Morality in South Africa

Politicians, religious leaders and social commentators have all spoken about a breakdown in morality in South Africa, with crime as the most commonly cited evidence. The lack of respect for the sanctity of human life, for the next person, private property, disregard for the law of the land, lack of parental control over children, and the general blurring of the lines between right and wrong are continuing to plague our communities. To communicate my opinion on the controvercial subject of moral degeneration, I would like to refer to the roots of this dilemma.

Even though we as the post-Apartheid teenagers tend to roll our eyes at the mere mentioning of the word, we must acknowledge the influence it has had on the moral decay of our generation. Apartheid was an inhuman and immoral system imposed by force upon the people. They suffered arbitrary arrest, detention without trail, banning, torture, poisoning, persecution, extralegal executions, enforced removals of whole communities, and indoctrination by unending propaganda. The family life of millions of South Africans was damaged or d...