OUR country is rated as a Third World country. I believe there is nothing lower than that.
The sad thing is that it might never climb up higher, anytime soon.
There are a whole lot of factors that are major hindrances to any attempts to move up to at least the second echelon of this so-called country hierarchy.
OK, wait, are they called Second World countries?
The major reason why we shall remain stuck where we are is connected with the shoddy service delivery.
On a serious note, the state of our service delivery in all sectors and departments of our government is appalling, disgusting and ridiculous.
Please give me more words, I had to bribe some idiot secretary with my thesaurus just to be granted a meeting with their boss — I am sure she is still wondering what kind of novel it is, lol!.
Anyway, back to the matter at hand, have you ever tried getting some sort of service from any government department?
It is next to impossible at times. Your first barrier is the rude secretary who will ignore you for a bit, even though she is doing nothing but gossiping with either the cleaning lady, her colleague or someone on the other side of the telephone; and these days it has become even easier for them to ignore you even when they are alone because of the internet.
If you finally get through to her, she will finally tell you the person you are looking for is not available, without even calling their office, or if you need a service she will give a blank look like you are ordering caviar at a green grocer’s.
Well, the blank look sometimes is actually genuine because some of these folks are not in the least qualified for the positions they hold, thus they know nothing of what their offices are supposed to be doing for us, the people.
OK, so you finally get through to someone who might help you and you get the same blank face (because of the last point made above).
Or worse yet, you are given the round-about just so that you leave the office to come back another day.
I have heard that some people have been refused service just because of the way they were dressed. Excuse me?
The ignorance, the attitude, the lack of manners you find in these offices is really pulling this country back into the ice-age.
But at least most offices are clean, well, except the mouths of those that provide such services.
Every single time I cross the border I pray they save my passport because I am terrified at the idea of going to apply for a new one, that process is a nightmare.
I hear the government is working on improving it; is it true?
Every Mosotho, American, Nigerian, Kenyan, South African (every nationality that we have in this country) can stand up and bear witness to the fact that our police service in this country is dreadful.
The verbal abuse one gets at the stations even as a victim is daunting, sometimes you figure it is even better not to go and report crimes.
This is one department with a great level of incompetence that sometimes I wonder if they are really strict enough at the college; I have this belief that there are a lot of recruits who skip some crucial classes during their training, kapa joang?
Have you ever tried to call the police for help and not gotten through, or worse they tell you they have no transport?
Oooe, ntate, I have just been robbed and beaten up (and maybe worse), how can I come and pick you up from the police station to attend to me?
I am seriously tired of the unfunny jokes that so-called visitors to this country make about our cops, mostly those on the roads.
Apparently, one can bribe themselves out of a fine of any gravity with as little as a can of soft-drink (or even beer), a handful of coins, or left-overs that have been in the car for a few days.
That is just depraved!
And I will not go into the filthy state of the stations and the holding cells, because our hospital takes the award in that category — its contender being the prison(s).
That hospital is the breeding ground for diseases, not where they get cured and eradicated!
I seriously feel sorry for some of the people who work there. I say some because there are those whose behaviour and attitude towards patients is as grimy as their environment.
If it is so depressing to visit someone in that place; I just wonder how disheartening and miserable it is for the patients?
There is no denying that amongst all those rotten apples I have made examples of, there are people who trudge through and give their best under the circumstances; There are men and women out there who take their jobs seriously, who took a vow to serve the nation, who abhor corruption and hate laziness.
These fine human beings should be commended lest their good spirits and valour gets sucked into the dirty cloud of corruption, sleaze and indolence.
It is a fact that workers do not necessarily start bad and buildings are not built dirty; things regress with time.
So who do we blame for this degeneration?
The higher powers — those with the might and clout to dispense money and resources!
Seriously, our politicians should really open their eyes and realise how beautiful our country is, and how much more beautiful it can get if they could get their priorities right.
The development of the people and their country should be number one; everything else should grab the back seat.
And please, please, making us part of some country with bigger problems than ours is NOT the solution. There I said it!
