There is a groundswell of protests sweeping across our country daily...

From mine to farm workers, shack dwellers to rate payers, there is no denying that our country is on a slippery slope to mob rule, lawlessness and a general laissez-faire culture where ‘everything goes’.

A familiar theme of all these protests is their violent nature and the wanton destruction of property.

The ambivalence of government to these protests has permeated the psyche of ordinary members of society and thereby bred many copy-cats who conveniently invoke the “if you can’t beat them, join them’ mentality.

One only needs to stand at a traffic intersection to see the number of vehicles jumping a red robot!

Lamp posts and road signage adorns adverts for ‘penis enlargement’ or similar hitherto frowned upon?

Amazingly, these acts of barbarism are given credence by the deafening silence from authorities.

It is curious that this moral decay mimics the first citizen’s general conduct. Was it not President Zuma who appealed for his machine gun to escape the over 700 corruption charges he faced? He unwittingly taught South Africans that, to get what you want, you need to take up arms? Today, even school kids burn their libraries to make a point!

Deputy President Motlanthe cannot plead ignorance. What is he doing as our country gradually slides into anarchy?

Why is he silent in the face of blatant pillaging of state funds in Nkandla?

Is he going to let the mining industry die under his watch? Is he going to rescue the agricultural sector from the current strife in the Western Cape?

These are questions that, one day, our children will demand answers to.

Sydney Ledwaba

Pretoria