What happened in the Western Cape with the jumping of queues during Codvid-19 vaccination also happened at Nkhensani Hospital in Giyani, Limpopo, on May 25 and 26.

Jumping queues has become normalised in the country as those who jump queues do not care that what they do is an infringement of the human rights of others. People jump queues every day to get assisted ahead of those who had been in the queue longer than them.

Even Baleka Mbete jumped the queue  to obtain her driver's licence, with the assistance of Steve Mabona when he was MEC for community safety in Mpumalanga 20  years ago. 

In some instances, state officials are bribed by queue jumpers. What annoyed me most at Nkhensani was that those who were jumping the queue were not youngsters but grandfathers and grandmothers. And some were intoxicated and their behaviour left much to be desired.

Health workers also allowed their relatives and friends to jump the queue. I laughed my lungs out when a woman in her early 50s tried to use her mother's identity document to get vaccinated.

We are not patient as a people; that is why queue jumping will stay with us for long if it's not nipped in the bud, especially with the officials.

The officials allow queue jumping by collecting bribes, and awarding RDP houses to undeserving beneficiaries ahead of people who had been waiting for years.

Short-circuiting queues is an SA phenomenon; we see it even queuing for food at funerals. If one wants to be number one in a queue, one should wake up early to be first in the queue, and not disrespect other people.

Queue jumping should only be reserved for the infirm and the elderly people with comorbidities. As people, we should first manage small things because corruption starts with small things, like disrepecting the value of queuing.

Lyborn Rikhotso, Giyani