In South Africa, we live in a Catabolic Dystopia — the Twilight Zone between catabolic collapse and catabolic capitalism. Catabolic Dystopia is when the people themselves destroy their own infrastructure for mere cents in a rand of true value or just for fun or to make a lame point. This has got to be the dumbest most idiotic trend in our country. It may have started slowly many decades ago but now the thieves and vandals are so brazen they don’t even fear the police. In fact, even school children have increasingly begun to confront police with malice — even turning over and damaging police vans. These kids are following the example of society at large.
The stats highlight our state of Catabolic Dystopia. Systemic corruption, criminality and extortion on a grand scale are also part of Catabolic Dystopia. Billions of Rands worth of theft and / or destruction is happening at an unprecedented rate — everyday, many news articles shed more light on this fact. Eskom is the current flag bearer — but it is not alone by a long shot. All sane South Africans agree wholeheartedly that this ‘misdeed’ is an attack on our collective society and that it must be ended ASAP. The mind boggles as to why the state is seemingly powerless. The ‘cure’ is not more police but functional policing and a more ethical society.
Data from the South African Police Service (SAPS) and the Private Security Industry Regulatory Authority (Psira) shows that there are now significantly more private security officers than police officers across the country — just over 182,000, versus over 560,000 armed response employees and an estimated 1.5 million qualified guards. The country simply can’t afford the cost of protecting everything from being vandalised or stolen — yes, everything. Recent events show that even the copper pipes that supply lifesaving oxygen at a hospital are not safe from theft. Nobody is spared from this maleficence. Both the rich and the poor are adversely affected.
A good example is the sabotage of Eskom which becomes near constant loadshedding of between 4 and 12 hours per day. Furthermore, high levels of loadshedding might inconvenience householders but is extremely destructive for large and small businesses. Expensive back-up power systems are just the beginning of a businesses woes. Extra security has also become necessary in part due to loadshedding. The knock-on effect of destructive behaviours ripples through society, undermining the upliftment potential of the economy. The vicious cycle of catabolic collapse eats away at our collective future — it is death by a quadrillion cuts!
In the article — The crooked truth — a key reason why South Africa is failing — I wrote: IMO well over R5 trillion has been squandered since 1994 — plus, South Africa has also lost out on growth of at least R5 Trillion. This is the loss that we have already endured — unfortunately, many more losses are currently adding many billions to the R10 Trillion. Fortunately, with endless loadshedding as a backdrop, 2023 looks like it is going to be peak Catabolic Dystopia — the populous are so gatvol that they are now fighting back like never before. One caveat to this positive sentiment is that if people become more violent and destructive, then we may face complete collapse.
Violent and destructive behavior must be curtailed by society ASAP — that is a non-negotiable prerequisite. Although volunteerism is slowly filling the void, it will take time to turn the tide. A culture of volunteerism is also key in the development of a more ethical society — a society that values our infrastructure! Whilst still paying rates & taxes, farmers, businesses and individuals are filling the ever growing gap left by an incompetent state — from fixing roads to providing water, food, etc. citizens and businesses are using their own money to do the government’s job. Society is finally mobilising at scale. The future of South Africa is in the hands of its citizens!
The 1% for South Africa initiative is a key intervention.
