There’s a sense of euphoria around South Africa in this week that will see the first game in the soccer World Cup being played on Friday evening in front of a packed stadium that has the world’s eyes sharply focused on it.

And for the next six weeks or so that carnival atmosphere is likely to dominate our country as, inevitably, we wait for the final match in July between two teams that are equally matched.

It’s a bit like that party you decide to have at home: you buy a vast quantity of food and drink, wait for innumerable invited guests to arrive, feed and water them lavishly and then wake up with a hang-over and a ghastly mess.

Then you wonder why you did it?

I suspect that that’s what we might all ask ourselves sometime towards the end of July when we have to get on with the work that must be done to keep our country running. With the World Cup consigned to the history books, South Africa must return to normal (without the promise of a major sporting event to spur them on as has been the case for the past four or five years).

But what does ‘return to normal’ actually mean?

In truth the challenges facing our country are enormous: we have more than two-million low-income houses to build just to get rid of the backlog; we have massive infrastructure projects to complete (with government promising to spend R700-billion between now and 2020).

We have huge inner-city catastrophes to contend with in all our major centres where, in Johannesburg alone, an estimated 30 000 people are living in sub-human conditions in hijacked buildings. We have a local government structure that is failing to deliver services in almost every one of the 283 municipalities around the country.

Our water supplies are being degraded daily and our electricity supplies (while apparently quite stable at the moment) are going to dry up next year and the year after as we wait for more power stations to start generating power.

We have a public health system that has all but stopped functioning; we have a social welfare system that seems to encourage young girls to leave school and fall pregnant and we have levels of government corruption and white collar crime that are almost unprecedented in our own history.

If only we could bring the same degree of focus, attention and determination to dealing with these issues as we put into making the 2010 party the success it’s bound to be.

I keep hearing strains of someone fiddling while another spot was burning. . .

I have little doubt that if there was a true level of commitment to making South Africa a better place for all that we could actually achieve this because South Africans (of all races) are extremely inventive when it comes to problem-solving.

In fact our criminals prove this time and time again. They stake out your property and mine: they do their homework by listening to conversations between domestic workers, gardeners and all the other informants; they watch your movements carefully, recording what you do and when you do it. And then they strike.

Each domestic crime demonstrates that the levels of innovation (breaking in) are there; the planning is their (stake outs); the research is there (listening, questioning, finding out); the imperative is there (quickly in an out with your stuff or mine).

So let’s not pretend that the whole problem is one of inability: if the same dedication was put into planning and building our country (by the same thieves who are taking our stuff) then it could be done in a controlled and well-ordered manner.

Much the same can be said for those get-rich-quick catastrophes that happen among the bakkie builders, the project developers and even the government authorities that all form part of the property industry.

As many of you know, there is an new alleged property scam emerging where at least 4 000 ‘homeowners’ have bought land and been promised building packages and nothing has happened even though the bonds have been granted and are being paid in the interim.

This emerged when Sake24 last week uncovered an apparent scam involving Theos Projects where ten developments are underway but only 42 houses (of the 4 000 sold) have been built.

In an unrelated development, a damning report has been published on the role played by Edmund Sibisi, the acting deputy registrar at the Pretoria Deeds Office, in the allegedly fraudulent transfer of 33 properties owned by the Johannesburg Property Company to private companies.

The report from Allen West basically said that Sibisi did not act responsibly and accused him of gross negligence. The report was compiled after an investigation into the sale of Norscott Koppies and the Kingfisher Nature Reserve were sold, transferred and registered with the Deeds Office within a day or two.

We all knew there was something fishy going on when details of the 33 fraudulent property sales first emerged some weeks back, didn’t we. And I’m prepared to bet that somewhere along the line, money changed hands.

The point about both these recent developments (and there are thousands more, I’m sure) is that the groundwork was done thoroughly and competently by someone working with someone else.

As with all illegal activities the degree of planning and investigation is done thoroughly and competently with a single goal: getting rich quickly and making more money that would ordinarily be gained through legal channels.

My question is if South Africans were to dedicate themselves to fixing up our country, could this be achieved in the same time that we have spent getting ourselves ready for this huge party we’re throwing in June and July?

I have no doubt we could – but somehow I doubt that the commitment is there.

In reality, the rewards of fixing up South Africa are actually so much greater than the party we’re throwing right now and, I just am as sure, that the hangover will certainly not be bad once we have achieved it.

I look forward to the day when we all stand up and say that our country works – and it works really well. Because that would be a sustainable reward, would attract the investments that we need to survive and would allow us to lead Africa out of its darkness and into the brightest lights of economic sustainability.

Something tells me, though, that South Africans aren’t as committed to fixing up their country as they are to getting rich quickly or getting drunk at a party.

And that’s really so sad.

*Hartdegen writes a regular column for Property24.com. The content of his columns constitutes his personal opinion and doesn’t pretend to be facts or advice. Contact him at paddy@neomail.co.za.

Readers' Comments Have a comment about this article? Email us now.

All I have to say with regards to this article and pessimistic point of view is that change starts with each individual and because this is a personal choice, we all have a responsibility to encourage one another. - Leigh Ehlers