SA is in dire need of a competent state with ‘true leaders’ at the helm, says former Deputy Chief Justice Dikgang Moseneke. This is a key remedy for a myriad social ills, including plundering of the public purse, dysfunctional state-owned enterprises, lack of accountability and wanton disregard of the law. A TimesLIVE report notes that the former political prisoner made the remarks during the second Robben Island memorial lecture honouring struggle stalwart Govan Mbeki, with whom he shared a cell. He said the late liberation hero would have expected the prosecution of ‘the big people’ who stole from the state. ‘Ideological discipline and knowledge seems to have gone. The hard work and the perseverance and patience of a struggle ... seems to have given way to instant gratification,’ said Moseneke, who stepped down as Deputy Chief Justice three years ago. He added that there was a rush to accumulate wealth from the country’s fiscus.