Chris Mehlo, Milnerton
We are all highly irritated with the ongoing load shedding, and rightly so. We feel powerless.
After 1994 I pointed out that first world service delivery, specifically in respect of policing and provision of electricity, had been largely focused on white suburbs before 1994, thus focusing on about 4 million people.
After 1994 it had to be provided to 40 million plus (now 50 million plus). In addition people without the necessary expertise and experience also had to be appointed – legacies of the past. Neither the leaders of the old regime nor the ANC leaders could have foreseen the full implications.
Furthermore, the old National Party decided to walk out of the government of national unity and many people with experience and expertise decided to opt for severance packages rather than work under a new government.
It should have been clear to any objective observer that the quality of service delivery to 10 times more people, and with less experience and expertise providing it, would deteriorate. However, many just stood back and waited on "them" to fix things.
Both the old regime and the ANC do not have clean hands in this respect. Of course wide-scale corruption multiplied the problems, but the problems are not only “their” problems. It is “our” problems and we will have to find solutions together.
There are signs that civil society and the private sector increasingly realise that everything cannot be left for the government to fix. People are beginning to create dialogues across political and cultural divides and are rolling up their sleeves.