My
heart bleeds for myself and my fellow South Africans. We are in a crisis.
Perhaps we’ve
been in a crisis for the past 24 years but we were lulled into
sleep by words like ‘democracy’, ‘human rights’ and ‘equality for all’; yet these were just in theory
and seemingly nothing was done to bring these to practicality. Maybe the faces
of black presidents made our people transfer individual responsibility to
them with the hope that the black man will sympathize more with them; that
black presidents’ hearts will be true and they will always have people’s
interests at heart.
I
myself am guilty because I have not been concerned because of other forms of
distractions but that’s not an excuse. And I’m grateful that I’ve been awakened
to the real struggles of my people-particularly black people and people from my
own tribe, AmaXhosa. This doesn’t in any way seek to water down the experiences
of other people; but I can only speak of my own experiences and those I get to
observe.
The
reality is: Xhosa people are still oppressed; most South Africans are too. I feel
like only a few things have changed post-apartheid and I am grateful about the
changes; but at the same time I can’t pretend as if all is well. I still
experience the pangs of poverty and I know many who still do. My heart breaks
at this realization and at times I become overwhelmed with sadness. But I know
this is not our destiny as black people. The change begins when realize we are
also part of the problem and stop pointing fingers without actually asking what
can we do regardless of circumstances and bring about change.
As things stand, S.A has citizens that are so
depended on the government that every crisis needs the police, government, and
ministers. We need to let go of the ‘entitlement’ and ‘dependency’ mentality. We
need to realize that our needs cannot be met by government officials while we
sit and do nothing. We need to work for ourselves and come with the solutions. Think
about it: if we are members of a particular residential area and there is an
issue that needs to be solved, is it fair to call an outsider when we are the
most acquainted with our struggles? My point is: we need to take accountability
and play our role too. We cannot wait like helpless babies when we’ve been
blessed with exceptional minds, strength and other talents.
We
are fully capable and that means we all have a role to play. An elderly man
mentioned how we no longer pride ourselves in hard work and building ourselves
up. We want the government to clothe us, feed us, school us and the question
is: what do we bring to the table? Is it truly the government’s duty-when he
has not even been there when were conceived? May God enlighten us. May He help
us to develop as individuals and depend solely on Him and grant us wisdom on
how to not put our responsibilities on mere mortals; help us to improve on all
spheres.
And
I believe solving the issue begins to seeing that there’s a problem so that the
next generation is rescued. We can also learn many lessons from presidents like
Thomas Sankara and others; we can also learn more from Ethiopia with regards to
their self-help programs. There are many other issues that must solved too like
education and the likes.
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