Joburg Mayor Dada Morero must be on tight leash

When you drive a car that is in a good condition, your ears are sensitive to funny sounds.

But when you are driving an old jalopy like mine, a new grinding noise will be hardly noticeable.

That is how horrible the state in which South Africa is in.

After 30 years of ANC rule, officials are now used to abusing their power and taking people for granted.

That’s why they often come up with strange proposals which may put the country at great risk or unnecessary financial losses.

It is only when there’s a public outcry that these plans or proposals are cancelled.

It was not surprising for Johannesburg mayor Dada Morero to get the flak after suggesting that foreigners must be recruited into the metro police.

He unwittingly thought these foreigners could help with communication as most criminals are alleged to be foreign nationals.

There’s nothing wrong with the employment of foreigners and allowing them to start businesses in the country.

That’s totally welcomed as long as they adhere to the country’s laws.

But, when it comes to security matters that affect the country such as policing, it is always important for SA not to be careless.

Security for the country must be guarded at all cost because, currently, with a lot of external threats seeking to destroy the country, we can’t just be employing anyone to protect us.

If we do that, we will be compromising ourselves and open our policing to foreign infiltration that will make the fight against crime futile.

With immigration still a challenge, the inclusion of foreigners in policing will be a disaster that will make South Africa lose its direction towards building a capable state.

ALSO READ: Petition to recall Joburg mayor hits 10 000 signatures in one day

Therefore, what should be discussed is how do we encourage and hire South Africans to become part of the safety and security sector.

Instead of recruiting foreigners, South Africans must rather be trained. And this will even help deal with unemployment.

Even worse, there’s no country in this world that would recruit foreigners into policing their country.

More especially in any African country, if that were to happen, the very same citizens of that country will protest. Security is a very sensitive matter that cannot be compromised further.

Given that there are allegations that some foreign nationals are only in South Africa to advance their criminal activities, Morero has really fumbled and must be put on a tight leash.