My Opinion – The Cold Facts - South Africa

About this article

When one follows political, economic, and governmental media and audit reporting it becomes clear that the fiscal policy of the ruling party and its governmental conduct is slowly decaying South Africa as we know it. Through the use of media and political vices, the ANC seemingly succeeds to romanticise this failure of its citizens. This article is about facing the realities of the decay and a wake-up call to the democracy that can no longer be spectators to a system that is going to burst our comfortable bubbles and raise this country’s children as slaves to a socialistic state.

The Cold Winter’s Tale

To continue my cold winter's morning tale. On this cold winter's morning, I am observing the Cape Dutch-style farmhouse where the smoke snakes slowly into the unmoving air. The fire within is cozily observing its purpose to preserve the comforts of home albeit that the inhabitants will have to leave home soon. And the outside cold, that creep in from the arctic, lazily flowing to breach those walls of comfort preservation to make its introductions.

I look at the contrast playing off. On the one hand, we have the humans that protect themselves from the arctic angel and those who ride on her clouds. And on the other hand, the full force of the artic angel embraced by the vineyards and fruit trees, without which, it will not yield a good harvest in the next season.

As the arctic angel brushes her early morning wings over Paarl those who are within wring themselves deeper into their warm protective comforts. That as the angel spreads her wings to paint the mountains with a layer of white. Those within draw deeper within, closing windows, and shutting themselves from the realities of the harsh cold world with their academically well-designed protective mechanisms.

In our winter comforts, snuggled up against the cold, those within brood over the fruit they will render produced by their referenced confinement. I see them brushing a viewing area in their steamed-up windows, peering out to admire the beauty of winter, but not be part of it. As they are grateful for where they are, yet envious of where they are not. I see them particularly interested in those without. Peering with envy at those who brave the freezing cold to participate in their outdoor activity. Some in small groups rhythming together as their foot falls on the pavement drums in the orchestra of life. There are also those lone wolves who carefully listen to their metallic American accent giving rhythm, pace and heartbeat as they systematically push their bodies to the next limit in the next big event.

And they, within, also look in pity at others who loiter along their path of hopelessness in their tethers, clumsily hugging themselves from the winter cold. These whose minds are just as cold as the white painted on the mountains, whom essentially have nothing to be grateful for except maybe a few distant memories.

The withinners also look at cars passing by and observe the gist of those within. Those sheltering in their mobile protection against the arctic angel, who, from within, also observe those without as they determine towards their destiny.

Each of those within and those without actively and unconsciously working on their future state. But very few realizing that they are the creators of their tomorrow's.

All of these sheltering in their own comfortable reality. The reality of the cold of the arctic angel for those who dwell without and the reality of the heat of the fire for those within. Never realizing that their reality may not be the truth.

In our individual realities we desperately self-persevere by exerting effort to control our reality according to our historical programming. But do we, as the masses, realize that our reality is the result of just that, programming? And that that programming can be changed? Through our dilapidated middle-class school system, government and its systemic propaganda, and the realities of our dysfunctional families we were programmed to project into what and where we are and distort what we can be.

This was further beaten down and formed by life’s hardships, seemingly to a point where we are in a struggle to just preserve what we have. And even that which we have and perceive we will have in the future slowly fades away at the hands of the world system, governmental inadequacies, socialistic tendencies, inflation, and tax overlords. We were programmed to learn, study, qualify, work hard, work even harder, marry, have kids, work even harder or more than one job, save up for retirement, retire and die. Well, we were programmed in this pattern and the cycle of life as religiously reinforced by the likes of Lion King movie’s The Circle of Life.

This is our reality, but is it our truth? If our reality is not the truth, then what is? Dare we know that if we know the truth, we will shift our realities?

One thing that we, in our comfort zones, do not embrace is that the current existential circumstances harbour and nurture our comfort zones, but it is also the biggest threat. But one thing that Covid 19 taught us is that existential circumstances are a bubble that can burst or rapidly change size and shape.

We are now at a junction in the world and South African circumstances. Our adoptive transformation is going to come from one of two directions. The one is to prepare for change impact by positioning and establishing things to mitigate risk and effect change in our lives to successfully navigate the artic angel. And the other is to sit and wait for the force of the impact to hit and then either survive or be swept away.

We are in a position now to plan, position, and establish to brace against the risk of impact when the truth of the artic angel breaches our walls. But what do we need to brace for? What is this mystery of the arctic event that will come and hit us to break up our comfort zones?

