Dancing away from problems?

Maybe it was my fault leaving Joburg on a Friday night. The mixture of traffic from an accident on the N3, weekend fever and the approaching Dezemba holidays was a cocktail for an impromptu dance party on one of SA’s busiest routes.

A truck overturned just outside Pietermaritzburg, blocking the road heading down into the city.

Our car stopped in the gridlock, unsure when and if we would ever move again, when suddenly the taxi in front threw its doors open and pumped up the volume. Riders rushed out as the amapiano beat built, dancing in the headlights.

Only a few days later, this long route would be the scene of Transport Minister Sindisiwe Chikunga and her bodyguards being robbed. Personal belongings and two police service pistols were stolen.

These moments on this road paint a picture of the nation we currently find ourselves living in.

ALSO READ: Transport Minister Sindisiwe Chikunga and bodyguards robbed on N3 highway

ANC secretary-general Fikile Mbalula was one, this week declaring himself an avenger against corruption. Despite several questions about his links to corruption-accused, including the controversial Gupta family, the former minister declared this week his name “will not be associated with corruption”.

Businessman Mthunzi Mdwaba implicated Mbalula, Higher Education Minister Blade Nzimande, Labour Minister Thulas Nxesi, and Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana in allegedly soliciting a 10% bribe from his company’s R5 billion projects related to the Unemployment Insurance Fund and a 750 000 jobs deal. All politicians have denied the claims.

Joburg’s power utility City Power was also caught dancing to a different beat, with its newly introduced load shedding schedule leaving the lights more sporadic than at a groove.

City Power officially took over load shedding from Eskom on Monday, promising the lights would stay on for longer, even under stage 6 and 7 rolling blackouts. Instead, it created confusion with new blocs and some areas were load shed twice within eight hours.

It may not have been his songs playing on the dark, but festive, Friday night, but MarcAlex singer Marc Rantseli’s catchy tunes are exactly the beat we need to get us on the right path, Quick Quick. Rantseli’s death was announced on Thursday, leaving the nation in mourning.

I hope soon those who hold the playlist will once again get dancing to the right beat and deliver.

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