the varied crises. Instead, they’re much more targeted on celebration political agendas.
In the City of Joburg, the collapse of the coalition authorities is one other terrifying canary in the mineshaft of what’s to come back that has left residents feeling despair. If political events merely can not work collectively however are intent on feathering their very own nests, we ought to be very nervous about what’s to come back in 2024. Coalitions are very a lot a component of our political future and events should be taught to compromise in the pursuits of the citizens.
If there was not sufficient despair, the homicide and hijacking of a German vacationer close to Kruger Park this week pushed us over the sting.
Just because the tourism trade is recovering from the affect of extended lockdowns, this may have a detrimental affect on guests from overseas coming to SA. The German Ambassador Andreas Peschke informed me on The Midday Report this week concerning the laborious work that’s being accomplished to encourage tourism. Germany is the third largest tourism market to SA and in November, Lufthansa’s new leisure airline is scheduled to start out direct flights to Mbombela.
Headlines in Germany this week a few citizen being murdered close to the Kruger should not going to be filling these flights.
I felt even additional despair when the Mpumalanga police spokesperson informed me that the hijacking occurred alongside a stretch of street the place unlawful speedbumps have been constructed so the motorist needed to decelerate. Why weren’t the unlawful velocity bumps eliminated? If it is a infamous stretch close to the Numbi Gate, as has been described in the media, why aren’t the police doing extra to guard vacationers there? Police Minister Bheki Cele was pressured to confess that this particular space has a criminal offense drawback and vacationers are repeatedly focused.
We have been reminded but once more, as Alan Paton notes in Cry, The Beloved Country, to not love this earth too deeply or to provide an excessive amount of of our coronary heart to this land for concern will rob us if we give an excessive amount of.
But we’ve got to keep in mind that past the despair, there’s hope too. We should cling to the hope. We have a lot going for us that we are able to capitalise on and rejoice. There is a lot potential for achievement if solely our authorities simply makes the correct decisions and we put the most effective political leaders in place. There must be a renewed sense of urgency. It actually is feasible however which means performing shortly and with intent.
We should battle for the nation that we love and which means holding politicians accountable, supporting those that are working to uncapture the state, being lively residents, and altering the narrative that we’re a failed state.
It is just not sufficient to simply lament the failings and really feel the despair and ‘Cry, the Beloved Country’. We should construct on the hope.
