Band-Aids over bullet wounds: Accountability in SA an elusive concept

Public accountability has become an elusive concept in South Africa.

Calamity but no accountability

As a country, we are constantly staggering from one calamity into another – every transition so fast and every situation so dire, that hosing down the resultant conflagrations seems all we have the time or capacity for.

But unless we cut off their oxygen supply, these blazes are going to continue reigniting over and over again.

Eskom and load shedding

This year marks the 14th since load shedding first hit SA And it still doesn’t look like it’s going anywhere any time soon.

The latest bout this week followed a national blackout in Zambia which had a knock-on impact at the Cahora Bassa hydroelectric scheme in Mozambique – from where we import some of our power – and, locally, issues at the Tutuka, Majuba and Lethabo power stations.

ALSO READ: Busa rejects calls for Eskom’s management to step down over load shedding

But at the core of the problem is simply that years of shoddy leadership – coupled with corruption, maladministration, blatant looting and little to no maintenance being done – completely decimated Eskom.

And while we’ve seen dozens of cases referred to the Hawks over the past few years, the wheels of justice are turning as slowly as ever and, moreover, it feels as though holding to account those at the helm of the gargantuan failing has fallen by the wayside somewhere along the line.

Protests and unemployment

In the meantime, though, their actions – and lack thereof – have already cost the country over a million jobs, according to an economist’s estimate, and a reported 350 000 more are said to be at stake this year alone.

Similarly, those behind the deadly unrest that swept across the country in July – claiming hundreds of lives, hundreds more livelihoods and billions of rands in damages in the process – now, too, appear more and more out of reach of the long arm of the law.

Hundreds of alleged looters and a handful of low-level “instigators” have been arrested and charged in the weeks and months since.

But how many of them will be convicted remains to be seen – and again the process of securing justice will not likely be a swift one.

Poverty and desperation

Further, we’re yet to see those at the reins – who fostered a climate of poverty and desperation and then weaponised it for their own nefarious objectives – face any consequences.

South Africans want more. That much was made plain by the bloody nose the ANC was given in the recent local government elections.

ALSO READ: Load shedding: Eskom will ‘destroy economy, increase unemployment

And they deserve more. Those responsible for placing this country in its present chokehold, meanwhile, deserve to face the full might of the law.

Break the cycle through accountability

The only way to break the vicious cycle of abuse that we’re currently stuck in is through public accountability in the form of open, democratic processes and procedures.

In the current situation, that means swift prosecutions and jail time for everyone who has fallen foul of the law – from those at the very top of this crumbling tower to the very bottom.

Those who we entrust with the running of this country should fear the repercussions of stepping out of line. It is clear at the moment, though, that they do not. Because there are none.

This has to change. We cannot continue putting Band-Aids over bullet wounds and trying to walk them off.

At some point, they will no longer hold.