In Emalahleni, Mpumalanga, black and white parents are fighting outside a school as children and the world watch.

In Harrismith, Free State, local residents are throwing stones at the police and passing motorists along the N3. In Crosby, Johannesburg, a young couple is electrocuted to death in their own home. 

These stories paint a picture of a country in turmoil. A ship without a captain. Racism, corruption and poor service are the staple diet of South Africans. We are divided along colour lines. Our towns are falling apart.

Corruption is eating this democracy away. You get tired and depressed reading the newspapers and watching the news. What happened to a country of great promise and big dreams now reduced to ashes by its leaders?

Is this the beginning of the big decline? Are we following the well-worn path of other liberated African countries such as Zimbabwe, Zambia, Malawi and many others?

Dr Lucas Ntyintyane, by e-mail