Maria Botha

South Africans keep asking how much worse things can get. That is the wrong question. The question is what happens when decline becomes permanent. For more than thirty years we have adapted to failure. When electricity failed, we adapted. When policing failed, we adapted. When municipalities failed, we adapted. When water systems failed, we adapted. When roads deteriorated, we adapted. When corruption was exposed, we adapted. Every crisis became another inconvenience to work around. Every failure became another expense. Every expense became another sacrifice. What we call resilience today would have been considered unacceptable twenty years ago. The danger is not the collapse of institutions. The danger is the collapse of expectations. South Africans no longer expect functioning municipalities. South Africans no longer expect reliable electricity. South Africans no longer expect effective policing. South Africans no longer expect government accountability. We expect failure and then congratulate ourselves for surviving it. That is not resilience. That is surrender disguised as resilience. The average South African is now paying to replace functions that government was created to provide. Private security. Solar systems. Generators. Water tanks. Boreholes. Medical aid. Private education. Armed response. Tracking systems. Insurance products designed around government failure. Every year more responsibility moves to the citizen. Every year more authority remains with the state. That is the imbalance nobody is discussing. A citizen who spends most of his income defending himself from decline is not building a future. He is preserving the present. His children inherit the same burden. Then their children inherit it again. Eventually an entire generation grows up believing this is simply how a country operates. That is the true danger. Not that South Africa collapses tomorrow. Not that there is some dramatic event on the horizon. But that decline becomes institutionalised. Permanent. Accepted. Normal. History shows that societies rarely lose their freedoms all at once. They lose them gradually as independence becomes more expensive and dependence becomes more necessary. The question South Africans should be asking is not whether the country is getting worse. The evidence already answers that. The question is this: At what point does survival stop being resilience and start becoming acceptance? Because once a nation accepts deterioration as normal, the battle is no longer against corruption, crime, failing infrastructure or incompetent governance. The battle is against the belief that nothing better is possible. And that is the moment decline stops being temporary and becomes a way of life. *Written by Shaun Schutte.

🇿🇦🤣 NET ’N AFRIKANER SAL HIERDIE VERSTAAN! As jy dink Engels is moeilik, probeer net Afrikaans! 🤣 Ons haal ape uit moue, grawe ou koeie uit slote, sit varkies op hok en speel sommer op AVBOB se stoep! En die mooiste van alles? Ons verstaan presies wat ons bedoel! Hier is nou ’n taal wat jy nie sommer met Google Translate gaan baasraak nie! 🇿🇦 Afrikaans, jy bly maar lekker! "Voor jy dalk hond se gedagtes kry dat ek muisneste het en kattekwaad aanvang deur 'n kat in die donker te knyp, kan ek die aap uit die mou laat dat jy nie hond haaraf gaan maak nie. Die kool is eenvoudig nie die sous werd nie, jy wil verniet die bobbejaan agter die bult gaan haal, ek is nie 'n vroetelvarkie nie. Omdat ek twee linkervoete en rooi haakskene het, dans ek soos 'n kat op 'n warm plaat. Terwyl ek oor die onderdeur loer, stem my aand- en môrepraatjies nie ooreen nie en sing ek 'n ander deuntjie. Ek sing dan soos 'n kanarie. Ek weet dat die voëltjie wat saans die laaste fluit, soggens eerste deur die kat gevang word, daarom gaan ek saam met die hoenders slaap en lank voor hanekraai klim ek met die verkeerde voet uit die bed om my eiertjie te lê. Dit het die naweek katte en honde gereën, maar ons hou darem nog kop bo water. Dit staan egter soos 'n paal bo water dat dit nie nodig is om water met 'n mandjie aan te dra nie. Voor die son water getrek het en die perde horings gekry het, moet ek nie 'n gegewe perd in die bek kyk nie, ek moet die ou koeie uit die sloot grawe, die bul by die horings pak sodat die agteros in die kraal kan kom. Ek moet ook al my varkies op hok sit en daar by oom Daantjie se kalwerhok die kalf uit die put gaan haal. As jy wors in die hondehok soek, onthou dat blaffende honde nie byt nie. Ek wou nog katte skiet, maar toe is die koeël deur die kerk en ek kry wingerdgriep. Dit was 'n bitter pil om te sluk. Ek was hoog in die takke, want ek het gehoor dat die hoogste bome die meeste wind vang. As die appel nie ver van die boom val nie, kan 'n mens die boom aan sy vrugte ken. Ek kon nie die kar voor die perde span nie, en het toe maar twee rye spore geloop. In die dorp het hulle gesê ek speel op Avbob se stoep en dat ek een van die dae 'n houtpak gaan aantrek. Ek het gesê dat ek met 'n goue lepel in die mond gebore is en dat ek nog nie die lepel in die dak gaan steek en boedel oorgee nie. Ek moet rondborstig erken dat die spyker in my doodskis, is dat bloed kruip waar dit nie kan loop nie. As jy brood in die sweet van jou aangesig eet, moet jy nie met 'n mond vol tande staan nie, jy moet hare op jou tande hê, jy moet jou hand aan die ploeg slaan en die strydbyl begrawe. Weet jy hoe die vurk in die hef steek? As jy wolf skaapwagter maak, moet jy almal oor dieselfde kam skeer."

Don’t underestimate Gen X! 🤣

As I was lying around, pondering the problems of the world, I realized that at my age I don't really give a rat's arse anymore. .. If walking is good for your health, the postman would be immortal. .. A whale swims all day, only eats fish, drinks water, but is still fat. .. A rabbit runs and hops and only lives 15 years, while .. A tortoise doesn't run and does mostly nothing, yet it lives for 150 years. And you tell me to exercise?? I don't think so. Just grant me the senility to forget the people I never liked, the good fortune to remember the ones I do, and the eyesight to tell the difference. Now that I'm older here's what I've discovered: 1. I started out with nothing, and I still have most of it. 2. My wild oats are mostly enjoyed with prunes and all-bran. 3. I finally got my head together, and now my body is falling apart. 4. Funny, I don't remember being absent-minded. 5. Funny, I don't remember being absent-minded. 6. If all is not lost, then where the heck is it? 7. It was a whole lot easier to get older, than to get wiser. 8. Some days, you're the top dog; some days you're the hydrant. 9. I wish the buck really did stop here; I sure could use a few of them. 10. Kids in the back seat cause accidents. 11. Accidents in the back seat cause kids. 12. It's hard to make a comeback when you haven't been anywhere. 13. The world only beats a path to your door when you're in the bathroom. 14. If God wanted me to touch my toes, he'd have put them on my knees. 15. When I'm finally holding all the right cards, everyone wants to play chess. 16. It's not hard to meet expenses . . . they're everywhere. 17. The only difference between a rut and a grave is the depth. 18. These days, I spend a lot of time thinking about the hereafter . . .I go somewhere to get something, and then wonder what I'm "here after". 19. Funny, I don't remember being absent-minded. 20. HAVE I SENT THIS MESSAGE TO YOU BEFORE....???