Beware of the road pig

You could be a kind, warm-hearted, soccer Mom ferrying your little ones to their numerous extramural activities or a priest, pious and spiritually fulfilled transporting a group of grannies to a church tea. Are you a senior citizen, perpetually loyal to your 1963 Beetle, destined for a scrap heap somewhere, were it not for your nostalgia, happy to pop along on a national highway at 60 kms/hour (in the 'fast lane.)? You could be a surfer, as laid back as 10 Sunday mornings, languidly inching your way to your favourite surf spot. Our roads are a perfect cross-section of our society. Diverse but dangerous, and more often than not, death hot spots. No matter your personality, many can't avoid  transmogrifying
 There are always pigs lurking on our roads. No not literally (unless you find yourself traveling through the far reaches of the Eastern Cape, where roads accommodate both vehicles and livestock.) You needn't look to hard to see the pigs on the roads. Just take a look in your rear view mirror.
We all change into pigs the minute we get onto a road. Of course, you'll disagree. "I'm a good driver," is a national mantra. It can't possibly be your fault when you change lanes without indicating and roar off, exceeding the speed limit, your breath noxious with the smell of booze.
 You could be a regular Joe Nobody just wanting to make your way from A to Z with the help of your vehicle. But no matter your persona, put a steering wheel in front of you and the brain does something (usually it doesn't involving thinking.) An American Psychological Association study into road rage shows even the most placid of people can be transformed into monsters behind the wheel. As you drive you may feel a niggling transformation taking hold. Watch your knuckles. Do they turn white? Check your eyes, do they glaze over, turning red with looming rage? Road rage is almost unavoidable, especially in a country where violence is our 12th official language. Compounding this is a distinct lack of personal responsibility. We can't seem to accept that once we earn the right (yes, it is a right) to drive we also have to take responsibility for our actions.  It's not just a necessity, its a survival tool, a means of possibly avoiding those tragedies which sadly become diluted into nothing more but road death statistics. But even the most conscientious motorists are not immune to the pig behaviour we see being flaunted from within vehicles.
 Every festive season I bend my brain trying to understand why so many people die on the roads during this period. Cutting through the hypothesizing, the pontificating, the examining, I ca' only draw the conclusion that it's because we are all - in one way or another - bad drivers and even worse vehicle-owners. These machines, as amazing as they are, are basically weapons of mass destruction. Yet we use them and behave around them as if they are candy floss. There's no real appreciation of just how dangerous a motor vehicle can be. And in the hands of a road hog, well, it's only a matter of time before it's reduce to a heap of twisted metals, often entwined with humans (or what's left of them.)

Give us your votes and we'll give you... very little

The press releases and media invites are now coming through thick and fast. My inbox is clogged with turgid invites to the opening of some or other facility, the introduction of some obliquely-named initiative or sod-turning ceremony for... well.. anything. Election fever is well and truly with us. But with the malaise that this feverish season brings with it also comes a very obvious question: Why all of a sudden are we seeing things happening? By this I mean, service delivery. Surely the 5 years between general elections should see regular, consistent delivery of houses, electricity, water and sanitation by all spheres of government. So, why suddenly when votes are needed does it seem service delivery is intensified? I've lost count of the number of housing initiatives which have apparently been rolled out over the past few weeks. I can't keep track of the invites being dispatched daily of events where everything from PCs to solar energy panels are being liberally handed out. The cynic in me still asks: Are these real services being implemented or is it all just window-dressing? I can't help but wonder if they are nothing more but flimsy, superficial gestures aimed at fooling the masses into believing the powers that be, whoever they are, are actually fulfilling their mandates without the maddening allure of elections and the desperate rush to clinch the hearts and minds of voters.
Don't bother asking the politicians at these events why suddenly things are appearing. Expect the usual piffle and rhetoric; awkward attempts at explaining why delivery is being expedited when it seems almost non-existent between polls.
There's no escaping the ugly truth that comes with the result of non-delivery. Just turn on the TV and radio, open a newspaper, log onto a news web site; the stories of violent protests are all the indication you need that all is certainly not well.
Around election time you'll notice reporters rightfully focusing heavily on community stories. In other words, instead of just covering mind-numbing electioneering events and the skulduggery which usually characterizes politics, journalists will also give the regular people the chance to tell their stories. It's a perfect opportunity for the regular nobodies of society - the shack dwellers, the unemployed, the ratepayers, the average citizens - to voice their grievances (and every so often even their praises) over the everyday issues of life. "Where are they when we really need them?" is usually the stand out question you'll hear in sound bytes and TV news inserts from communities who feel marginalized, except when politicians need their votes. "They only help us when they need our votes!" is another lament which becomes more uncomfortably acute over elections.
Once the dust has settled after the May 7 polls, I'll again cynically expect the politicians to return to what so many of them do best - very little. Their "hard work" of electioneering will be done. The ballots will have been counted, victory speeches will have been delivered, the damage control from bruising losses will have been done. And sadly reality will also return - the reality of poverty, joblessness and corruption. Sluggish to non-existent service delivery will again probably become the norm. Hyena politicians will continue cannibalizing the meagre resources of the country and the voices of so many of the already disenfranchised will again fall on deaf ears... that is until the next elections.