Life consists of many different paths and you choose the path you want to take. Naturally, with each choice, there are consequences, whether they are good or bad, they are the consequences you will have to live with.
What humans want from life is not complicated. We want good, fair governance. Political leaders who will use the wealth of the country to make the country better for its entire population. A government like that is respected and desired. As we look around the world, we can see that there are not many of those types of governments. Corruptions seems to be the trend and especially so in Africa.
But along with the expected corruption, we have to deal with many aspects of crime. Everybody I speak to is concerned about crime, the inefficiencies of the government, and the corruption, violence and instability in Africa, the poverty, the rape, the destruction of life and the absolute ignorance and lack of proper governance from most governments. Their gaze more focused on how to solicit the next bribe than to sort out the corrupt police and government agents.
With all of this going on, a nagging idea starts festering in your mind…perhaps Africa is not the best place to be right now. But the double-edged sword: am I bailing out on my country and removing myself from my responsibilities as a responsible citizen? How many responsible citizens are still out there? Even among friends, colleagues, ex-colleagues, friends of friends and acquaintances, corruption is rife, all admitting to keeping the R50 or R100 ready to bribe a cop, should they have to. I understand the need to do that, but I also understand that with each bribe, the uncontrollable corrupt situation we find ourselves in, just spirals more and more out of control.
You can’t even get a driver’s license without paying a bribe. A very good friend of mine has tried 8 times. With the last attempt the driving instructor tried to solicit the bribe. They of course refused, being responsible citizens … the comment from the instructor. “Good luck with that one!” And of course failure… even after doing everything correctly. Why? Well something to do with the water levels in the radiator not being checked! This leaves us to beg the question…. How many unqualified drivers are we sharing the road with? How many responsible citizens are tired of failing for being responsible and will eventually succumb to corruption.
So this goes on the con list, along with the BEE and AA policies, the quality of school education and standards dropping, increasing crime… The pro list seems to be flipping off the see-saw as the con list weighs so heavily, it can’t even be lifted.
In my minds-eye, I see the future… bribing a cop to avoid going to jail for no reason. Bribing the driving instructors and transport officials to help my kid get a driver’s license. Having to bring food and linen to my mom or children should they ever land up in hospital? Having to check up on the staff in Private hospitals, due to the hiring of and under-qualified AA candidate. Having to fork out R100 000 every year for schooling escalating to R200 000 per child by the time they get to matric…!
This is getting ridiculous, I surmise to myself, my world feels like it is spiraling in all the wrong directions. I need to enjoy living here and feel a certain pride in my country… The reality, I feel no pride by being a South African. I feel no honour in raising my flag. I feel no heart when singing the national anthem. I feel no warmth when our teams run onto the field to play. Sadly, I feel a bit lifeless. For me, it all roots back to the lack of fair governance. I have more to do than to worry about the possibility of bribing a cop; I should not have to face that decision.
….so I can see that in future the world as I know it… is about to change.
