Monday 17 September 2012

Showing true colours!

Why do we have the army deployed in Marikana where the police themselves shot and killed striking miners? But requests to get the army in the Cape flats, where innocent children die almost everyday will not be heeded! Is it because the miners are now crippling an industry where some of the government officials benefit? Have the miners - fighting for a better life - forced the government to show its true colours? 

The official opposition party recently pleaded with the national government to deploy troops in an area where drugs and violent crimes are perpetrated against innocent people. A BIG NO from government, saying the police were capable of keeping that part of the world in control. I tell you now that there is a toddler shot in the head by a stray bullet in Lavender Hill. And this is a tip of the iceberg. They refused to call it a state of emergency because it would only affirm the notion that today's government is very much similar to the apartheid government that oppressed the majority of the black people of this country. 

South Africa has an alarming leadership crisis. People only "fix things" just to ensure their comfortable life at the expense of many - many South African who are in abject poverty. We have the likes of Julius Malema who are using the unfortunate situation to score political points. Stirring up a mess that has resulted in more people dead since the massacre of 34 miners. We have the former trade unionists and freedom fighters who are now tycoons in the mining sector. Even in their positions they have done nothing to improve the lives of the miners. Despite their first-hand experience of the plight of our people. Now the discontent among the poor has spiralled out of control. From service delivery protest for basic services such as sanitation and access to water to the fight for better wages. 

Government has shown us its true colours, and we believe them.