Where have all the 2010 flags gone?
Five years have passed. And how cynical we have become.
Remember 2010? Remember everyone had a flag on their car?
The Zimbabwean Soccer jersey sellers made a mint.
Even the rugby faithful relented and watched the opening ceremony and cheered when Siphiwe Tshabalala scored the first goal of the World Cup against Mexico. Remember?
The patriotism was running wild. The country had spent billions on stadiums and no one seemed to mind that the infrastructure, including Eskom, was falling apart.
Five years have passed. And how cynical we have become.
The country that welcomed the world with flying flags was suddenly burning down little tuck shops ran by so-called foreigners – most from Ethiopia and Somalia.
SABC television crews are attacked on camera with the criminals seemingly non-plussed that their faces had been caught on national TV.
Municipalities are largely dysfunctional with a litany of scandals and investigations that never reach a conclusion. Buck-passing is an art form, which means various so-called competencies, from illegal dumping to non-working robots are tossed around like unwanted toys by officialdom unwilling to take decisions or responsibilities.
Politicians and municipal ‘officials swap sides like children playing cowboys and crooks. Tenders are used as political weapons and for patronage.
The police change shifts and no one answers the phone. You go to hospital but you have more chance if you go next door to Doves. Taxi drivers push you off the road, hoot at you if you do not immediately pull away at a green robot and are generally not nice. Residents fix the traffic lights themselves and even repair potholes.
Parks are turned into places of ill-repute.
Drunken school children sway to booming music while children’s swings lie rusted. Condoms and litter cover the roundabouts and no one really cares. Oh for 2010….
