Speaking at the opening ceremony of the 60th World Association of Newspapers congress in Cape Town, he said South Africa has quickly moved from a state of repressive stability to consensual stability, a stability that does not come from a repressive regime. But this should not be allowed to slip into anarchy, or apathy.

For a country not at threat from war or terrorism, South Africa has startlingly high rates of murder and violent crime, and this is a kind of anarchy. “People are on the threshold of taking the law into their own hands, because the police and the military cannot cope,” said Slabbert.

Slabbert also said that if South Africa makes itself hostage to a racist past, it can “budget generously for a racist future”.

Slabbert cited from an article from the Sunday Times on how race quotas are crippling hospitals and leaving posts empty, while there are qualified white and Indian doctors who wait years for jobs.

He finished by recommending an imaginative transfer of skills to young people to allow South Africa to move forward, and to empower and use young people who are not in school by engaging them in learning construction skills.

By Oliver Brock and Judy Lelliott, Wits University Journalism