A failed state and anarchy: Government leading SA into a more dangerous space

Any normal-thinking person will, after taking a look at what’s happening, realise SA is a deeply troubled, failed state.

We are not only plagued by a collapse of everything with rising crime and corruption, we are also facing a growing ethnic, racial and tribal divide.

As the cost of living increases so, too, do the long lines of the unemployed.

We are reaping the results of government’s trajectory of militant populism and national collapse. As members of the national and local governments relentlessly plunder the state’s coffers, there are growing problems they prefer to ignore.

Instead, they focus on the problems of other states, acting as though they alone exercise clean governance.

The reality is very different and they fail to understand why no one wants their “mediation”.

They have taken their eyes off the ball and are blissfully unaware of the potential implosion we are facing. Articles and photographs appear daily in the mainstream media and on social media platforms.

Most people realise SA is already engaged in a domestic conflict.

Heavily armed gangs attack at will. Buildings are trashed and set alight. Burning tyres block many roads. Critical infrastructure is sabotaged by terrorists posing as employees, or openly dismantled and sold.

Millions upon millions of rands are wasted on worthless projects.

An example is the Tshwane government’s almost R140 million to build the never-used HM Pitje Stadium. To demolish it will cost approximately R84 million.

Despite the province disputing these figures, it has yet to explain the true build-and-demolish approach along with the maintenance and associated costs.

Yet people are starving. This excessive and wasted expenditure is indicative of a provincial government that lacks leadership and the ability to exercise good governance and the management of finances.

This money could have been far better spent on the citizens of South Africa. And, sadly, this is not an isolated case as such instances appear in all provinces.

The negative impact created by the harsh Covid lockdown regulations destroyed an already eroded and hollowed-out and weak economy.

Businesses closed down, people lost their jobs, monthly payments were unable to be honoured – and crime soared.

On a daily basis, people riot, protest, and generally cause destruction, mayhem, and murder. Roads are blocked with various burning obstacles.

Vehicles are stoned. Trucks transporting high-value goods are robbed at gunpoint and torched.

Cars are ambushed and hijacked. Even schoolchildren are assaulted or murdered and armed gangs roam freely.

Farming has become one of the most dangerous occupations in South Africa.

On an almost daily basis, farms are attacked. Workers and owners are tortured. Livestock are either stolen or mutilated.

Crops are destroyed. These wanton acts of violence bode massive problems for our food security. We are already facing higher food costs and a rise in interest rates.

Our government chooses to ignore the unfolding crisis across the country and rather wants to involve itself elsewhere and “mediate”.

The citizens of this country are neither blind, nor stupid to fall for this political distraction.

The deep racial divide the government created and entrenched is coming home to roost. Race-related incidents are a daily occurrence and hate speech is becoming the norm.

The idea that all businesses must appoint ANC cadres if they wish to prosper has driven companies to build their fortunes beyond our shores.

We can no longer afford business and workplace quotas and protectionism as it is widening the wedge between company owners and workers – and driving unemployment.

No worker is forced to join a business or company as we do not practice slavery.

But the protests and, at times violent strikes, destroy the entities the workers look to for a monthly salary.

If the workers are so unhappy, why not start their own companies?

The July 2021 riots showed just how ill-prepared the government is to act in times of a violent calamity.

Those who are appointed and paid to guard our increasingly fragile democracy were apparently caught “off guard”.

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The uncontrolled anarchy and violence that engulfed the region showed the desperation of angry and despondent people – and the inability of the government to act on a provincial scale.

The Saps has continuously tried to disarm legal gun owners and offered them amnesty for handing in their weapons.

Large numbers of these weapons have “disappeared” from the amnesty storage places, only to end up in the hands of already well-armed criminal gangs.

Others are bought and sold on the illicit market. With all these problems and many more, South Africa is entering an even more dangerous space.

It will only take a small spark to ignite our own “South African spring”.