This week the nation was blessed with fresh insights from the mind of venerable elder statesman and former president Thabo Mbeki. Addressing a conference of the SA Association of Public Administration and Management, he bemoaned a “steep decline” in the capability, authority and credibility of the state.

He began quoting the assessment of the humble journalist Pieter du Toit, who recently observed that “the economy is shrinking ... our collapsing electricity parastatal is causing untold national harm, infrastructure across the land is failing”. Rampant criminality and corruption, the scribe noted, accompany poor health and educational outcomes...

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