Meet Rika Joubert, a strong, caring woman who lives in an apartment block on Prayer Hill in Yeoville. She believes in giving back where she can, caring for the environment, caring for her neighbours and recycling her waste; all bar one small shopping packet of rubbish a week. Prayer Hill is an area of land of not more than one square kilometre, that affords the most incredible views of Johannesburg, ‘houses' a small group of homeless people, is used by communities as a prayer site and is a stop on walking tour of the inner city.

Chaos is collaboration’s best friend. Why is this? The less structured the environment, be it virtual or physical, the more open it is for ideas. Many great ideas have been born in chaotic environments, not least of all penicillin and artificial sweeteners.

The upcoming local municipal elections have caused me to reflect on the state of my heart. I have become increasingly saddened and disillusioned.    

Creatives’ frustration reaches all-time highs when the brief is poor. Whenever they receive a brief that isn’t clear enough, not comprehensive enough or that simply states, ‘make it pretty/funky’ they go into decline and the client expectation of ‘great’ is generally not met.

As we find ourselves on the eve of what will probably be one of the most hotly contested local elections in South Africa since the birth of our democracy in 1994, I find myself wondering what we could attribute to the ‘average’ politician - conflict, collusion, corruption or collaboration?