It would seem that it is in the interests of “housekeeping” for big business and the oligarchy to remain mum (silent) whenever there are instances of government enabled malfeasance, corruption and theft? I posit this because of the inherent psychological and cultural power of the “sunset clauses,” meant as a stop-gap measure to resolve an impasse or mitigate/traverse a stumbling block.
In my opinion, the “sunset clauses” paved the way for a type of laissez-faire, “devil may care.” “loot and don’t look back” approach to the South African economy. This is where the white capital class and the black petit-bourgeois look out for each other in a type of “Faustian” pact written not by the Devil by constructed by themselves, for their own good.
How else do you explain the lack of accountability, the paucity of transparency and general apathy to corruption and theft that is so endemic to modern-day South African society?
Sure, I agree that we have accepted the machinery of Apartheid with which to govern the country, allowed old infrastructure, policies, procedures, guidelines, mores and cultural influences to remain in place. The problem is that the ANC, as a government, has done almost nothing to change these. Instead, they have actually contributed to the culture of laxness in respect of our attitudes towards corruption and theft. Did Apartheid instil in us a sense of “brotherhood” where we daren’t tell on each other, Yes? Did Apartheid make it a sin to be Impimpi, Yes? Did Apartheid create an immoral society of people who willingly support the “black market” and hide criminals? Yes!
Do we need to be taught some type of “moral regeneration” subject at school? Yes, but goodness, by the lowest international standards of primary education, we now willingly offer a watered-down form of mathematics, fundamental to our abilities to conceptualise the world around us and count. We call it “Math Literacy” as if it is the highest “achievement,” and not a minimum requirement for life? Ingrained in the psyche of the “liberation movement” and the white capital class is the mental model of South Africa and its resources being up for sale to the highest, the sometimes lowest bidder. Even if they are immigrants from the Indian subcontinent, that impresses a sitting President, Jacob Zuma, the means to loot his own country by any means necessary.
It is the “sunset clauses,” that have literally put the country’s life on hold and provided a “McGyver” option that seems never-ending and with no end in sight. The same mentality or mental model encapsulates how most things are viewed as “quick fixes” short term in nature and how to make a quick buck. Contrary to the many opinions of paid corporate hacks, it’s not that black people possess an overdeveloped sense of entitlement- in fact, it’s the other way around. Black people still get up for work and keep the wheels or engine of the economy going. The systemically ingrained mental issue is that everything seems like a mad rush to get everything else as quickly as possible with the least amount of time and efforts expended. Everything, much like the “sunset clauses,” is temporary, and that creates the kind of anxious uncertainty that so vividly stalks our landscapes and the chambers of our minds…
Part IV next.
