In DC Comics’ Gotham City, the home of Batman is characterised by rampant and recurring corruption within the city's civil authorities and infrastructure.
Gotham’s Underground – crime families and gangs – tentacles spread into and have almost total control over all aspects of society and government, with the city's officers steeped in bribery, corruption and criminal activities. Gotham City is lawless, with citizens having no protection except for the masked crusader, Batman.
At the dawn of democracy in 1994 few would ever have pictured such a dystopian future for South Africa. Weren’t we different from the rest of Africa and the Third World? However, are we now fast approaching that future? A number of writers and analysts have suggested we are already there, the most recent being Max du Preez and The Times of London columnist Jenni Russell.
Last month DA MP Dianne Kohler Barnard was expelled from the party for sharing a Facebook post in September that said "education, health and the police service were better during the apartheid-era rule of PW Botha". Her apology at the disciplinary hearing and guilty plea made no difference to her fate. She is appealing.
Her Facebook sharing was ill-advised but the DA overreacted by expelling her. Other prominent South Africans, including academics and social commentators like Jonathan Jansen and Mamphela Ramphele, have also stated that South Africa’s education system today is “rubbish” and worse than Bantu Education. The same goes for health, police and other departments.
Gotham’s Underground – crime families and gangs – tentacles spread into and have almost total control over all aspects of society and government, with the city's officers steeped in bribery, corruption and criminal activities. Gotham City is lawless, with citizens having no protection except for the masked crusader, Batman.
At the dawn of democracy in 1994 few would ever have pictured such a dystopian future for South Africa. Weren’t we different from the rest of Africa and the Third World? However, are we now fast approaching that future? A number of writers and analysts have suggested we are already there, the most recent being Max du Preez and The Times of London columnist Jenni Russell.
Last month DA MP Dianne Kohler Barnard was expelled from the party for sharing a Facebook post in September that said "education, health and the police service were better during the apartheid-era rule of PW Botha". Her apology at the disciplinary hearing and guilty plea made no difference to her fate. She is appealing.
Her Facebook sharing was ill-advised but the DA overreacted by expelling her. Other prominent South Africans, including academics and social commentators like Jonathan Jansen and Mamphela Ramphele, have also stated that South Africa’s education system today is “rubbish” and worse than Bantu Education. The same goes for health, police and other departments.
So what makes Barnard’s actions so terrible when the sentiments are true or perceived to be true by most South Africans? I haven’t seen any of the analysts unpack this. I doubt Barnard really wished to return to apartheid and Botha’s rule – no rational person does – but her offence is that she is white and not allowed to make such politically incorrect comparisons.
Events unfolding today in South Africa read like a dystopian work of fiction. Gotham City’s Commissioner Loeb is implicated in corruption and forced to resign; SA’s former police commissioner Jackie Selebi was convicted of corruption and taking bribes.
Police head of intelligence Richard Mdluli is facing charges of fraud and corruption, murder charges having been withdrawn. The Daily Maverick says Mdluli “has come to symbolise symbiosis between (President Jacob) Zuma and the people who seem to do his dirty work, or are owed favours, who seems to have some kind of hold over Zuma, who is protected”. Let’s not forget the DA’s fight to re-instate corruption charges against him.
Almost every day there is a new scandal implicating government officials in corruption, fraud, theft or waste of state resources. We have no masked knight to save us and restore our trust and faith in law and order and fellow man. Can the DA’s Mmusi Maimane fulfil the role? He has all but disappeared since being elected party leader. Could Julius Malema, with his red beret and uniform, which might resemble a mask and cape, be our man? Unlikely, as his utterance and actions seem more like that of The Joker.
I’m afraid that like the fictional city, South Africa will first sink into disorder and decay before we, possibly, will be delivered.
Postscript. After I posted the above article, the Mail & Guardian broke the story that allegedly Zuma met Western Cape gang bosses in 2011. There is now no questioning the kind of place South Africa has become. Also see journalist Tim Knight's article .
Events unfolding today in South Africa read like a dystopian work of fiction. Gotham City’s Commissioner Loeb is implicated in corruption and forced to resign; SA’s former police commissioner Jackie Selebi was convicted of corruption and taking bribes.
Police head of intelligence Richard Mdluli is facing charges of fraud and corruption, murder charges having been withdrawn. The Daily Maverick says Mdluli “has come to symbolise symbiosis between (President Jacob) Zuma and the people who seem to do his dirty work, or are owed favours, who seems to have some kind of hold over Zuma, who is protected”. Let’s not forget the DA’s fight to re-instate corruption charges against him.
Almost every day there is a new scandal implicating government officials in corruption, fraud, theft or waste of state resources. We have no masked knight to save us and restore our trust and faith in law and order and fellow man. Can the DA’s Mmusi Maimane fulfil the role? He has all but disappeared since being elected party leader. Could Julius Malema, with his red beret and uniform, which might resemble a mask and cape, be our man? Unlikely, as his utterance and actions seem more like that of The Joker.
I’m afraid that like the fictional city, South Africa will first sink into disorder and decay before we, possibly, will be delivered.
Postscript. After I posted the above article, the Mail & Guardian broke the story that allegedly Zuma met Western Cape gang bosses in 2011. There is now no questioning the kind of place South Africa has become. Also see journalist Tim Knight's article .
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