SIPHO PITYANA: 94 mental patients who died were victims of 'profound system failure'

This is an extract from an address by Sipho Pityana to the Cape Town Press Club, 2 February 2017

I must say that making speeches, at this time in our history, sometimes feels like something of a hollow act. There is nothing one could say to describe the horror and sheer neglect visited upon the most vulnerable in our society. What has been inflicted upon these defenceless people undermines our collective humanity.

At a time when the psychiatric patients can no longer rely on their own government, the people’s government, to care for them properly, words fail me. How do you explain or analyse such a profound system failure to the families of the deceased? How do you explain to them why their government has failed to care for the most vulnerable in our society – and, when found out, obfuscates and plays politics?

Words also fail me at a time when those who are completely dependent on social grants can no longer rely on their own government, the people’s government, to put a proper social safety net in place. How do you explain to single mothers and pensioners, for example, that the only way they can get their social grants in April is if the government renews a contract that was awarded under corrupt circumstances, and does so in defiance of a constitutional court judgment?

Indeed, words fail me.

Of course, our own President, Jacob Zuma, will not be short of words when it comes to delivering his State of the Nation address a week from today. He will have plenty to say. He will gloss over the mistakes he has made, he will ignore the rampant corruption and abuse that causes the current crises we face, and he will roll out another set of promises, replete with unintelligible numbers.

Given the circumstance, we can expect it to be the most underwhelming State of the Nation Address in democratic South African history.

After all, it will be delivered by the worst head of the post-apartheid state and the worst President the African National Congress has ever had.

It will be delivered by a head of state with absolutely no respect for the Constitution of his own country -- a head of state who disregards the courts and institutions of his own democracy, such as Parliament and Chapter 9 institutions.

It will be delivered by a head of state who is the commander in chief of state corruption and who brazenly and daringly drives the agenda for state capture -- a man who has neither honour nor integrity, and absolutely no sense of accountability.

If it were not so tragic, it would be hilarious.

But there is nothing to laugh about when it comes to Jacob Gedleyihlekisa Zuma, despite the name his parents gave him. Absolutely nothing.