Why? Why have those responsible not been dismissed?

The thousands of ANC delegates converging on Midrand’s Gallagher Estate are wasting their time. That’s if they’re going there to debate issues of policy or even - heaven forbid - leadership. South Africa already has plenty of very fine policies, many, if not all of them, devised by the ANC itself over the last 18 years. We don’t need any more.

Instead, delegates should buy a bundle of Sunday newspapers and take a walk in one of our major cities. Johannesburg would be best, but Pretoria/Tshwane or Cape Town or Durban/eThekwini would do as well. The word “walk”, by the way, means walk - as in “on foot, wearing comfortable shoes and not in an official limo with blue-lights flashing”.

Having read the Sunday papers and taken that stroll, they should reach for a piece of A4 paper and draw a line down the middle, dividing it into two columns. The first column should be headed Things That Work and the second Things That Need Fixing.

First of all, if you looked over their shoulders, you’d be surprised at the number of things that do, in fact, work in South Africa - courtesy of the ANC. Most of our national roads, many of our airports, our tax collection system and the level of freedom of speech are things that spring instantly to mind. Our legal system is ponderous and slow but it works, as do our financial systems, the regulations that govern the JSE and our auditors. The public protector and the Human Rights Commission are two more. ANC NEC member Dr. Pallo Jordan leapt to the ANC’s defence this week when he pointed - rightly - to the creation of a black middle class, at least three million strong. No question - that’s down to the ANC.

But it’s the other column - Things That Need Fixing - that needs attention from the conference delegates. Open this week’s bundle of Sunday newspapers and it will take less than 60 seconds to spot two items: the Angie Motshekga/Limpopo school books debacle (City Press, Sunday Times) and the dire state of our police barracks (Sunday Times).

Here are two perfect examples of a complete failure to execute policy in any competent fashion. Six months into the school year, students in Limpopo do not have text books, despite a court order that they be delivered, and the minister responsible - Ms Motshekga - continues to prevaricate, obfuscate and - according to City Press - lie. Commenting on the school books case, the selfsame Dr Jordan said he thought those responsible should not only be fired, “but prosecuted”.

Why have the books not been delivered and why have those responsible not been dismissed - or prosecuted?

If you think waiting six months for school books is bad, how about living in a broken-down building without hot water for 15 years? According to the Sunday Times, that’s what police officers living in the Alexandra barracks have had to and continue to endure. The newspaper’s investigation reveals a number of police barracks around the country that are simply “not fit for human habitation”.