𝐋𝐢𝐚𝐦 𝐉𝐚𝐜𝐨𝐛𝐬 𝐢𝐬 𝐬𝐲𝐦𝐛𝐨𝐥𝐢𝐜 𝐨𝐟 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐢𝐬 𝐰𝐫𝐨𝐧𝐠 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐒𝐨𝐮𝐭𝐡 𝐀𝐟𝐫𝐢𝐜𝐚. History used to celebrate greatness. Alexander conquered Babylon. Julius Caesar defeated the Gauls. Napoleon won victories that reshaped Europe. People looked at these figures and asked: What can we learn from greatness? Fast forward to 2026. A politician leaves a party. Publicly attacks that party. Spends months criticizing it. Then rejoins the same party. And politicians line up for photos as if Nelson Mandela has just returned from a pilgrimage. Why? Why are we celebrating something that should never have happened in the first place? The deeper issue is not one politician. The deeper issue is that South Africa has developed a strange relationship with mediocrity. We don't just tolerate it. We reward it. We applaud it. We celebrate it. We put it on social media and tell everyone what a wonderful moment it is. Imagine a doctor making a major mistake and then demanding applause for correcting it. Imagine a pilot landing at the wrong airport and being welcomed back as a hero after finding the correct runway. Imagine an employee resigning, insulting the company publicly, then returning a few months later and receiving a standing ovation. It would be ridiculous. Yet in politics we pretend this is normal. People are struggling. Businesses are closing. Young people are leaving the country. Crime remains high. Infrastructure is failing. South Africans are desperate for leaders who can solve problems. Instead we get photo opportunities celebrating behaviour that would be unacceptable in almost any serious profession. And that is what frustrates me. This is not the interschools. This is not Paul Roos versus Grey Bloem. This is not a rugby rivalry where we all have a laugh afterwards. These are elected representatives earning well over R100,000 a month. Their job is not to be popular. Their job is to set an example. Their job is to demonstrate standards. Because culture flows downhill. If politicians face no consequences, why should anyone else? If leaders can treat commitments as meaningless, why should citizens take institutions seriously? A country gets the standards it tolerates. And South Africa has spent far too long tolerating mediocrity. The tragedy is not that politicians make mistakes. Everyone makes mistakes. The tragedy is that we increasingly celebrate the mistake itself. South Africa deserves better. Not perfection. Just standards. Just accountability. Just adults in the room. What do you think? - @therealdonaldbrown