GoSouth

South African, Credible and Current

  • HOME
  • NEWS AND FEATURES
    • News & Opinion
    • Covid-19
    • Cape Independence
  • FINANCE
  • SCIENCE
  • INTERESTING
  • NATURE & ANIMAL TALK
  • LIFESTYLE ART
  • HISTORY
    • Cape South Peninsula

Ode to the state of the nation

by Accountability Now on 1 December 2020

In Africa we have constitutions, but very few subscribe to constitutionalism
We have rules, but very little of the rule of law in the practice of governance
In SA we have a state, but no nation (except briefly when the Bokke win).
We have civil servants who are neither civil nor of service
Our body politic has a terminal case of cancer
Bought on by corrosive corruption and kleptocracy

We harbour 60 million people with no common language,
Their identities wrapped in ethnicity
Their nationalism, if any, mainly African
Their Afrophobia vicious and inexplicable
Their dreams deferred
Their future insecure
Or possibly non-existing .

Their Mpumalanga air the most polluted in the world
Their water supply under stress
The land is ever less arable
And the creeping désertification ever greater
As biodiversity is sacrificed on the altar of greed
With ecological sustainability ignominiously ignored
And climate change subjugated to profit and consumption

The heady notions of peace that is secure
Progress that is sustainable and
Prosperity that is equably shared
Become ever more remote and unattainable
As poverty, hunger and want stalk the land
With half the people jobless and poor
A system reputedly the most unequal in the world

Our public institutions are hollowed out by state capture
By politicians who are incompetent, venal and bent
With voters ignorant or abstinent
Voting their fears and loyalties when they cast a ballot
Not their hopes and dreams of that elusive better life for all

Accountability is almost impossible in these circumstances
A pretty word in the list of values set out in our Constitution
The miraculous supreme law on an undervalued piece of paper
Not embraced by the people nor respected by the powerful

Ideologues strive for hegemonic control of all levers of power
Realists shrug sadly and head for the hills or safer climes

It did not have to be so, the miracle of the rainbow nation
United in its diversity and determined to heal the divisions of the past
Seemed so attainable when we started the new journey in 1994.
Now the lip service and insincerity of politicians are exposed
As Ubuntu becomes a distant dream instead of a lived experience

  • Share
  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • WhatsApp
  • Email
  • LinkedIn
  • Skype
  • Telegram

Related Posts

  • The Science of Hearing

    Your ears are extraordinary organs. They pick up all the sounds around you and then…

  • From Big Bang To Man ~ The Origin of Life

    Tracing the progress of life on Earth from its humble beginnings to the emergence of…

  • The hidden beauty of pollination

      POLLINATION: vital to life on Earth, largely unseen by the human eye. Filmmaker Louie…

  • The wonderful world of FLOWERS

      In this visually dazzling TED talk, Jonathan Drori shows the extraordinary ways flowering plants…

  • The Powers of the Public Protector

    Paul Hoffman SC, Director Accountability Now - 22 July 2019 Now that the high jinks of…

Contact US

  • Email
  • Facebook
  • Twitter

Search this Website

HELP HOTLINE 0800 029 999

previous arrow
next arrow
Slider

Most Recent Posts

  • Johnson & Johnson vaccine looks excellent for SA in first published detailed analysis
    The Johnson & Johnson vaccine is effective against […]
  • Headaches: three tips from a neuroscientist on how to get rid of them
      Amanda Ellison, Professor of Neuroscience, Durham […]
  • South African astronomy has a long, rich history of discovery – and promising future
    Ian Glass, Associate Research Astronomer, South […]
  • ‘No valid or sound reason’ for Zuma’s failure to appear before the inquiry. ZUMA’s reply
    The commission will make an application to the […]
  • CIAG calls for public consultation on W.Cape secession in the wake of SONA 2021
    Phil Craig of the Cape Independence Advocacy Group […]
  • Transparent wood is coming, and it could make an energy-efficient alternative to glass
    Steve Eichhorn, Professor of Materials Science and […]
  • Risk of severe COVID established early in infection – new study
    Damage to the body’s organs is not caused by the virus […]
  • Market Turmoil: Manias and what to do?
    By Jonathan Katzenellenbogen -3 February, 2021 An army […]
  • Behind the mantras of Cape independence
    By Phil Craig of the Cape Independence Advocacy Group […]
  • Covid-19: Ivermectin obsession is dangerous
    By Nathan Geffen, GroundUp – 29 January 2021 The […]

NUMBERS TO NOTE

Gender-Based Violence Command Centre: 0800 428 428
Western Cape Women’s Shelter Movement: 082 903 8739

Police: 10111

Childline: 0861 322 322
Child Welfare SA: 0861 424 453

South African National Human Trafficking Hotline: 0800 222 777

Copyright © 2021 — GoSouth • All rights reserved • Privacy Policy • Disclaimer • Terms & Conditions • Cookie Policy

loading Cancel
Post was not sent - check your email addresses!
Email check failed, please try again
Sorry, your blog cannot share posts by email.