OPINION: The most pressing issue in South Africa is stupidity.

I have expressed it previously and I will keep saying it over and over, ineptitude is an ongoing issue and as an aggregate we should prevent blockheads from acquiring any administrative roles in the public eye.

For instance, many years ago, I helped a non-governmental organization acquire a magnificent piece of land that was intended to be utilized for the benefit of our entire society. Council approved the proposal, and the agreed-upon price was reasonable.

Later the NGO got trapped with some who promised monetary help. Since my assistance was not generally required, I didn’t even try to circle back to the matter since “my dismissal” was self-evident in spite of the fact that I was the individual answerable for bringing the venture and cycle into reality.

Sadly, I learned after a long time that the land had not been purchased by the NGO for unknown reasons, that the municipality had increased the price exponentially due to the lengthy delay, and so on. After receiving a second request for my assistance from the NGO, I made the decision not to participate because I realized that the project’s participants lacked the fundamental knowledge, abilities, and capacity to oversee this straightforward land acquisition.

Since then, I’ve heard that those who were supposed to help the NGO had taken “ownership” of the project and that the case was going to court for some reason. Legal fees exceeded 50% of the initial cost of purchasing the land, which is stupid. A tsunami of greed and stupidity that was so potent that it could shake the confidence of any thinking person hijacked a project to help society.

Since stupid people cannot be trusted, common people must view stupidity as an enemy and do whatever is necessary to keep them away from power and authority. Regardless of the type of leadership—religious, political, economic, or otherwise—stupidity is a cancer.

It is different to recognize stupidity because greed and wickedness are the foundations of corruption. For instance, if you spend money on a person, organization, government, political party, etc. but don’t get anything in return, the money is wasted. This demonstrates “typical” stupidity.

Rates, taxes, charity, and other forms of waste are examples. We must remove the accountable individuals from power and identify them. They add little worth and will just keep on really hurting future.

If we as a society do nothing, those in positions of authority who speak and act are actually to blame for their actions.