December is supposed to be a time of thanksgiving, joy, laughter and taking a break from all the madness.
So far this month of festivity has been plagued by poor service delivery and the cycling tragedy when the deputy principal of Boksburg High School was killed.
The cycling accident again reminds us of the critical importance of being mindful of all of those on the road, to obey the traffic rules and to always drive cautiously.
After all, the festive season is notorious for all its road fatalities. Such accidents do not just occur as a result of the holiday traffic, but for some or other reason the madness ensues on the roads.
It also again highlights the possible necessity of the Administrative Adjudication of Road Traffic Offences Act, which will penalise drivers according to points if they transgress the laws of the road.
Then the senseless shooting of a man in a shopping centre in Pretoria also reminds us that we continue to live in a violent country, where the sanctity of life still does not count for much.
The arrest of an alleged sex offender in Hartenbos accused of sexually molesting several schoolboys from at least three schools from 1989 to 1994, reminds us this festive season that we still live in a time where our children are not safe.
This despite the yearly 16 Days of Activism for No Violence Against Women and Children campaign.
Yes, our children are still like sheep led to the slaughter. This festive season we can all hope for a better future for them – a world of joy – but the reality is that child trafficking is real, and so is sexual abuse.
In the North West, a 19-year-old man was arrested in connection with the murder of his girlfriend in Mahikeng. The 18-year-old victim was allegedly stabbed several times and ultimately doused in petrol and set alight.
In the meantime, in Boksburg, scores of women, including women’s rights advocacy groups, friends and colleagues, demonstrated outside the Boksburg Magistrate’s Court as the Parkrand man charged with murdering his wife appeared in court.
Yes, it is not jingle all the way in South Africa, as women still suffer pain and trauma and are subjected to nightmarish ordeals of rape and assault. Woe indeed unto us for lack of morals, and such shame clings to us even when the Christmas lights on the trees make us believe that light will eventually triumph over darkness.
Yes, such darkness is not a figment of our imagination, as the country is still beset with bloodshed, anger, mayhem, corruption and greed.
And the woes regarding service delivery continues.
In Boksburg there are often days where there is either no power, or water, or rubbish collection. Sometimes all three combined.
This year Boksburg was hit hard by cable theft, but a lot of other problems are a result of poor maintenance and, it seems, a general lack of intent to provide proper service.
Case in point – picking up the rubbish while water leaks are left unrepaired for weeks, even months.
The CBD is turning into our own trashopolis, while all the rain will eventually reveal the shoddy work of filling up potholes.
It is a rather sad state of affairs, even when we are supposed to be joyous and showing good will. After all, it takes the metro almost a year to start working on fixing the roof of the local library.
And spare a thought for those in Scribante who will have to battle through Christmas with still no working lift in sight.
Yes, this is the time of the year to count your blessings, but holding on to hope is certainly not always easy, especially when you have family who now live overseas smiling broadly in photos while back home, SAA cannot even keep itself aloft.
Such are the times of Boksburg, and of the nation, where even the state of our cricket affairs, like our state-owned enterprises, are in a complete shambles.
All that we can do, for those sticking around, is to hope that in 2020 we do not get completely bowled over by yet another disastrous year of poor governance because at this stage, even Father Christmas will be hesitant to visit this land of anarchy and lawlessness.
