Sir – The unfolding tragedy – conducted or by natural causes (the choice is yours) – of the Covid-19 virus (it is amazing how the different media outlets write this in so many varied forms) has brutally exposed the fragility of a system that has been constantly undermined to suit the ruling party.
The poorly run health system – filled with comrades and the politically connected – has been a bit like the British forces at Isandlwana – overrun.
The same can be said about the security forces – be it the poor SAPS or the SANDF.
Years of poor management, the non-implementation of by-laws (urinating in public, drinking in public and partying in public, which everyone laughed at when residents wrote to the Courier complain about these social evils) have now come back to bite the ruling party. They have wittingly bred a non-complaint voting mass that feels nothing about by-laws.
The system is all about ‘Me, Myself and I’ and any chance they will comply to stay at home during the lockdown, obey rules not to drink or party in the parks, and even not pack into taxis, are all seen as a blatant infringement of so-called rights and to hell with the responsibility of ensuring the health of fellow citizens.
SAPS and the authorities now find themselves like parents, who for 25 years have let their naughty kids plunder the cookie jar in the kitchen and run amok. Suddenly the wooden spoon must be wielded and it is tough. That naughty child is now a petulant adult and wants only to surround himself with his needs.
You have to feel for the SAPS. But for years we have been laughed at for calling the cops every time there is a pee-up in the park. Those poor decisions are now biting us.
Can the genie be put back in the bottle? Only the virus will tell – and those who let that genie out.
Brian the Brain
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