A sick society, led by a gravely sick and corrupt govt

Our country is in dire straits. With the world mourning the civilian death toll in Ukraine, which is both saddening and shocking, little thought is given to the victims of the daily horrific violence that plagues South Africa.

Over the past two weeks, 39.2 civilians were killed daily in the conflict in Ukraine. In contrast, 52 murders occur daily in South Africa (not all are reported) – and the world closes its eyes and says nothing. Our government is equally silent and unconcerned.

Ukraine is at war, but we are engaged in a bigger war as our country has lost its soul to vicious and violent crime. The moral cancer that has spread throughout our government has, likewise, infested our security forces. The government has worked hard to entrench a negative trajectory aimed at total economic collapse and national disunity.

The government has failed in its obligation to provide a climate conducive to economic and social development. Investors don’t want to invest in a country where the daily murder rate outstrips that of a war zone. It is said a nation’s security forces are a window into its society.

If true, then we are indeed a sick society led by a gravely sick and corrupt government. Citizens must stand together to fight the uncontrolled crime and violence. The extraordinary reputational damage the police department has suffered, from the minister down, must be rectified sooner, rather than later.

The daily violent riots and protests and the destruction of basic and critical infrastructure is indicative of a very angry, despondent and lawless society.

The government refuses to take note of the words of late president Nelson Mandela: “If the ANC does to you what the apartheid government did to you, then you must do to the ANC what you did to the apartheid government.”

So, the protests ought not to come as a surprise, as it is behaving as an out of-control monster that punishes its people for asking for help. The security forces have been heavily politicised and seem to only serve their political masters, not the nation.

This is wrong, as any security force that has the burden of defending and upholding the constitution and law and order ought to be politically astute, but non partisan. We need leaders in our security forces who have a deep desire to serve the people and not the party.

These leaders ought to be appointed on their understanding of matters of intelligence, law enforcement and defence, regardless of their colour, religion or political ideology. The government’s policy of cadre deployment in these key sectors has failed – disastrously.

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Failures at ministerial level must not be tolerated. These should be severely punished, and the cadres who fail should not be rewarded with diplomatic positions or golden handshakes.

This disaster requires urgent and decisive intervention, but that will not be coming from our corrupt and dysfunctional government. We, the people, must demand government cleans up its act, drastically and urgently.

The many corrupt passengers in its ranks must be shown the door and never allowed to return to hold positions of high office. The intelligence services must be used to gather intelligence that threatens the state and not be used as a personal vendetta group.

Law enforcement agencies must be led by competent leaders who understand the theory and practice of law enforcement, and who practise their craft to the betterment of all citizens, and not for personal gain. Our country can no longer afford a corrupt and inept police service.

As for our armed forces, one can only express shock at how they have been eroded from both within and from government. Many competent officials were sent packing as they were not political appointees or did not agree with the government’s policy of watch and do nothing.

Others were prematurely retired or forced to leave. Bring them back to fix the mess. If they want to serve with honour, they should be helping resolve this huge problem the government has created. We must demand better as we do not deserve this.

• Mashaba is a political advisor