A system of pulleys and ropes installed by members of the South Africa Police Service is set up over an entrance to a disused gold mine shaft in Stilfontein, around 150 kilometres south-west of Johannesburg, South Africa, 17 November 2024. A South African court has ordered the lifting of a police blockade of the abandoned gold mine, in which people are illegally located. Police had blocked the mine in an attempt to force the people inside to exit. Picture: EPA-EFE/STRINGER
The issue about the trapped miners at a disused mine in Stilfontein, North West, is the story that keeps on giving.
One central theme, many faces of a nation coming apart at the seams, because of the lawlessness that exists.
A short summary: a mine, no longer in regulated use, is infiltrated by illegal miners, called zama zamas.
They come from near and far, both local and foreign, and begin to mine for minerals without authorisation.
Under the surface of the earth, they live a world parallel to that of the rest of the population.
They have an economy that clearly speaks to the scarcity of resources where they are. A mere bottle of cold drink is sold for R100.
But, according to the zama zamas, the joke is still on us who work for corporate for the “minimum wage”, yet we live from hand to mouth. Nonetheless, because of the long-created dependence on cool drink culture that exists in South Africa, everyone is led to believe there are means to buy the freedom that is taken for granted.
They have such high expectations of a country that they have stolen from without an inkling of shame that they demand ARVs as if they are Panados.
ALSO READ: ‘ARVs are not Panados’: Health Minister on Stilfontein mine zama zamas’ request
As officials have rightly put it, the entitlement that exists is that the same people you steal from must also cater to your every whim?
If not a circus, I’m not sure where we are close to one.
This then begs the question: why are South African laws so easily and continuously broken?
The audacity to disrespect the country comes from within.
It is the people who will teach the visitors that this country lacks rules and the most respected are the ones that, for lack of a better word, “makes things happen”.
I recently watched on Moja Love a show where South African women are marrying foreign nationals for R200 a month.
Obviously, once these women no longer serve their purpose, an entire family from a different country is brought into the country on an identity attained through the R200 monthly arrangement.
South Africans in general have little to no respect for the country’s rule of law.
We shout unemployment as the reason for back-door arrangements but, given an opportunity, we roll out the red carpet for the same back door.
A Chidimma Adetshina in South Africa exists, as does a Tlotlioso Mokoena from Lesotho, because a Siphosethu Khumalo from South Africa continuously makes it possible. This must come to an end.
ALSO READ: When morality is no more
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