A POPULAR advert featuring former presidents Nelson Mandela and Thabo Mbeki and other venerable citizens such as Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu declaring that they had woken up in a South Africa "alive with possibilities" comes to mind.

It was the kind of advert that made people feel good about this country despite the ills that many have to contend with every day.

It reminded us that despite the odds stacked so heavily against us, as a people we have found that which made us all too proud of who we are, and we could still do so much more.

We were indeed a people that turned a state that was a pariah in the world into a country that was alive with possibilities.

Yet yesterday many of us would have that feeling of hopelessness in the face of the kind of barbarity some of us are capable of. We woke up to the news of a 17-year-old mentally disabled girl having been gang-raped by a group of youths, some barely out of their teens.

The lowlifes were so proud of their deed that they recorded themselves and the video clip has apparently gone viral on some media. It is times like these that call out for leadership - in the family, the street and indeed at national level.

During the struggle against apartheid many in our communities answered the call, often without much prompting, to lead. South Africa needs that fighting spirit today. That spirit that says we will not sit and fold our arms when the evil do as they please with the weak and vulnerable in society.

It is a spirit we seem to have tossed into the dustbin of history as the pursuit of freedom was replaced by the pursuit of things material. The guiding principle seems to be everyone for themselves.

The leadership role that used to be played by street committees in the 1980s has been neglected and the monster we see devouring the weak has taken centre stage.

Criminals have become so brazen today they carry out their business in full view of terrified citizens, knowing full well they stand a huge chance of getting away with it. It may well be a desperate call, but isn't it time perhaps to remind our leaders that ahead of Polokwane they were calling for a return of street committees. What has happened to that call?

They might point to a new form of street committees today, community policing forums. But clearly the system isn't working effectively, if it does at all. A review is not out of the question.