When i wrote this piece initially it was not for this forum, but i decided to share it with you anyway. i was writing it with South African context in mind. I used black, not for race purposes or with the intention to discriminate, but just to paint a true picture of our country and circumstances.
Eradication of poverty or a magic wand
It has been more than fifteen years since the inception of democracy in our country. However the majority of black South Africans are still faced with the ills that faced them when they were still fighting the apartheid regime. The question that is posed by this present condition of the majority is this one: Is poverty a real concern for our leaders or is it just a license and a ticket they use to achieve their selfish end? Do they have a genuine desire to eradicate poverty and to deal with the predicaments that the vast majority of the people are still encountering daily in their lives, or ‘eradication of poverty’ is just a phrase they use to justify their luxurious lifestyles and to ease their guilty conscience as they spent the nations funds illegally on themselves and their families. I say ‘illegally’ since there is nothing that they can point to, to prove that they have earned that money.
Elections after elections, a voter is mocked and ridiculed. His conditions are used against him to steal his vote, to steal his freedom, to steal his dignity, to steal his hope, to insult his intelligence and to keep him oppressed. The thieves that occupy positions in government use no other weapon to oppress the black man than their ‘always-given-hope’ and ‘never-achieved-dream’ of taking them out of oppression.
Today we have so many self-acclaimed Moses’ who promise to deliver the majority of people from Egypt while they themselves are not in Egypt nor are they willing to go to Egypt. How will they be encouraged to help people out of poverty if the gap that defines their circumstances and experiences is so wide?
How do they even start to get concerned with poverty, if their first step after the elections is to buy a house in a suburb and leave the poor people they claim to serve in the townships? It is so absurd that majority of people have to put their trust on someone to improve and develop their dusty roads when that person is never affected by the dust of that road. We should never keep wondering why the solutions to the problems in black communities are always inferior when compared to those in suburbs, it is simply because it is not their child who is going to walk the long distances to draw water from the communal taps.
How do they get concerned with crime when they live in tightly shut communities, where every single movement is monitored? I am not advocating poverty for all blacks, the point that I am making is that people will only fight what they are facing. It looks like the only solution to the evils and wrongs that majority of our people are facing is to get leaders who will never use their voter-given position to enrich themselves. What justifies the movement of leaders to suburbs when majority of people are still living in poverty? Wasn’t God solution to the Israelites’ plight the command to Moses to return to Egypt and get the people out?
How do they get concerned with improving the quality of education when all their children go to private schools? These people decide on the curriculum and all the policies that govern education of the public. After they have done that they take their children to the schools that are exempted from that curriculum and policies. Does it sound intelligent for us to keep on believing that these are the best policies and curriculum though it is not suitable for the children of those who create them?
Townships are filled with low cost houses. They are supposed to be the solution to the homelessness of our people. Instead they have become a reminder of their inferiority. I don’t think that people would have fought and died if they knew that after their fighting they would be put inside the houses that are of the standard that is lower than that of those who hated them. This is high time the leaders understand that they are not doing the black people a favour when they build them houses, it is their right. Leaders need to stop giving majority things of the poor standard every time they give a solution to their problems. Poverty in black communities is not just a political issue, it is a real concern that needs to be addressed without insulting them.
Eradication of poverty or a magic wand
It has been more than fifteen years since the inception of democracy in our country. However the majority of black South Africans are still faced with the ills that faced them when they were still fighting the apartheid regime. The question that is posed by this present condition of the majority is this one: Is poverty a real concern for our leaders or is it just a license and a ticket they use to achieve their selfish end? Do they have a genuine desire to eradicate poverty and to deal with the predicaments that the vast majority of the people are still encountering daily in their lives, or ‘eradication of poverty’ is just a phrase they use to justify their luxurious lifestyles and to ease their guilty conscience as they spent the nations funds illegally on themselves and their families. I say ‘illegally’ since there is nothing that they can point to, to prove that they have earned that money.
Elections after elections, a voter is mocked and ridiculed. His conditions are used against him to steal his vote, to steal his freedom, to steal his dignity, to steal his hope, to insult his intelligence and to keep him oppressed. The thieves that occupy positions in government use no other weapon to oppress the black man than their ‘always-given-hope’ and ‘never-achieved-dream’ of taking them out of oppression.
Today we have so many self-acclaimed Moses’ who promise to deliver the majority of people from Egypt while they themselves are not in Egypt nor are they willing to go to Egypt. How will they be encouraged to help people out of poverty if the gap that defines their circumstances and experiences is so wide?
How do they even start to get concerned with poverty, if their first step after the elections is to buy a house in a suburb and leave the poor people they claim to serve in the townships? It is so absurd that majority of people have to put their trust on someone to improve and develop their dusty roads when that person is never affected by the dust of that road. We should never keep wondering why the solutions to the problems in black communities are always inferior when compared to those in suburbs, it is simply because it is not their child who is going to walk the long distances to draw water from the communal taps.
How do they get concerned with crime when they live in tightly shut communities, where every single movement is monitored? I am not advocating poverty for all blacks, the point that I am making is that people will only fight what they are facing. It looks like the only solution to the evils and wrongs that majority of our people are facing is to get leaders who will never use their voter-given position to enrich themselves. What justifies the movement of leaders to suburbs when majority of people are still living in poverty? Wasn’t God solution to the Israelites’ plight the command to Moses to return to Egypt and get the people out?
How do they get concerned with improving the quality of education when all their children go to private schools? These people decide on the curriculum and all the policies that govern education of the public. After they have done that they take their children to the schools that are exempted from that curriculum and policies. Does it sound intelligent for us to keep on believing that these are the best policies and curriculum though it is not suitable for the children of those who create them?
Townships are filled with low cost houses. They are supposed to be the solution to the homelessness of our people. Instead they have become a reminder of their inferiority. I don’t think that people would have fought and died if they knew that after their fighting they would be put inside the houses that are of the standard that is lower than that of those who hated them. This is high time the leaders understand that they are not doing the black people a favour when they build them houses, it is their right. Leaders need to stop giving majority things of the poor standard every time they give a solution to their problems. Poverty in black communities is not just a political issue, it is a real concern that needs to be addressed without insulting them.
