Tag: Free State Black Business

“All Hands on Deck” is defined as an order to every member of a ship’s crew to report to the deck immediately, usually in an emergency.

What is happening in our country at the moment requires this. It is an “all hands on deck” moment which means that you stop whatever it is that you are doing, whatever seems important now, and do what is required. It is a phase so imperative that if you don’t do it, that which was and is important will not matter anymore.

Perhaps we shouldn’t look too far – many countries on the African continent went through the same stages and today their governments struggle to keep their countries functioning. Our story is not a new one, ours is probably going to be one of foolishness where in the face of so many examples, we will have become like many on the continent.

The thing about the “all hands on deck” command is that it is called by the Captain and everybody already knows what they need to do. In our country you can say that many are trying to give this instruction/order/recommendation but they are not recognised. They are not the Captains of the ship. Who then gives the “all hands on deck” command when the emergency that has to be dealt with is the fault of the Captain and even worse those that are close to him? That means you that you cannot even rely on the second in command.

Such is the story that is unfolding right in front of our eyes, where those that are about to sink with the ship are not aware of the “all hands on deck” command and don’t even know what they would have to do even if they did. The ship cannot be steered in any direction of safety because the bridge (control room) itself is occupied by those that are to blame for what is happening.

We need leadership, the kind that will break down the door to the bridge and take over, the kind that will do the unimaginable because the imaginable seems worse than the unimaginable. We are like a house owner watching their house burn. What’s even worse is that we are standing with buckets filled with water, but we are just to dumbfounded by the flames.

I think young people should lead us, the old people are old. And we all know what being old means.

“All hands on deck”. What does this mean? It means that we have reached that moment. Even if we realise now that we have reached that point,
whatever actions we take will not be about saving our country, it will just be about saving the little that’s left of it.

“All hands on deck”