With daily protests around the country, we are on a slippery slope towards mob rule, lawlessness and an "anything goes" culture.
The government's ambivalence regarding protests has affected ordinary people, who display an "if you can't beat them, join them" mentality.
One only needs to stand at a traffic intersection to see the number of vehicles jumping a red robot.
Barbarism is given credence by a deafening silence from authorities.
It is curious that this moral decay mimics the first citizen's general conduct.
Was it not President Jacob Zuma who appealed for his machine gun to escape corruption charges? He taught South Africans that, to get what you want, you need to take up arms.
Today school kids burn their libraries to make a point.
Deputy President Kgalema Motlanthe cannot plead ignorance. What is he doing as our country gradually slides into anarchy? Why is he silent in the face of the pillaging of state funds in Nkandla? Will he let the mining industry die under his watch? Will he rescue the agricultural sector from strife in the Western Cape?