Since May 2008 the government has done, on a net basis, nothing about xenophobia. The fine words are more than cancelled out by the lack of action.
Two decades of struggle to move away from a South Africa in which the executive and minority interests reign supreme may have been in vain.
Water scarcity is here and we need to act now, as this is more difficult to solve than the electricity crisis.
We saw that African lives were less important than those of Europeans. Yet what have we done as Africans for the world to see that we value our own?
Since 2008 when wet coal led to the country’s mines being shut down, it has been clear that the country has been in an energy crisis.
The decline in the matric pass rate is not nearly enough as the first matric students graduate under the "Caps" curriculum.
As we continue to reel from the horrific massacre in Paris, let us all be Charlie – a new byword for global solidarity against the tyranny of fear.
Entering 2015, it feels as though we should be a nation on tranquillisers. But, at the same time, there are encouraging signs for South Africa.
Political interference with Sars is a serious attack on the independence of the institution.
In February 1994 Nelson Mandela, the then ANC president, said: "A critical, independent and investigative press is the lifeblood of any democracy."