Passport Shame!

This morning with my psyche already down from the loss by the Proteas, I had to endure the Department of Home Affairs, in the renewal of my passport.  It was unfortunately an embarrassment of epic proportions in the manner in which the system worked, from when you walked in the door, to the very last stop at the cashier.  The entire building had some chairs in the middle, queues all over and extreme lack of assistance and skill .  There was no numbering system and people were standing around and generally unsure of when they would be helped, or even if they would be helped.  Extreme patience needs to be exercised in dealing with the officials, but sometimes you cannot but shake your head at the process being followed and their incompetence in running, what should be a very easy task.  It was interesting to note the level of impatience, being experienced from all nationalities and this was not a case of typical RSA racism, but rather all South Africans expressing disapproval, at the state of national departments and the fact that, no service was being provided.  Yesterday too our idiotic president told a group of disgruntled people, that if he were a dictator, he would teach them a lesson, not to expect things like basic services and to start working towards building their own houses, as he would only give them the materials and then they should build their own.  But he mentions nothing about his responsibilities and one wonders, how the man on the street can learn from the examples of leaders like him.  I pray that I will get my updated passport, in the next few weeks and be grateful, that I would not have to apply again in 10 years.  I imagined what it would be like to have a system that worked and how much we could achieve if we just had certainty that daily infrastructure works and that we could rely on systems being implemented all over the country which would result in stability and confidence would grow in South Africa among it's people and how much more they could achieve in the knowledge that at least services and infrastructure were taken care of.