LETTER: SA’s collapse is happening

The collapse of SA society is in full swing, with power limited, water soon to be limited and vital infrastructure inadequately maintained — or worse still, being stolen and vandalised.

Municipalities are failing since nobody pays for services anymore. The communities they serve are jobless, with no sign of employment opportunities. This is because debt just cannot be serviced, and the risks are too high — unlike in the past, when municipal bonds were sought-after.

The worst thing is that the poor are turning to crime to survive, and that means law-abiding, economically active citizens will be the victims. Every day there are clips of substations being wrecked and plundered, schools being burnt, home invasions and robberies. Nobody is safe anymore.

The government has regulated the economy and business out of existence, despite being warned about this for many years. In his recent opinion piece, Claude Baissac was clear but unusually restrained about the actual consequences of current events, which are now too horrible to contemplate (“A strategy guaranteed to fail,” October 21).

Now we see the squabbling over who will take the spoils of the latest local elections, but only one party I have seen, ActionSA, is focused on the one thing we really need, which is getting rid of the ANC no matter what by the next national election, to stop this rot in its tracks. Even then it is likely to be too late.

In the absence of secure and efficient policing and, aware of the above, many people are simply emigrating. I really don’t want to go, although I can. Those who can’t leave have got to be empowered through deregulation, with unfettered access to alternative power, rain harvesting, telecommunication and efficient infrastructure.

At the same time, we need to get rid of uncompetitive employment regulations, stupid taxes and payment of subsidies to state-owned enterprises, especially Eskom. Unfortunately, this is the very antithesis of what our current leaders intend, which is why they must go.

Andy Clay
Via email

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