One of the unintended consequences of the South African democratic dispensation is the entrenchment of a culture of entitlement within the formerly oppressed black majority. Having borne the brunt of apartheid dispossession and degradation, blacks equated the dawn of a black majority government with a magical alteration in their social and economic status.

These unrealistic expectations were given a further boost by the current government through pre-election milk and honey promises. Promises of free education, free healthcare, free water and electricity led to a toxic culture of entitlement and the erosion of a work ethic within the populace...