After a successful sixth democratic election, we enter into a new post-election era. As we usher in the “new dawn”, it is imperative that we inspire the change we want to see implemented in our communities and the nation as a whole.
Public representatives in their own capacity are among us. They are part of the common people affected by a stunted or unproductive government. The will to do better needs to start among our fellow citizens. We need to do better and be better civilians within our own capacities before we can demand better from the public sector.
Citizens, in a society made up of fully-grown human beings, must oversee and be responsible for their own behaviour and public conduct. The normalisation of mediocrity starts in our homes and is carried to public institutions and arenas. So, the clean-up must start in our homes. The key to a better society is based on quality citizenship used as a template for the state to implement effective governance and accountability measures, which will hold those in leadership to account.
Crime often thrives on the individualism complex, habitats where people ignore other aspects of the community and solely focus on their own safety and ignore the rest. In South Africa, it has been proven that communities that employ neighbourhood watches experience lower crime rates, a clue as to how we can defeat the damning claws of crime. The police and state require full cooperation and communication to effectively fight crime.