We are all personally experiencing a failed State!

In August last year, Transport Minister Fikile Mbalula announced that driving licences which expired between 26 March 2020 and 31 August 2021 will be valid until 31 March 2022. In February, Mbalula indicated that there is a total backlog of 2,1 million licences nationally that will have expired by 31 March 2022.  The government has since extended the deadline to 15 April 2022.  It is laughable to even consider that this incompetent government will clear the backlog by mid-April.  

The driving license fiasco reads like a bad soap opera; problems with the production of driving licence cards, issues around Driving Licence Testing Centres, online booking systems and of course corruption.  All this has direct implications that potentially insurance claims by motorists will not pay out.

What has not explicitly been said is that this is a tangible example of a failed state.  Many people consider a failed state as one that is in the midst of a war.  This is not the case.  Wherever a government is not fulfilling a function that it should be doing then it is failing.

A general perusal of all ANC-run governments and entities clearly makes this point.

This is the case when we consider the government’s supply of electricity, water, basic services and indeed the issuing of driving licenses.