It seems that in the face of rising crime levels and service delivery protests that the incompetent ANC, and the ever less visible and efficient police, have decided that praying for divine intervention will solve the country's slide into chaos and criminal anarchy.

This embarrassing public display of piety is wrong on so many levels.

1. South Africa is a secular country

The government and its officials must be neutral, and seen to be neutral, on matters of belief and religion and should certainly not indulge in public sectarian religious practices. In this case, having the police directly involved in a Christian religious ritual is improper. This was obviously a protestant Christian event and excluded participation by non-protestant Christians, Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists, agnostics and atheists. It was not conducted on an “equitable basis” as required by the the country's constitution and Bill of Rights.

2. Prayer achieves nothing

Here we had official representatives of the Gauteng premier and top policemen mumbling useless prayers to pretend that they are helping to solve the country's problems. It is in fact an admission of abject failure to do the jobs they are appointed for and paid to do. People in this country have been praying for centuries to various gods for fewer housebreakings, hijackings, rapes, abduction, road accidents, murder and less corruption. The result of all this prayer is that the incidence of all of these crimes and the mayhem on our roads has increased. Prayer achieves nothing but to make the people indulging in it feel better about themselves.

3. The politicians and the police have more important things to do: like the jobs they are paid to do.

I get regular monthly crime reports via a security company on incidents of housebreakings, home invasions, theft of vehicles, theft out of vehicles, driveway hijackings and street muggings. The statistics are alarming. Just about everyone has had to spend huge amounts on high walls, electric fences, armed response and dog food in an attempt to protect themselves and their families because the police's and the government's failure to protect them. At this time of year there are people walking around pretending to sell feather dusters and other unwanted items, rattling each gate to see what the security is like, is anyone at home, etc. Instead of patrolling the streets we have the police, including the two local Police Station Commanders and the Superintendent of the Metro police, spending a morning off having tea and biscuits and praying to a god to do their jobs for them.

4. Thousands will still be killed in road accidents this festive season and the taxis will still be big time killers.

“So we thought that we should do this to tell people that even in this industry people do kneel down and talk to God that He may help us,” Mone Legwati prayed, representing Stakeholder Engagement of the Office of the Gauteng Premier. She asked God to touch the taxi industries around the world, to keep drivers, commuters and passengers safe.

Yeah right. It is the job of the Gauteng Government and the metro police to enforce the traffic laws but they don't. Praying at a taxi rank with the taxi gangsters, the most blatant flouters of traffic laws, is so absurdly pathetic. Monty Python could not make up something so hypocritical and ridiculous.

Praying for the “taxi industries around the world”. For god's sake are cretins running this country? Oh wait. They think we are all cretins.

5. How many women were raped while the prayerfest was being held?

Surely you don't think the “Stakeholder Engagement of the Office of the Gauteng Premier” really cares, do you?

6. Shame. The taxi drivers ignored them.

“Metro Police Superintendent Connie Maila commented that she was disappointed there were not many taxi drivers or passengers at the prayer, because they needed prayer. “

Obviously Superintendent Maila is not going to do anything to force taxi drivers to obey the law. God did not even bother to make the taxi drivers attend as they also know that prayer achieves nothing whatsoever and the ANC is not going to force them to behave.

Adding to the big time fail the following happened within days of the public prayer and god begging session.

15 hurt in 3-vehicle Joburg crash

2014-12-13 19:47

http://www.news24.com/SouthAfrica/News/15-hurt-in-3-vehicle-Joburg-crash-20141213

This pointless prayer sideshow is an insult to the community and clearly violates the separation of church and state and the provisions of the Constitution. It is up to the citizens of the country to put a stop these charades. We want government officials and the police to get off their backsides, to stop poncing around, and to start doing the jobs that they are paid to do – starting with forcing the taxis to obey the traffic laws..