THABO MAKGOBA

Easter should be a time of celebration, of renewal and hope. But given the current state of the world, that is a hard sell. The Middle East is consumed by war, and those celebrating Easter in Jerusalem and other cities and towns across the region do so under the threat of drones and missiles. Not only that, the conflict threatens to spread, and its effects — especially the restrictions on oil and gas exports — are being experienced across the globe. Escalating petrol and especially diesel prices raise the spectre of rationing, speed restrictions and higher food prices. The war in Ukraine continues, with South Africans unwittingly and tragically dragged into it under false pretences. In Sudan we are seeing a repeat of the genocide of 20 years ago, apparently perpetrated by largely the same actors.

We are navigating a world filled with destruction and fear, not only abroad but at home. In many of our communities an almost unstoppable culture of violence seems to have taken hold, fuelled by the vulnerability that comes from increasing poverty, unemployment and the plethora of social pathologies that democratic governance has failed to address after three decades. Waking up in the morning, it is almost a surprise not to read about a new corruption scandal involving those who pervert politics for self-serving ends. Whistleblowers, witnesses and professionals such as lawyers are assassinated in brazen attempts to escape the consequences of taking bribes from tenderpreneurs. In Cape Town, teenagers are killed, victims of gang violence, with frightening regularity, and domestic violence continues to stalk households everywhere.

Perhaps worst of all, the confusing spectacle of claim and counterclaim we are seeing before retired justice Mbuyiseli Madlanga and his fellow commissioners leaves the average South African unable to judge which police general is honest and who is controlled by a crime syndicate. Although we must wait for the commission to sort the truth from the lies, it is already clear that the public cannot rely on the police service’s leadership, considered as a whole, to end the violence and criminality which have percolated to the top of society. At the same time, we need to celebrate those officers in police stations across the country who do serve the public with dedication and empathy.

Prophetic faith insists that celebration itself can be an ethical act — a refusal to let cynicism have the final word

An evil which is not getting enough attention is how online gambling, easily accessible to anyone with a smartphone, is ruining people’s lives. In a recent discussion paper on online and interactive gambling, the National Treasury reported that annual betting revenue in South Africa has skyrocketed by 390% in the past five years — from around R10.6bn to R52bn, with online betting estimated to generate more than R44bn a year.

At a recent meeting, Anglican bishops from across Southern Africa presented accounts of pensioners in South Africa gambling away their Sassa grants and students squandering financial aid for their studies. We heard of graduates who can’t find work borrowing money to gamble with in the hope of making a living, and of young people committing suicide in despair as a result of losing everything. As Imraan Buccus has said, gambling has become “a form of economic self-medication, a desperate search for luck in a society that offers no opportunity”.

The crisis that harmful gambling represents for society must be addressed urgently across government and civil society. We need to treat gambling the way we dealt with smoking and alcohol, and consider banning — or at least imposing strict restrictions on — gambling advertising.

But the story of Easter tells us that we need not despair. On Good Friday, we heard a story of events 2,000 years ago that were not so different from what we see today. The first Easter took place when Palestine was oppressed by the brutal machinery of the Roman Empire. It was preceded by the harsh reality of pain, destruction, the demise of dignity, a political trial that perverted justice, the nailing of a man to a cross and the lives of his followers torn apart by cruelty.

Just as the story of resurrection brought hope to the followers of that man, so we are seeing clear signs of hope in South Africa today. Matric pass rates are improving. The media continues to play a crucial role in exposing bad governance. Our finance minister tells us that levels of government debt are stabilising. Load-shedding is largely something of the past, and reforms in power generation and transport networks are giving hope for better economic growth and therefore job creation. Business leaders with strong liberation movement credentials tell me they are cautiously optimistic about the prospects for investment in new economic activity. There is growing recognition that blindly enforcing the prescriptions of ideologues, whether on the left or the right, will not help our country to grow. Instead we are seeing the tens of thousands of highly qualified graduates emerging from our universities looking for more pragmatic solutions to our problems.

Thirty years ago, Desmond Tutu used to say that our country’s festering wounds needed to be opened, cleaned and cauterised before we would see healing. Today the Madlanga commission can perform that role — as long as its report is followed by strong and courageous action to root out the rot in our justice system. The challenges posed by its report will present President Cyril Ramaphosa with the most consequential decisions of his presidency. Fortunately he has on his side the unprecedented ferment in political parties, underpinned by our tradition of vigorous dialogue and civic engagement, which has the potential to sideline ageing leaders with entrenched positions and to create innovative new alliances.

Make no mistake, the challenges we face are enormous, but turning around the ship of state in South Africa is more like altering the course of a supertanker than that of a speedboat — it will take time.

So this Easter, let us celebrate the signs of progress and our potential to do better as a nation. Prophetic faith insists that celebration itself can be an ethical act — a refusal to let cynicism have the final word. To rejoice responsibly is to affirm that goodness, beauty and human dignity are not illusions but signs of God’s intention for the world.