Reflections of a Boiled Frog
It is a well-known fable that if you put a frog in room temperature water and then gradually turn up the heat, the frog won’t feel the incremental change in the water temperature. Eventually, the boiling water will cook the frog and bring it to its demise. This is used as a metaphor for the gradually changing circumstances in our environment.
Dr Mario Oriani-Ambrosini, a constitutional lawyer and member of parliament in South Africa, wrote in his memoirs about an interview he did with Cyril Ramaphosa. Ramaphosa spoke of the ANC’s 25-year strategy to deal with the whites and said, “it will be like boiling a frog alive”.
I consider myself duly boiled!
In a recent Just in Time article, I wrote of the failures that have been brought about by the ANC and their National Democratic Revolution (NDR). See “If You Have Nothing to Lose”.
Today I am sitting in the dark with the familiar sound of a generator purring away outside. We are in level 4 lockdowns, and schools have been forced to close. My daughter is in the middle of matric prelim exams; her exams are being written online. I have the resources to overcome this problem. The majority of South African’s don’t.
My troubles are nothing compared to those who felt the full brunt of last week’s plundering. It is obvious to many that the water temperature has been rising for everyone. Service delivery protests have become so common that the corporate media does not report them anymore.
Remember when the ANC made a case for why the Scorpions should be shut down. The result is that the most successful crime-fighting unit got stamped on like a bug. We accepted it. That was a slight adjustment to the temperature.
Remember when Mokotedi Mpshe single-handedly dismissed all the charges against a would-be president? We accepted that too. That was another temperature adjustment.
Remember when a convicted fraudster got released from jail on medical parole after serving less than 3 years of a 15-year sentence? We accepted that—another temperature increase.
Remember in 2008 when we heard of load shedding for the first time? No investment in the maintenance and development of our most important electrical infrastructure. Thirteen years later and we are still sitting in the dark—more temperature.
The ultimate socialist agenda is to control the levers of power. The ultimate socialist fallacy believes that the economy can be directed from the centre. Ramaphosa’s ANC tried to single out one community and orchestrate their boiled frog demise by pulling the levers of power. The result has been collateral damage to all South Africans.
Biologists have proven that the premise of the boiled frog fable is false. The frog will jump out of the water if it can. Both capital and taxpayers have demonstrated this by leaving South Africa in droves. We are all getting boiled. How much longer will we sit in the pot?
Justin Spencer-Young Twitter @fastforwardjsy
