Politics has no role in policing in KwaZulu-Natal

ONCE upon a time in the land of a thousand hills, where the Indian Ocean kisses our shores and the Drakensberg guards our dreams, the people longed for truth.

- MHLABUNZIMA MEMELA

But they got sleight of hand, the grand performance of politicians who, like conjurors at a children’s party, pull promises from top hats and make accountability vanish into thin air.

In the past months, listening to Premier of KwaZulu-Natal Mr Thami Ntuli is like watching a magician who's misplaced his script but keeps performing anyway. One moment, he pulls a misrepresentation of facts out of his hat, “The police are performing well under the IFP. ‘Wherever the IFP leads, things change!”

And before you can blink, poof! That claim disappears into the smoke of political spin, replaced by the next trick: “We are fixing the mess of the past.”

Ah, yes, the IFP. Suddenly, every challenge the KZN government faces, from unemployment to potholes large enough to host swimming galas, becomes an “inherited problem” The national debt? “Legacy issue.” Crime? “Legacy issue.”

That sinkhole swallowing your taxi? “Legacy infrastructure.” At this rate, they will be blaming King Shaka Zulu for potholes and King Cetshwayo for destroying the pathways on the hills with his ox wagon, while we know he never used it.

But give credit where it’s due, Premier Ntuli is consistent: consistently denying. Consistently promising. Consistently forgetting. If they handed out Olympic medals for dodging accountability, the man would be carrying more gold than the Reserve Bank vault. But let us step back.

Beyond the humour, beyond the tragic comedy of KZN’s Government of Provincial Unity, there is something far more dangerous: a betrayal of conscience, of principle, of the peoples trust. When leaders choose the path of mendacity, whether provoked or unprovoked, they corrode the foundations of our democracy.

A lie is never harmless. It ignites division, wrecks fragile unity, and leaves citizens stranded in a wilderness of confusion.