SA’s crumbling infrastructure and the urgent call for order and law

With everything going on in Gauteng, it is hard to believe that the country has buildings still standing. One would think the country should be burning.

The infrastructure is failing and roads are imploding. It’s too much to keep reiterating that the country is doing just fine.

A few months ago, I heard a comment on the radio that South Africa needed to operate on the principle, not of law and order, but order and law.

How can you uphold the law without order to begin with? On paper we have laws, but in reality the country runs on autopilot. For example, the former public protector went to court to have her powers enforced, only to lose to the president.

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South Africa needs to implement its laws. We cannot have laws reserved only for Joe Soap. There should be no special treatment for the affluent or sympathy for the previously disadvantaged. The law should be consistent.

Once we conduct ourselves in an orderly fashion, we will be able to uphold the law. For reformed criminals to say “I did it because I had a choice to go hungry or to hijack and kill”, is disturbing. How many people of high integrity do actually go hungry?

And after violently or otherwise turning others into the victims of their selfishness, why is it easier to pay for the latest in fashionable clothing and clubbing than for further education to enable an exit from the criminal world. Because, inherently, order on a personal level does not exist. How then can the law be upheld?

When a new year and protest actions begin, we can only hope they will be peaceful. We can only hope SA will be governed in such a way that order is maintained and those who have been elected to maintain the law lead by example and are the first to obey the law.

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While the jury of public opinion is still out on the public protector saga, we hope the liberties enshrined in our constitution will be protected and those who are determined to see this happen are protected from those who would rather loot the country.

Within ourselves, we need to have order to allow us to uphold the law.

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