Life in a dictatorship
The other day I went to Surveyor General’s office to get a 1:50 000 scale map. Like I have been doing since 1971. Same thing, walk in front door, into maps on the left, ground floor. Find index, find map sheet reference. Take it to staff, they send off to the storeroom, and along comes the map. Check it, it is the one I want, pay for it, get receipt, exit to Samora Machel. Fast, efficient, courteous, fine service.
But not this time! Service is good, as always (although there was a shortage of maps at one stage), but they won’t take my money. I have to go to the tenth floor to pay, bring back receipt. I do this. And on the way up, (the lift works, but it is slow getting there, and there are still ten floors to be lifted through), I am thinking. This is life in a dictatorship.
It is all central. Power, and authority, derive from the centre. It all must go to, and come from, the middle. Gone are the days when you could pay the clerk, check your receipt, walk out the door. ‘Authority’ no longer comes from the people. From basic morals. Common sense. Logic. ‘Authority’ only comes from the centre (from where POWER also comes). Reminds me of High School (and that is a while back) learning definitions to spice up essays with. ‘Realpolitik’ the concept that decisions are divorced from moral considerations – dictated by the necessities of power and judged only by success.
So, since the power and authority derive from the middle (where decisions are made), and not from the people (who have the needs, the wants, the common sense, the simple decency, the basic morals), or even from the rule books (constitution, legislation, codes of conduct), it follows that ‘activity’ (especially financial) must also be done in the centre. After all, we have leadership by example.
The people on the ground floor cannot handle money.