I was shocked watching the news last night when President Thabo Mbeki said he was not told about the possibilities of there being problems with xenophobia in South Africa. Two senior government officials, including a minister, last week said they had been warned about possible problems occurring due to xenophobia in South Africa. Now surely if your cabinet knows, you as the president should also know? This ‘confusion’ between our president and his government or advisors is really embarrassing!

If it is true that President Mbeki was not aware of the potential problem whilst those who report to him knew, that just goes to show how those meant to be in charge of running our country are handling the situation. Let’s say it is true and no one told the president, why then did those that knew, not do anything about it? Maybe they were warned and they thought nothing would come out of it and they just sat on their hands and ignored the warnings and thought that the president does not need to know because nothing will come out of it. Now look what has happened.

What is it about being warned and not doing anything about it? The same happened with the electricity crisis. The government was told there would be a problem and that they have to make a plan for it but nothing was done until it was too late. I would think that any form of a warning, no matter how big or small, that has the potential to affect the whole country should be considered seriously and something should be done about it.

Communication is a key component in anything in life, be it in running a business, on the sports field or even between a family. This lack of communication between our president and those that report to him has let down the country. Such a fundamental error. Some would say, “A school boy error let this xenophobia get out of control.”