Russia is that toxic ex South Africa can’t stop lusting after

The best selling independent album ever was by the band, The Offspring and it was called Smash.

Incidentally, it was released in April 1994. The second single is, to me, one of the most emotionally raw songs ever written. It details the reflection of a guy who keeps getting messed around by his ex (via his friends) but anytime she knocks on his door, he welcomes her in.

He rationalizes that he may be dumb but he understands that this is his fix for having no self-esteem. Alas the song never gets to the part where he comes to terms with how his constant relenting is the cause of his lack of self-esteem.

Sounds politically familiar.

Also Read: ANC NWC reiterates call for ‘diplomatic’ resolution to Russia-Ukraine conflict

Russia (more accurately, the Soviet Union) was a massive asset for the ANC, and aided in training uMkhonto weSizwe fighters. Recipient of the Order of Mendi for Bravery Eric Mtshali spent so much time in exile in the commie state that he went by the nickname, Stalin.

It’s pretty safe to say that until its dissolution in 1991, all 22,4 million square kilometres of the USSR was a great friend to the struggle.

But we’ve moved on since then. The USSR changed and developed multiple separate personalities, while South Africa went on to have different, more internal struggles.

South Africa developed this thing called a constitution and it had a bunch of words in it that spoke of things we called rights. It was an attempt at redress and balance. It was a push towards the belief of the standards individuals required for a dignified life. It was such a pure belief that simply being within the borders afforded a person most of the standards, regardless of citizenship.

That is philosophically important, because it was our indication that no matter who you are, you deserved those standards. Due to elements of sovereignty, we couldn’t impose them outside of our borders but it was the basis of our new democracy that every person would require those things in those words to live a life of dignity.

We were going through our therapy. We were taking our serotonin. We were doing the difficult things to fix ourselves. We took the better part of a decade debating and building our constitution.

Russia took a different approach.

They slapped together a text in under a year and amended it, nje, when certain people felt like it.

Yet, despite these differences in our growth and development, Russia always donned the sexy lingerie whenever loving ourselves got difficult.

Their door remained open for the parts of us that needed escape when farmers fled to start a new life there.

They brought us flowers and charged it to our credit cards when they offered a trillion buck nuclear station. They even opened our eyes to our horrible public health when they took in our deputy president.

This was all a temptation often too strong for us to resist.

Our political and philosophical beliefs breached the iron curtain and went through the window whenever Russia knocked on our door because, uh…. Remember just how good it was in the 80s?

How could it not be that good today? Surely we owe it to ourselves to try, and we try, and we try, and we try, and every time, the one who doesn’t change is Russia.

We’ve all had those relationships; The ones that keep letting you down when you trust the other person to become a better person. They are the ones that blind you to the better people you could be spending your life with, because you’re so hung up on the past.

So, it’s no surprise that with the weakness of a leadership that can hardly understand our constitutional philosophy, let alone apply it, we would avoid upsetting our ex.

Of course, South Africa will, despite everything going on in the world, choose to ignore reprimanding Russia even though their actions go against our constitutional values.

It takes a lot of guts to face your scantily dressed ex, remember that night in a four star hotel in Minsk, and say no even after you’ve done your own self-care and development. Clearly, those are guts we just don’t have.

You can’t fault South Africa though. It was foretold in 1994.

We may be dumb, but we’re no dweebs. We’re just suckers with no self-esteem.