From service delivery protests to corruption in high places, from violent crime to abject poverty, there is seemingly no end to the crises faced by South Africa in the past few months. Since the election of the “people’s choice”, Jacob “Msholozi” Zuma, as president, TV news broadcasts have been dominated by scenes of soldiers defying police, protesters setting fire to municipal offices, drunk judges hurling racial abuse, slightly more sober (but not any more dignified or judicial-looking) judges getting involved in ugly spats with yet other judges, political leaders spouting nonsensical sound-bites insulting others and police chiefs who have never done a day’s policing in their lives calling for more leeway for police to shoot to kill, regardless of the presumption of innocence.
All these things came to mind when I read the following few sentences in Raimond Gaita’s excellent book The Philosopher’s Dog (Routledge, 2004): “… freedom is constituted by certain kinds of moral relations, rather than simply enabled and enhanced by them. It is exists only when there is respect for an animal’s dignity in addition to concern for its welfare. Or, to put it better, it exists only when a concern for its welfare is transformed by respect for its dignity. Forgetful of this, we not are not only cruel to animals and forgetful of their needs. We degrade them.”
Transpose those concepts onto people (I’m sure that’s not too difficult) and the relationship between discipline and freedom in human society is also made clear – freedom without discipline is a dangerous myth. But this discipline is not that of an authoritarian parent or school teacher, but rather the discipline of a well-trained athlete or dancer or musician. A discipline of that order ”enables them to perform so impressively (it) enhances rather than diminishes their freedom.”
Of such a discipline is freedom – a set of relationships founded on morality, a sense of concern for the welfare and dignity of others, a responsible, adult way of being.
This is what is so lacking in the public life of South Africa these days – and can we be surprised at this when the very president of the country has evaded criminal charges by crying political conspiracy, when the president of the ANC Youth League is trapped at 169kph in a 120kph zone and then has the effrontery to say “I only know revolution, I don’t know anything about driving.”
Driving at that speed shows a total lack of concern for the welfare or dignity of other road users. And then to admit to driving without knowing anything about driving is showing a complete disdain for the laws of the land as well.
A drunken judge who smashes a garden wall and then uses the excuse that because it was around midnight so not many other cars were on the road is equally despicable – surely a judge should be setting an example of not driving under the influence at any time of day or night, especially when South Africa has a huge road fatality rate, mostly linked to the influence of alcohol.
Then those soldiers – those whom the country would rely on to defend it should that be necessary, who should be the most disciplined in society – defy a court order and go on the rampage in the shadow of the administrative headquarters of the country, and call “foul” when the police, desperate to keep order, shoot at them. Where is the discipline, the concern for the welfare and dignity of others?
No matter how justified their grievances, the soldiers’ actions were completely out of line.
The ruling party uses its huge majority in parliament to protect its own from the consequences of their undisciplined behaviour – consider those Members of Parliament who have been involved in the same sort of corrupt behaviour that led to the downfall of the Speaker in the British Parliament, but in South Africa they continue to hold their seats and get all the perks because the ANC won’t expel them from the House.
The country continues to be haunted by the so-called arms-deal, the purchase by South Africa of almost R50 billion worth of arms in the form of aeroplanes, surface ships and submarines, when there is no indication of any external threat and millions continue to live in poverty, without basic services or education.
In his introduction to the great book on the arms deal by Paul Holden (Jonathan Ball, 2008) The Arms Deal in Your Pocket, former ANC Member of Parliament Andrew Feinstein encourages readers to join in the call for “a full, unfettered judicial and expert enquiry into the deal and its cover-up” so that the perpetrators “should face the full force of the law.” Only then will South Africa, he continues, “be able to move forward and recapture the spirit of 1994 with an accountable government that focuses, not on the defence and protection of its leaders, but on the real issues facing us: the plight of the millions of our people living in poverty, the almost six million who are living with HIV or AIDS, and the scourge of violent crime.”
But until then ANC bigwigs will continue to ride around in their fancy, expensive motor cars bought at the taxpayers’ expense, the president will continue to push his specs up his nose and deny whatever it is expedient to deny, and the poor will continue to be at the receiving end of shockingly bad service because officials are too busy making themselves rich to care for their constituents. And the Government will continue to try to blame “third forces” or “counter-revolutionaries” for the violent outbursts of the people’s anger.
The cause of the service delivery problem is clear, and is hinted at in the shocking statement of the president of the ANC Youth League that he only knows about “revolution” and nothing about driving cars, but yet he drives a car, and at excessive spead despite his self-confessed lack of skill. Service delivery has been placed in the hands of people who know nothing about management but only know revolution – and service, to be delivered, needs management, not revolution.
Lack of discipline has led to corruption and an uncaring, immoral attitude among the people who run our public life – public servants and public representatives at all levels.
The way to get South Africa working properly is clear – put accountable managers in charge of service delivery and make public representatives fully accountable for their actions in our names. And when either group fails, hold them to their accountability – let them face the “full force of the law.” Shooting to kill won’t do it. Bringing back the death penalty won’t do it. Only holding people accountable will, and that means not protecting them from the law but leaving them to face the music.
We have a great constitution and a wonderful set of laws to which all South Africans have a duty to abide.
The ANC and its president have not set a great example thus far in this regard.
Hey, great blog…but I don’t understand how to add your site in my rss reader. Can you Help me, please