A direct consequence of playing the race, religion or privilege card

 One  of Our Dinosaurs Is Missing; do you remember that fun little British comedy film? Well, Polokwane – home to ANC coups and World Cup football – has just scripted the sequel: “Eighty of our ambulances are missing!” Out of 100 new ambulances, they have lost 80, honestly. Has anyone been charged, fired, suspended or even given a slapped wrist? Don’t be silly. But an investigation has begun into how 80% of the region’s ambulances are missing – what a relief, and how decisive!

 Now this all relates to one of my greatest fears in life: stagnation by political correctness. This is often a direct consequence of anyone playing the race, religion or privilege card.

 Never, in 2010, accuse anyone who can then accuse you of being politically incorrect.

 It is rather like not being able to criticise a Scot or a Welshman unless you are one, or a Lancastrian being completely untouchable unless accused by another Lancastrian; any Yorkshire critic would be racist with a hidden agenda... well, in that situation it probably would be true!

 All of us – black, coloured, white, Indian, Chinese, Portuguese, and Lancastrian – who live in South Africa need to be able to say freely,
as our Constitution allows, “what the heck are you doing”; and hold those who are incompetent or acting illegally, in positions of authority, liable for their actions.

 Thank goodness I got that off my chest. It reminds me of a scene in a recent television drama, where a radical and clearly fundamentalist organisation based in Europe was demanding to know why Muslims were receiving greater attention and questioning at airports.

 The airport security spokesperson who, ironically, happened to be Muslim, stated simply: “Well, of course, all Muslims are not terrorists, but at this time, most terrorists do appear to be apparently Muslim.”

 Let’s now allow some common sense to prevail. Let’s allow open criticism of anyone with control over either our tax funds or the policies of our security forces.

 You cannot have democracy that simply ‘suits’ you. Democracy is the hardest of all systems to live under, it is demanding and difficult, but you cannot claim to be willing to die to obtain democracy, to only then ‘adapt’ democracy to your own version – one that allows you to hide behind a veil more appropriate in a closed society!

 Transparency will give South Africa a powerful position in the world of emerging markets; lying about our so-called competency, allowing public servants to hide and refuse to be interviewed will not. I often think that many of our elected political leaders want the secrecy and opaque world of an old soviet satellite state, while enjoying personal financial benefits as if they were successful entrepreneurs in an American-style economy.

 In a nutshell, they want their – and my – cake and they want to eat it all! The problem is that we paid for the ingredients and they were supposed to distribute that cake equally to the entire population as appropriate.

 In the next issue, I promise to get off my high horse and go back to writing about the simple day-to-day things in life, but these issues affect the financial world in which we live in more ways than you can ever know.

 I believe that I am reflecting the opinion of many of the sensible black, white, coloured and every other normal members of our society, but if I am wrong in your eyes, then at least allow me the right to speak, as this is a democracy – or it was the last time I checked.

 It may appear at times as if the lunatics have taken over the asylum. The problem in South Africa is that we are slowly being trained to believe that if they ever did so, we should not call them lunatics; discuss the fact that it had happened, or ask for the keys back! ▲

 Ian Kilbride