Governing a country is serious business. The consequences of failure are dire and often create their own momentum into chaos.
On the other hand, the consequences of success often set countries up for success, and a great legacy over centuries.
In this sense, governing a country goes beyond the ownership of the country.
While ownership of the resources of the country is crucial, the ability to convert those resources into wholesome value is perhaps even more important.
The ability to create systems upon systems of domestic and international co-operation, trade, innovation and positive social development are all crucial.
These require an extraordinary level of resolve and skill.
The lack thereof exposes countries to a crisis-prone environment where authorities often stumble from crisis to crisis, well on the way to a perpetual state of crisis.
Modern SA’s experience of statehood has barely progressed beyond what can be called a rudimentary level of development.
The current rallying cry for the professionalisation of the state is a response to a failure to launch a sustained developmental trajectory.
Former chief justice Raymond Zondo, among others, called for professionalisation in his recommendations in the commission of inquiry, which he led, into state capture.
At the core of this problem is political interference in government.
This has spun out into the politicisation of almost every aspect of South African life.
The ANC’s policy of cadre deployment comes up as a major catalyst of political interference, creating massive unintended disasters that threaten the stability of our country.
None of this is new.
It is the extent of our national missteps that keeps adding salt to the wound.
Though the ANC has been at the helm of the country for more than 30 years before the government of national unity (GNU), the ANC is a product of this country.
For this we must take responsibility. To an extent, the ANC is a composite of our diverse contributions, shortfalls, ignorance and wisdom.
Regardless of how we oppose the excesses of the ANC, let alone those who have supported it, we are all involved in its existence and its expression of that existence.
For instance, I do not know how long we have tolerated gangsterism in the Western Cape, Eastern Cape, Gauteng and other gangsterism hotspots.
The extent of the crisis has forced the government to apply a band-aid response by deploying soldiers to these areas.
It is unclear if there are proper forward plans to close the vacuum that will be created once the soldiers move out after a year.
Policing has failed to root out gangsterism. Instead, police are often caught up in illicit relationships with gangsters.
The Sunday Times recently reported that children as young as five are being groomed into gangs in the Cape Flats.
This is disturbing despite the thick skins we have developed over the years.
These children are being lured into gangsterism with food and clothing. Those who refuse often get killed.
Their counterparts are often initiated by being forced to commit murder.
The socioeconomic conditions in these areas, a firm responsibility of the government, often facilitate the ease with which these children are recruited.
Policing has failed to root out gangsterism. Instead, police are often caught up in illicit relationships with gangsters.
“I feel trapped, I cannot afford to leave this area. I live with constant fear that one day my child could fall victim to mob justice,” a distraught mother, who was concerned about her child spending time with known gangsters, said.
This brutal environment forgives neither those who join nor those who do not.
All these children are in real danger from their own environment, and often their parents cannot get out of that environment.
Though I have recognised a certain national collective responsibility, the truth is that the government is responsible for creating safe environments.
The state has fumbled this responsibility for many years.
“In homes where caregivers are absent or overwhelmed, gangs offer money, food and a sense of relief.
“Many young people are ‘NEET’ — not in education, employment or training — and without constructive outlets, they are highly susceptible."
This was said by community activist Tyrone Parks of Mitchells Plain, an area which has a long history of gangsterism.
Where is our rosy constitution under these circumstances, when children who have a “right to education” can be classified as NEET?
The connection between the status of children who are not engaged positively by our society and the scourge of gangsterism, crime and drug addiction all point to the seriousness of the business of government.
It requires citizens to be similarly serious in voting for those who must govern, specifically, to ensure the safety and development of our children.
