Who really owns our corrupt government?

There is a saying that people who live in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones. In the not-too-distant past, our government, surprisingly, took to stone-throwing as a method of poking fun and snickering at – and criticising – other African governments for their perceived failures or errors.

This was merely a method of deflecting from our many failures and it seemed they forgot that we were then already living in a cracked glass house. But we are, after all, the “untouchable Africans”.

Our government has always keen to vuvuzela itself as a “negotiator” and “peacemaker” to African governments, believing that they alone could solve the political disputes – even when the complexity of the situation was way above their understanding.

But does our government truly believe if they publicly throw stones at other governments, they will distract the citizens from their failures?

Do they think this will make us forget or forgive the horrific corruption they unleashed on our country? Or do they instead think we are just too stupid to understand what games they are playing? Don’t they realise that they are now the ones being pocked fun of and snickered at?

As for being a “peace-negotiator”, it may do our parliament well to realise they first need to solve our country’s problems – which they largely created – before offering to solve the problems of other countries. There is a different between “soft power” and “no power”.

Equally important, perhaps we should be asking on behalf of who are we throwing the stones, or attempting to negotiate? Whose interests are we best serving? Is our government and parliament controlled by Beijing, London, New Delhi, Jerusalem, Moscow, Havana, or Washington?

Or is our government under the control of an internal cabal who strive to continuously hollow out the economy, destroy lives, and create a nation of unemployed ruled by an unaccountable, deeply corrupt, super-wealthy elite? More than anything, this needs urgent and honest investigation.

We need to know who owns our government and its parliament. We can also go on and investigate why we are experiencing such unheard-of turmoil and poverty.

I fear that no matter how much money we spend appointing a commission to conduct such an investigation, or how many sub-commissions we appoint to investigate the findings of the commission, the answer will remain the same: a lack of leadership, no direction, almost zero governance, and the negative impact of poor and misguided economic policies.

And, of course, little mention will be made of the shocking corruption they have perpetrated. Resultant from our government’s poor policies, we have driven away foreign investments, created a shrinking tax base, increased the ranks of the unemployed, encouraged the flight of domestic human and financial capital and done everything possible to hold onto the state for own benefit.

Was this all done for someone else’s benefit – or was it for our own good?

No matter how we may want to wish away or sugar-coat the reality, the truth is that we are standing on the edge of state failure – thanks to our government.

As was recently witnessed, court appearances are now being held under trees in Musina. Most municipalities are bankrupt and unable to function.

Governance is something that can no longer be assumed to be working. It is characterised by failure after failure and driven by insatiable corruption.

This is nothing to blow our vuvuzelas about, nor is it indicative of a progressive and successful government. Rather, it is indicative of some form of control.

The question is whose control?

As our state is unable to project domestic influence and power, how can we even consider projecting external influence and power?

-Mashaba is a member of the ANC and a political advisor.