We seem hell-bent on sabotaging ourselves.
If not directly, then by supporting it as customers and spectators and, in some cases, even as cheerleaders.
We turn a blind eye to the effects this sabotage has on our communities and how it is prolonging our own social agony.
But, the ones bearing the brunt of it all in the here and now are our children – the ones we claim to love and care for, the ones we claim to want to build a future for.
We decry threats to our children’s safety, but then allow them to be mowed down in the streets by merciless gangs who don’t even have the decency to check if they have the right person.
One of the saddest things I have seen in a very long time is the video of a young boy showing how he has no tjappies on his body.
This was his defeated mother’s desperate attempt to keep her son from being murdered by gangsters threatening him so he will join their ranks.
It’s such an absurd thing that it would be laughable, if it wasn’t also dripping in sorrow.
We can’t moan and groan about the lack of opportunities for our children, but then stand by as their schools are literally stripped bare of valuables over the holidays.
Year after year, the same issue of vandalised classrooms repeats itself.
This past December holidays saw 42 schools in the province falling victim to vandalism and burglaries – a substantial increase over the previous same period.
Everything from bathroom fixtures to doors, cabling and computers have been stolen.
It’s a never-ending cycle that keeps us trapped in our depressing status quo.
The result is that government’s education funding can never be spent on upgrades and improvements, because it always has to go to repairing or replacing the destruction.
Meanwhile, someone is buying these stolen items, or watching their neighbour installing it in their home, while complaining about the poor state of our education system.
And this is not to mention how often schools are robbed of belongings at other times, all too often sold for peanuts to give the thief a drug fix.
Can you just imagine how disheartening this must be for both teaching staff and pupils?
They are already under-resourced and over-subscribed and then what little is available or donated, gets targeted by criminals with no conscience.
Add to all of this are the dangers and fear for their personal safety that some teachers have to face, and the issue is much bigger than it appears.
Because it doesn’t just destroy our children’s chances for a decent education in the present day, but it literally robs them of the future they deserve.
Just think about all the young lives that are affected by one computer room that’s been cleaned out by thieves.
Their crime sabotages themselves, their families and the entire community and is responsible for the sense of hopelessness that permeates some of our suburbs.
We often blame government for the despair among young people on the Cape Flats.
And yes, of course, government has a lot to answer for. But we are not exactly blameless.
Fewer school burglaries would happen if there wasn’t a ready market for the stolen goods thieves peddle.
And we could bring them down to zero if school neighbours kept a watchful eye on the one thing that could uplift us all as a collective.
I hope that even just one gangster reads this and realises that he can help stop this terrible cycle that causes the well-being of the Cape Flats to be suspended.
There are kids there who are dreaming of escaping to a better life and education is their ticket.
So, next time you score a deal on a PC that you know was probably stolen from the school down the road, you need to ask yourself what the true cost is.
And collectively we need to ask ourselves how long we are going to leave the future of our kids and the Cape Flats in the hands of gangsters and a few junkies.
Because until we start piemping them, the cycle will continue and our own kids will be the next generation of junkies tearing down our community while we continue to blame government.