Under a raging pandemic, men and women in the corridors of power brazenly steal money earmarked to help the sick and destitute in our nation's hour of mortal crisis.

The nation is having a moral convulsion. Levels of trust in our elected leaders, our institutions and in our convoluted politics are in a precipitous decline. Our current crop of leaders are masters of the art of deception.

Corruption is being unearthed every day, converging on the inescapable conclusion that our tainted politics is rotten to the core with naked thievery and monumental failure.

Our leaders in governance are spineless politicians rotten to the core, without virtue, without any level of human integrity, devoid of self-respect. Without courage and vision and without the moral compass to recognise their own malevolence.

We grimly see these negative traits in those whom we entrust our future. It is indeed tragic and frightening that our governing institutions have become increasingly dysfunctional.

A combination of intellectual rigidity and the power of cadre entrenched political actors is preventing critical institutions from being reformed. The struggling masses feel disgusted by the state of society. Trust in every government  institution has plummeted. Moral indignation is widespread. Contempt for established power is intense.

The cancer of distrust in the authorities has spread to every vital organ of the state. Our democracy has lost its way and its essence. Remember the profound words of Francois de La Rochefoucauld: "We should not trust democracy without extremely powerful systems of accountability."Farouk Araie, Benoni