BY now, it is quite clear that unless something drastic is done, the promise of a better life for all that was sold to the masses of Mzansi in 1994 is fast becoming a pie in the sky.
With 29 years into democracy and the watershed seventh general elections looming in just under a year, the current government has largely failed to deliver on its promise.
While the ANC-led government might argue otherwise and point to some of their successes, the experience of the citizens is nothing but frustrating.
Among other failures are the high levels of unemployment, rampant crime, failure to supply enough electricity for all, a dithering economy, the collapse of state-owned enterprises and municipalities as well as poor public healthcare.
And one more thing that stands out like a sore thumb is the failure of this government to provide clean running water to all its electorate. As they say, water is life. This simply means that failure to provide your taxpayers with clean potable water is to condemn them to a slow death.
The recent outbreak of cholera in Hammanskraal as well as parts of Limpopo and the Free State is a stark example of what those failures can result into.
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In Limpopo, the people of Giyani were sold a big fat lie that they'd have clean water in their homes almost a decade ago. And up to this day, they've had nothing but promises from the government and a bucket of lies from politicians.
The people of Giyani might have been shaking in their boots as they watched their fellow citizens in other parts of the country being killed by cholera.
Helpless and despondent, they probably sat there like sheep to slaughter waiting for their turn to be sent to early graves by cholera, a water-borne disease that is easily avoidable if any government does what it is elected to do - deliver services to its citizens, including clean drinking water.
After all the promises were made, we decided to visit Giyani where we spent several days talking to the residents and inspecting the work that is supposed to alleviate their problems.
We decided to do this exercise away from the normal press briefings and visits by parliamentary committees. We wanted to see for ourselves without being fed spin and lies.
The findings are in this special feature. You, the SunReader, can be the judge!
