If we are to fix SA, we must acknowledge that not only are our roads and towns and cities and many of our physical structures broken; our collective mindset is as well. Truth be told, we have set the bar so low in so many aspects of SA that we want to applaud, in fact we are often moved to applaud, when someone does something as simple as their own job. We applaud when people perform tasks that they should be doing when they clock in at work in the morning.

Yet, in our dealings with our local and other tiers of government, workers don’t work, services are not provided and simple tasks are not performed. When they are indeed performed, we are all supposed to stop and clap as if the extraordinary has been done. We have reached such a low point that we find it extraordinary that people are doing the job they were hired for and are paid to do...