EXTRACT
The government has not simply lost the plot; it seems to have lost the will to govern. SA has become a lawless jungle. Maybe the ANC has been in power for much too long.
Recently, 11 railway coaches were set alight at Cape Town station on a fine Saturday afternoon. Nobody has been arrested and nobody is saying anything in this regard. It's doubtful anybody will ever be brought to book for damage estimated at more than R30m. Destruction on such a scale is not even an isolated incident. Some 118 coaches were reportedly burnt between 2015 and 2017. The figure is now obviously far higher, given what's been happening this year.
This is a national emergency which requires the personal attention of the president himself. But then there are probably more votes to be won in holding symbolic tête-à-têtes in swish hotels to talk about pit latrines in rural schools than bothering about burning trains. We could do both, I guess, but that's assuming we're able to chew gum and walk at the same time.