King Goodwill Zwelithini has described South Africa as a “sick” nation as its government officials and citizens have lost the moral high ground.
Addressing traditional leaders during the opening of their provincial House of Traditional Leaders in Ulundi yesterday, the king said the death of more than 100 mental health patients in Johannesburg was the result of negligence of Department of Health officials.
The patients died after they were removed from the Life Esidimeni Health Care Centre to private facilities where they were apparently not taken care of. “Because of negligence and selfishness, such immoral acts are committed,” he said.
The king said the killing of leaders before and after local government elections was an indication of the loss of humanity in the country.
“Yes, our country is sick if there is a parent who can report the kidnapping of her child to the police and when we all participate in the search for the baby, we find that it was not a kidnapping, but the act was within the family.
“This shows how low South Africans have dropped as they have lost respect,” he said.
Turning to the Sassa saga, the king said it was immoral of politicians to fail to find a solution to a situation that might lead to government grant beneficiaries not being paid at month-end.
He said South Africans should learn from a famine in Sudan, and that local leaders should meet to find ways of dealing with the drought and reserving food.
“South Africans would be stupid if they think that what is happening in South Sudan would never happen here, because there are signs that even in rich countries there are problems of poverty,” he said.
He reiterated his call for social cohesion, which he said would deal with violence such as the killing of farmers, racist remarks and xenophobic attacks.