The head of elite crime-fighting unit the Hawks, Anwa Dramat, and some of his senior staff, are on suspension. The head of the Independent Police Investigative Directorate, Robert McBride, is on suspension. Eskom CEO Tshediso Matona and three other Eskom executives have been suspended. Matona has been at the helm for only a few months. He hopes the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration can save his job.Senior SA Revenue Service officials have also been suspended.Last week, SABC board member Hope Zinde was suspended.National Prosecuting Authority deputy head Nomgcobo Jiba has gone absent without leave amid reports of a police investigation into her conduct.There are those who will argue that the suspensions are just administrative matters that will be sorted out in due course, but they fail to appreciate the severity of the effect all this has on service delivery.South Africans deserve better than the games being played in our key institutions.Police Minister Nathi Nhleko seems to spend more time consulting lawyers on how to suspend and remove people within his department than on presiding over a department that is in disarray.Who is really in charge in South Africa?Are the courts now having to take on what our elected leaders are supposed to do?Did we not elect our senior politicians to provide leadership?We cannot afford to be running our institutions through the courts. It is embarrassing that people have to run to a judge to correct the actions of politicians and administrators who are too quick to suspend or fire employees.If this trend does not stop we will soon find our republic in a state of paralysis. It is at times like these that we should be asking difficult questions and demanding honest answers.Zuma and his team have a lot to answer for...