It’s no wonder that the South African government, and, by implication, the ruling ANC party wants to pull the plug on Press Freedom and curtail reporting of the facts, dragging the country back into the Dark Ages of Apartheid. Last Sunday’s Sunday Times (UK), listed some remarkable – and appalling – statistics on the members of the SA parliament, under the headline, “Theft, fraud and violence, South African MPs do it all”. Try these for size:

Of the 535 MPs

– 29 have been accused of domestic violence

– 7 have been arrested for fraud

– 19 have been accused of bouncing cheques

– 117 have been directly or indirectly involved in at least two businesses that have gone bankrupt

– 3 have served jail sentences for fraud

– 71 cannot obtain a credit card due to their bad credit rating

– 14 have been arrested on drug charges

– 8 have been arrested for shoplifting

Is it any wonder then that the ANC Youth League are in uproar are the behaviour of the very people who should be setting an example? Tony Yengeni, the head of the ANC Political School (whatever that is) put it in (his own) perspective when he said, “What has the High Court got to do with my life?” Yengeni is a director of six companies, despite being banned from such posts, and also served only five months of a four year jail term.

A culture of impunity can only have disastrous consequences – ask the Irish!

Read more from Simon Burrow, somewhere in the depths of Provence (no doubt in a haze of rose!) at www.livingstylishlywell.com

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