The meltdown in Zimbabwe and the implosion of government services and delivery suggest our troubles are more than just crime and corruption.

Our foreign policy of silence on Burma and our denial about Zimbabwe are crazy; too few of our appointed officials are competent and the refusal to address our skills shortage on ideological grounds invites catastrophe.

They say that frogs leap out of hot water but will sit in a heating pot, acclimatising themselves till they boil to death. Let us be grateful to observers who cry out about crime, corruption and the top-heavy catastrophe which is government today — they remind us of the political temperature.