Nelson Fucked The Kids

Which Nelson you ask? Nelson Mandela. The father of our nation and quite possibly the most revered statesman Africa has ever produced.

How very dare I bring the saint-like Madiba and his legacy into question?! Who the fuck do I think I am?

To be fair, this is not really about Nelson Mandela. This is about South Africa, and why we seem to be getting more violent, less intelligent and instead of going forward, we seem to be regressing.

You see, in the late 70’s in the UK they had a crisis. Their economy was in the toilet and everyone was in trouble- from the nobs to the plebs. Thatcher introduced policies that now, forty-odd years later have resulted in a society that is insular, unfriendly and has created the phenomenon of ‘Hoodies’ – essentially youth gangs who terrorise the inner cities and are almost single-handedly responsible for the increasing knife crime in the UK.

(Please note I do not research my blogs – if there are inaccuracies its because my memory is fallible and besides, this is opinion, so fuck you)

Something similar is happening in South Africa.

Mandela – when he left office, left a country that was the darling of the world – filled with hope and optimism and ready to take on the world. South Africans of all races were ready to embrace each other and work together to create The Rainbow Nation.

That’s where it all went wrong.

The ANC, with an overwhelming majority, were able to implement policies and strategies that were meant to build the nation, but unfortunately due to the short-sightedness and greed on behalf of the members of the organisation, many of the policies that saw the light of day were not the best.

History has shown that revolutionary movements seldom make the best governments.

After years of oppression, the leaders of the ANC suddenly found themselves with money and power and, like many former revolutionaries they became analogues of their former oppressors and enemies, desperate to hold on to what power and wealth they had gained.

Unabashedly. they lined their pockets and created a Corruptocracy – where the social rot of corruption started right at the top and soon was present in every layer of government.

With less money to spend on improving lives, and an apparent obsession to tear down anything related to the old regime – even those aspects that were effective and made the citizens lives better: education, infrastructure, policing, labour – you name it, it had to have an overhaul. These overhauls have proven to be poorly planned and their implementation a cluster-fuck of epic proportions.

Due to the ineptitude, corruption and don’t-care attitude of the ANC, all the good that was starting to be done, and all the goodwill we felt towards each other in the mid 90’s was eroded, eroded to the point where we now are possibly more divided and suspicious of each other than ever before (maybe.)

Outcomes-Based Education is a joke – 30% needed to finish high school.

Our roads are like those of the DRC or Ethiopia – potholed to all fuck and given a barely temporary repair when someone makes a racket

Our justice system is the most efficient criminal training programme in the entire world, with the police barely able to do their jobs, and when they do they show a level of apathy so great that ‘meh’ doesn’t cover it.

We live in fear every day, fear of being raped by inhuman savages that seem to live and work amongst us with impunity.

We take out lives into our hands every time we get into our cars, with “rules” of the road treated as suggestions at best.

There is at least one murder a day.

We have one of the highest gun crime rates in the world – yes, Piers Morgan was right.

I could continue but I prefer my readers not to commit suicide or die of despair.

Through all of this, the ANC seems more concerned about their reputation than fixing any of the problems that their greedy, lazy asses have created.

The point of this is that, much like England, we have our own ‘hoodie’ problems now. The rot and decay that has set into our society and morals is reaching critical mass, we are getting further and further away from becoming a true world player and despite our enormous potential, we are more Banana Republic than an Emerging Nation.

The cracks are showing.

In the words of Frank Turner: “Its no surprise that all the fuck-ups, didn’t show up until the kids were grown up” We’re growing up, and we have an entire generation of leaderless, amoral, violent thugs permeating our whole society.

The ANC needs to wake up and take responsibility for fixing what they have broken. Stop caring about your reputation, start caring about the people who made you what you are.

We all also need to take responsibility for what we do – we can’t expect the ANC to suddenly see the light, and if you can leave this world in a better state than you have found it, then you have succeeded at life.

But remember, next time you drive through a swirl of litter, stop at a non-working traffic light and get hijacked by an eighteen year old with a gun – Nelson fucked the kids.

 

On Leadership

For those of you who don’t know, when I’m not entertaining you fine folk, or other fine folk- I work in sales within a corporate organisation.
We are part of a listed group of companies and I wear a tie to work every single day. However when the work day ends, the ties (and sometimes the wheels) come off- I am a politicized, atheist, stoner party animal.

And its the politicized part of me that is pissed off.
I have been a ‘leader’ within my organisation for just over a year- and its fucking tough. The people in my team have different and unique motivators, dreams, ways of doing things, methods of thought and so forth- and as a leader I have to be cogniscent of these differences and create an environment that allows equality and for them to grow in the direction they want to. I cannot mould them to be carbon copies of me or to think and act the way I do, and I cannot scream and shout to get my way.

I have to allow my people the freedom to do things their way and to express their needs to me in an atmosphere that is conducive to openness and honesty- otherwise I will be left in the dark about their real needs and where they would like to take their careers.
Obviously this is not a free-for-all where no company objectives are met and everyone if just happy and warm and fluffy 24/7- we are all here for a purpose and commitment and achievement of goals is our driving force in my leadership style and the ethos of my company.

So it’s on me, as the leader to ensure:

1. My people are productive and meeting the needs of the organisation
2. My people are happy and are fulfilling their own needs
3. Upholding the values and goals of my department/team within the company as a whole.

The buck stops with me.

I’m not in a unique situation, the same structure and basic goals are repeated on different scales everywhere from the local supermarket to the highest level of government. Only its at these higher levels where we have a crucial key to success missing.

Leadership.

In South African politics in particular we have a huge, nay fucking MASSIVE, leadership vacuum.
I am hard pressed to think of anyone in our current political climate who I can actually look up to- and who is worthy of my respect.

Jacob Zuma is the 11th highest paid world leader. Can you just imagine if he was the 11th most effective?
Our government have a ‘me first’ attitude, with a mindset that seems to be one of self-enrichment and self-serving instead of looking out for those people they are meant to serve, and who put them in power in the first place.

Almost 20 years since they have come into power and they are still blaming the past. 20 years ago, Fourways was a few plots and a 4-way stop, hence the name. Now it takes me an hour to drive 18kms from Fourways to Sandton, because of all of the development. Yet people who have been waiting for a simple two bedroom house are still living in shacks, walking for kilometres to get clean water, and shitting in a communal longdrop.

We need a fundamental shift in the way we view our leaders, and how we hold them responsible. If they are not serving us, they need to be held accountable. Targets need to be set and achieved, and corruption, which is the cancer of South Africa, needs to be rooted out and annihilated.

I wish I had a solution as to how to do this, but all I can suggest is that each of us do our best to educate those who cannot see how South Africa and its people are being raped by a flawed system. Education is the key to emancipation, and we can all do our part.