There are various issues that should be considered at this time in the world and South African context. Ponder on the following:

·??????The first and foremost is that the full impact of the Covid 19 event has not yet played out its symphony. It was and is not just a pandemic, it is an event that impacts governmental systems, political-ideological constructs, world and local economy, religion, religious conduct, and society.

·??????Secondly the general collapse of local government service delivery in South Africa and misappropriation of funds is diminishing available foundational finances to sustain the country. National and provincial government interventions, since 2001, did not result in any significant improvement in service delivery or administrative management. These interventions revolve around the same theme with nothing new infused in them, therefore even the current intervention (District Development Model) will not work. Essentially government keeps on doing the same thing and the citizens are told there will be different outcomes?

·??????Then there is the cost of human resources in governmental systems. The government had to resort to measures such as borrowing money to carry the cost of public administration salaries. This is a situation that has been unsustainable and problematic since the Thabo Mbeki era.

·??????The number of state-owned entities and education and training authorities (SETA) where appalling financial conduct flushes away money from government coffers is unprecedented. The losses run into the billions of dollars, not just Rands.

·??????Increase in governmental debt is also a major concern. We are in a situation where the current generation will not be able to redeem this debt. This essentially means that the government has made debt that the next generations that are not yet born will have to pay.

·??????The squandering of government finances and ongoing corruption even in the face of dire financial stress due to Covid 19. I expect that in the government expenses of the Covid 19 era we will see either an extension of the Zondo commission or a new one formed to investigate corruption, especially around protective equipment and vaccinations. This may even include the manipulation of or misuse of media and social media.

·??????The recent riots and destruction that took place in Kwa-Zulu Natal and Gauteng did not yet reach its summit. The summit is still on its way.

·??????Then there is the ridiculously botched up and shockingly bad primary and secondary education system. It is generating learners that cannot even think for themselves after school and have no international comparable knowledge or skills. The true number of learners that really pass their final year of school will never be known as the numbers are adjusted to make the ruling party look good. The sad thing is that these learners themselves realize their 'matric' certificate is not worth the paper it is written on.

·??????The ongoing aging and collapse of national and local government infrastructure and the related lack of maintenance.

·??????The exponential increase in the cost of living where official sources claim that inflation is around 3 percent. But we as the consumer knows that month on month we find a 10 to 30 percent increase in the price of essential goods and food.

·??????The government's socialization program with the ridiculous increase in social grants where the taxpayer in the medium to high bracket already forks out 63% of their income to tax. This includes normal tax, sales tax, local government taxes, and fuel levies. And on top of this government plans to implement another ludicrous 12% for a basic cost of living grant. This will increase grant receivers from 18 million to 31 million. Now, let us face it, the government is essentially planning to tax citizens at 75% of their income. This is a space where the number of social grant receivers already stands in a 4 : 1 ratio with taxpayers. This ratio will increase to 7:1.

I can go on and on to cite the issues and challenges that face South Africa and its citizens at the moment. But everyone that reads this will have their own frame of reference with the decay since the start of the Zuma era, and to some extent before that. This I say because it is well known that corruption and government mismanagement did not start in the Zuma era.

In the light of what is mentioned above and in relation to the parable I started out with, it is clear that both the desperate protection of the warmth within and the cold without are misrepresented realities. It is absurd to expect that within the current external circumstances we will be able to protect our own little kingdoms and comfort zones for an extended period of time without embracing change as at some point the hard cold of the truth will hit us. The romanization of the realities of the cold without, by government and the media proponents of government, is reaching a point where not even the poorest of the poor believe it anymore.

The current ruling party has been driving the mechanics of South Africa into the mud whilst it romanticises the devastating effect of its own down-trodden attempt to build the economy without any proper strategy to do so. Where it uses its infrastructure and economic failures and socialistic vices to boost itself in an election campaign.

One would have thought by now the vices of the school system would have been improved to generate matric graduates that are properly equipped to contribute to the country’s economy.

In essence, both our heat within that protects us against the bitter cold of the arctic angel and the perceived or projected truth behind the arctic angel is about to be shattered. Whether it will happen gradually or it will happen all at once, I will not allow myself to opinionate on. But one thing is sure, it is time for the South African democracy to wake up and smell the rotten roses of a decaying fiscal policy that is presented as the savior of our beautiful country. It is, however, set to run this country into the ground, cause international investors to withdraw, and cause South Africans to leave their livelihoods behind and start over elsewhere.

In my next article, I will discuss whether we, as citizens of this country, will continue to verbally and intentionally strengthen decay or whether we will set out to create a new and different reality than expected.