South Africa governed by a thieving kakistocracy

We continually have to listen to our government placate us with words such as “democracy”, “progress” and “upliftment”, yet we don’t see these words being put into action.

In fact, we experience the opposite, despite supposedly having a government that is “from the people, for the people” and it is apparently known as “democracy”.

Politicians tell us, “the people”, what we must do for them when, instead, we should be telling them what they must do for us. It is us, the people, who gave them our vote as a token of our faith in the words they so easily presented to us before elections. If they fail in their promises, it is us, the people, who can – and should – remove them from office.

The government says one thing, yet does another. The result is that we have, as a country and a nation, gone backwards and entered the realm of failure and total collapse.

The system we adopted in South Africa produces politicians in name only, not leaders. They know very little, to nothing, of leadership, yet they are leading us. They steadfastly refuse to be held to account for their failures. They don’t attempt to bring out the best in the people they serve. They are certainly not leaders and we ought not refer to them as “political leaders”.

Leaders shouldn’t imagine they wear crowns. True leaders serve those they are entrusted over and hold themselves to account. They care for the present, the future and the next generation.

It is obvious our politicians care only for themselves. They have only one thought in their minds: winning the next election to continually enrich themselves. They will do whatever it takes to remain in power and this usually involves lying to us and plundering the state’s coffers whenever possible.

That is not leadership. Nor is it democracy. It is, instead, an insatiable greed and uncontrolled deception practised by incompetents.

As the voters who put the politicians in their seats of power, we should have a right to see them whenever we want and discuss what we need to bring to their attention. They, in turn, should be pleased to meet and speak to those who put them in power.

After all, they are supposed to work for us, but now they think we are there to work for them. They have forgotten their soft words and instead view us as their slaves. This isn’t democracy.

An assessment of our political dilettantes – they are not leaders – will reveal that time and again, we opt for substandard people to guide and lead us. To cover up their incompetence and their destruction of the economy, they seek to lay blame elsewhere, as they usually do. They now claim we need an economic revolution.

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We truly are governed by a thieving kakistocracy which, for the uninitiated, is a government run by the worst, least qualified, incompetent and unscrupulous citizens, who thrive on stealing public funds. Our kakistocracy is riddled with kleptocracy and nepotism.

Their claim that we are a “liberal democracy” holds some value as they have allowed themselves to be misguided by the Pareto Principle, or the 20-80 principle. The principle essentially implies that they are the 20% of geniuses in the country and the rest of us are too stupid to realise what they are doing.

They have likewise felt it important to encourage people not to work and to destroy the property of those who desire to work – as long as it is not their property.

True democracy can be thought of as “power of the people”. It is a way of applying governance and leadership according to the will of the people. It strives to provide an environment for the protection and effective realisation of human rights of all citizens, along with their right to certain freedoms.

Democracy does not include economic marginalisation based on race. It does not include a system where rules are only applicable to a few. It does not encourage ethnic or racial conflict. It does not focus on giving money to pariah states while ignoring the potholes it has created on our path.

Instead of bringing light to darkness, our government took away our light. To any observer watching our unruly parliamentary sittings, it is obvious that we are subjected to a “he-or-she-that-shouts-the-loudest” form of government.

Not only is this not democracy, it is an embarrassment and also destructive and divisive.

In South Africa, we have criminals that outgun the police and do so with impunity. We have large ungoverned areas where criminals dictate the laws, and our government doesn’t act.

What we have isn’t democracy. We have confused it with something else.

• Mashaba is a political advisor