Don't gamble away SA's future

It really takes a lot of chutzpah to be part of the politically connected few with privileges. The audacity that we see in the conduct, lack of accountability, total disregard for the law and lack of realisation that the culture and odious behaviour they exhibit is breeding a sub-culture that is eating away at the moral fibre of the country.

Politicians by nature are egomaniacs. It is all about them and nothing else. As such, they are fairly touchy on a number of things. But they choose to put their services in the “public” sphere; they willingly accept that they will be subject to criticism and praise. Part of this willingness should really be accountability and clearly playing by the rules.

With this in mind, I cannot for the life of me understand how it is then that we do not have a week go by without somebody being caught with their hands in the cookie jar. If not caught, there is no accountability of how funds “disappear”. If caught nothing comes of it. How do we as a society expect to stay whole with this around? How do you produce a society whose youth is influenced by this and go forth thinking there are no consequences in life to such actions? At the end of the day I think the biggest question to be asked of all of us is: what will it take to correct from the current path?

Now before you rubbish this blog and me, think about what R4 billion could achieve in terms of infrastructure repair, updating of schools, updating of township clinics, or better yet, providing immediate and badly needed clean water. Fifteen million rand for a five-day lekgotla? How do you “sleep” at night or have a “conscience” to even justify this? I do not even get how the NYDA spent the R5.6 million, how someone “approved” a charter flight for some of the attendees? Where is accountability.

Good grief what will it take for someone to be held accountable; what will it take for someone to wake up and smell the coffee. The lives of South Africans are being gambled away, the future.

The president refused to release the names of those members of the Executive who had been noted as having violated the Executives’ Ethics Code. How could this be a good example?

I know this might sound like a broken record but can somebody please explain to me why the matric results were a “success”? We have not only lowered the passing grade but have tinkered with the results as well. I am hoping that someone will announce steps to address this going forward — to ensure it does not happen again. That we will ensure that last year’s matriculants actually get educated to the standards expected to enter a tertiary institution in SA or abroad. Why would we want the dumbing down of the youth? How do we expect these students to aspire for higher education and hold their own if we are falsely telling them they have passed?

While on education, what is this about a “need” to teach in vernacular languages? What? Forget the logistical hell of trying to put something like this into effect. Where would the teachers to teach in these languages come from? What institution currently provides this certification? In my humble opinion, I would prefer a student to explain the theory of relativity to me fluently in English. I do not know how I would even begin to do this in Zulu. Where would they then use that in the professional world? What professional journal would they use to publish their ideas and papers in the aforementioned vernacular language? If you said there was a programme in place to teach other languages that are a necessity in this ever-expanding global economy like say Mandarin. Then I would be on board. There is a language that is becoming a necessity in daily business especially for those doing business on a global scale.

Somebody please help slow down the process of SA turning into the best banana republic there is and doing it better than Zimbabwe.

Please, pretty please with sugar on top.