The explosion in Beirut early this month elicited an outpouring of moral support from across the world for the people of Lebanon.
When a nation is hit by so devastating a catastrophe, that is when people are most ready to heed the call of their leadership. Even in the jungle animals feel the need for leadership when danger comes.
Instead of rallying behind their leaders during so testing an hour, that was when the people of Lebanon intensified their clamour for their leaders to resign. The appearance of a Lebanese leader on television triggered more public anger.
Within days of the explosion, Emmanuel Macron, the president of Lebanon’s former coloniser, France, stood on Lebanese soil to give hope to the broken hearts of the people of Lebanon.
It is a paradox that the Lebanese felt comforted by a foreign leader standing on their soil. Even those of us witnessing the events from afar did get the impression that for a moment Macron was the real president of Lebanon.
That is what corruption does to local leaders. It turns them into scoundrels in the eyes of the people. When people have been failed by their leaders, they look elsewhere for hope.
It is very sad that most South Africans today feel the same about their leaders. Two weeks ago, an insult was trending: #Voetsek ANC. It quickly turned into #Voetsek Ramaphosa.
The ANC has looted our state until “there is nothing left to steal”, to quote the words of a disgraced journalist.
When it was confirmed that the IMF has agreed to extend a R70bn loan, South Africans were quick to circulate doctored videos of President Cyril Ramaphosa dancing on stage with ANC thieves. All honest South Africans knew that the loan would end up in the pockets of people wearing black, green and gold colours.
When pressed to explain why his sons are benefiting, Ace Magashule asked if he is the only one. He is right; the name of the whole organisation, not him alone, has changed. It is now the African National Criminals.
So heartless are ANC thieves that they do not miss the opportunity to steal even during a funeral. If they could steal money from Nelson Mandela’s funeral, must we be surprised when they commission the digging of a million graves of people who will not die?
For some reason, the thieves think that South Africans are fools. When evidence of their corruption surfaces, they do the same thing. They place their fellow thief on paid leave, refer the matter to a toothless bulldog called (integrity) commission, and later smuggle their suspended thief via the backdoor back into fold. Even convicts like Tony Yengeni come back.
The thieves’ script is so well rehearsed that every criminal at the top sounds like they were trained at the same school of drama. David Makhura screams exactly like Ramaphosa when they promise action against corruption. But we all know that it is sound and fury signifying nothing. No one goes to jail.
The good thing is that South Africans now know that ANC thieves steal together. It is not Bandile Masuku or Khusela Diko alone; a portion of the money eventually ends up in an account that buys ANC T-shirts to bribe the masses during an election.
The most serious problem is that the ANC thieves have now destroyed our country. Our hospitals are so broken that the thieves don’t want us to be admitted due to drinking and smoking. Soon we will be told not to eat. Indeed, the thieves themselves don’t take their children to public schools.
We have now become a Banana Republic without electricity. If you are young and unemployed, chances are that you will be jobless until you die. The ANC thieves have destroyed the whole economy. The irony of it all is that, like the people of Lebanon, millions of black people return the same thieves to power whenever there is an election.
So, we must not cry the day we are addressed by a popular foreign leader (possibly Xi Jinping) while standing on our very own soil.
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