State of disaster an opportunity for even more ANC misbehaviour

We have all heard the saying about how power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely – so let’s hope the extra power conferred on our government ministers under the state of disaster regulations doesn’t go to their heads.

It did so last time, in the Covid emergency, and we ended up with bans on booze, smokes, open-toed shoes and cooked chicken, not to mention platoons of head-cracking soldiers in our townships and officious cops on our beaches.

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The hard-learned lesson – for ordinary people at least – is that the ANC’s politicians love a crisis and love throwing their weight around.

More ominous, though, as it turned out later, these ANC politicians also relish the relaxation of the normal rules so they can loot to their hearts’ content.

Under the disaster regulations to combat load shedding, there are worrying opportunities for even more ANC misbehaviour, or dragooning the population. Government is empowered to do anything to reduce the load on the grid – let’s hope they don’t tell you what electrical appliances you can or can’t run, or that they limit your total consumption.

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Then, procurement controls are relaxed – normally the green light for thieving – although there are supposed to be safeguards, such as reporting to parliament if there is deviation from standard procedures.

Our rulers are also allowed to ignore or delay processes like environmental impact assessments or land allocations, if these are deemed to be preventing the reduction of load shedding or the provision of new electrical generation capacity. Powerships, anyone?

There may still be a tiny voice in the back of our heads which says: Surely, surely, they would act in the national interest in a time of disaster?

Surely, our ANC cadres would be patriots first, politicians and eaters second? What did we learn in Covid, though? And what have we learned from André de Ruyter?

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