Across SA, communities are grappling with a collapse in basic services. In parts of Johannesburg, taps have run dry for more than 20 days, while the CBD has been without electricity for a week, with promises of reconnection tomorrow.
In Sebokeng, residents, weary of waiting for government intervention, are unblocking sewers themselves to ward off the stench. Nearby, a Good Samaritan has built a makeshift bridge after the municipality claimed it lacked funds.
The Vaal has been struck by tragedy: 14 pupils lost their lives when a minibus collided head-on with a truck. It was only after this accident that government officials embarked on an operation to crack down on vehicles not suitable to transport school kids.
In Khayelitsha, a clinic has been forced to close after extortionists demanded protection fees. Just last week, a ward councillor was gunned down after attending a community meeting in Nyanga.
In Tshwane, nearly 2,000 young people were duped by a fake job advert, showing up at a construction site in a desperate search for work. They are part of more than eight million unemployed citizens.
Once-thriving towns are becoming ghost towns as companies withdraw, citing failures by local councils to provide services, leaving a long trail of poverty.
Education is in crisis. In Gauteng, more than 1,000 pupils remain unplaced two months after schools reopened. In Limpopo, children study in dilapidated buildings, victims of years of neglect.
In KwaZulu-Natal’s Inanda, residents live in fear of criminals who terrorise communities. Polce are accused of being in cahoots with criminal individuals and organisations. The minister of police Senzo Mchunu, currently on special leave, faces allegations of favouring a drug cartel by disbanding the political killings task team.
Senior officers are accused of accepting bribes from underworld figures in exchange for tenders and sensitive information. Public trust in the police has plummeted.
Corruption continues to bleed the nation. Politically connected criminals loot funds meant for hospitals, schools, and roads. Hospitals are overcrowded, staff are overworked, and patients wait hours for treatment. In many areas potholes and dyfunctional traffic lights have become a norm.
Whistle-blowers who expose corruption are being silenced—sometimes forever.
Citizens live in fear in their own homes. Women and children continue to suffer abuse despite repeated promises to tackle gender-based violence.
This, Mr President, is the state of the nation: a country where communities fend for themselves, where corruption robs the vulnerable, and where hope is fading.
Sowetan
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