Well, what was to be expected realistically? The ethnic cleansing of experienced white skills, the destruction of institutional memory, wholesale transformation, cadre deployment based on patronage and party loyalty combined with a culture of impunity and a dearth of management skills will inevitably result in the devastation now being rolled out in the central and northern parts of the country. Numerous municipalities face the same predicament; lacking qualified engineers and/or accounting skills, many are bankrupt owing to excessive staff numbers, outright theft and unsustainable, non-contributing demographics. According to Eskom, 90% of Soweto doesn’t pay for its electricity with arrears now exceeding R3bn. Just this past week, I have read about water rations being imposed in Rustenburg and Middelburg MP, not because of drought but owing to rapid population growth in these towns as well as underinvestment in infrastructure. Existing poorly maintained capacity is simply inadequate to see out the winters. And so the litany goes on. Many towns in the Free State have been without water for months. Large parts of Witbank/eMalahleni often experience both electricity outages and intermittent water supply for days on end. Several Krugersdorp suburbs have been experiencing erratic water supplies for the past couple of weeks. These are just some examples. The destruction of infrastructure, decaying and potholed roads and severely polluted rivers with raw sewage flowing into streams owing to broken pumps are reported on regularly. And nothing is done about it. Central government itself is caught in a state of paralysis, too smug and incapacitated to act. Broken down public hospitals, the inability to cost and approve large infrastructure projects, internal squabbling, massive corruption etc. are slowly grinding away at the edifice of state. The country has simply crossed a tipping point. Gordon Mulholland in a Business Times column last week noted that the government now employs 3.03m people with public service costs consuming 12% of our GDP (excl. the SOE’s) – this compares with Russia (3.7%), Brazil (4.4%) and Nigeria (4%). This also excludes the battery of consultants, often employed in corrupt arrangements. Unfortunately big business lacks the courage to confront government and the nefarious ideology that has created this catastrophe. Why will this trend reverse? One only has to peer across the Limpopo to see where this is heading…