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The violent streak in our society was brought home to me sharply when I was listening to morning radio the other week.
First, there was a report that a train had been torched in Durban. Apparently it had broken down, something of a regular occurrence. This was much to the frustration of commuters whose employers had grown tired of listening to their excuses of train breakdowns for their lateness. This was just one time too many and they set the coaches alight.
A non-passenger who witnessed the torching called the show and pledged his support for the arsonists. He identified himself before heaping praise on the passengers who had taken matters into their own hands.
Later in the same show was a report from journalists who were covering the anti-Eskom protests in Soweto.
In that insert, Soweto residents spoke openly about their violent protests and vowed that they would prevent children from attending school until their demands had been met.
The comments of the Durban man and the Soweto residents were spine-chilling. They reflected the casual nature with which we view violence in South Africa. We really do like a good fight. This was also obvious from the utterances of people who took part in the recent xenophobic violence. In their comments to journalists, they made their violent intentions clear and even bragged about their actions. Some were quite happy to be on camera.
The behaviour kind of vindicated President Jacob Zuma’s statement on Freedom Day that South Africa is a sick society.
Referring to the regular disruptions in Parliament, Zuma said apartheid had left people with this psychological illness.
“There is a glaring example of the nature of apartheid culture of violence that is left with us. It is not just with ordinary people, it is even in Parliament. We need to be cured. We are sick,” said an animated Zuma.
He should not have stopped with Parliament, but should have proceeded to other institutions that are sicker than the one he was referring to.
And he should have admitted that while apartheid is to blame for a lot of the sickness in our institutions, it is not the sole cause of it. Much of it is the result of the deliberate infection of President Zuma and those around him.
Let us take the case of the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA), one of the sickest institutions and one whose ill-health affects so many facets of public life. To be fair to Zuma, the sickness in the NPA did not begin under his tenure. It goes back to then president Thabo Mbeki’s attempts to protect then national police commissioner Jackie Selebi, a process that led directly to the suspension of then NPA head Vusi Pikoli.
By suspending Pikoli and building a case against him, Mbeki did the Zuma lot a great favour.
As Zuma was edging closer to the presidency with corruption charges still hanging over him, his henchmen descended on the NPA.
They eventually bullied the ineffectual Mokotedi Mpshe into dropping charges against Zuma.
Once President Zuma was in power, the priority was to install someone who was going to keep the charges under lock and key – and in came the loyal Menzi Simelane.
When Simelane was deemed by the courts to be unfit for office, Zuma’s lieutenants scoured the country for someone who would fulfil the task of keeping the big man out of prison.
They thought they had found this man in KwaZulu-Natal attorney Mxolisi Nxasana, only to discover that the perceived lightweight had a mind of his own. He is now also on his way out and is likely to be replaced by a nonentity, who will have to agree to some dodgy terms and conditions before being given the job.
Under normal circumstances, Nxasana would never have been considered for the job. This powerful position should be occupied by someone who is thoroughly seasoned and has the utmost respect of his or her peers. Society should look up to the individual and politicians should fear the power of his or her office.
Although he had headed the KwaZulu-Natal Law Society and his children’s school governing body, Nxasana did not have the pedigree to leapfrog more accomplished peers. He was brought in to further infect the sick institution.
But it is to his credit that he sought to achieve the opposite and restore the institution’s dignity. Those who stood to benefit from a sick NPA did not like this attitude, hence his current troubles.
The organisation is now heaving with turmoil, much like the stomach of a novice drinker who has mixed too many varieties on his maiden drinking night.
Nxasana, who inherited a sick organisation, will leave behind a sicker institution and hand it over to someone who will infect it even further.
This takes us back to the lawlessness in our society.
We cannot expect the masses to be law abiding when those who lead our country treat one of the nation’s apex institutions with disdain.
The sickness can only deepen.
