I am astounded, somewhat perturbed and indefinitely confused by the cheers from everyone regarding the so-called growth of our economy.
I am astounded, somewhat perturbed and indefinitely confused by the cheers from everyone regarding the so-called growth of our economy.
Of course, you will be obliged to excuse my ignorance, as a detribalised Zulu man, I might not be qualified to engage anyone on such highly sophisticated matters.
In my humble world, wealth and the measurement of such is determined by the wellness of the individual, the family and this in turn extends to the nation itself.
However, a microscopic look at the wellness of our nation, especially the welfare of people living with HIV, the scandalous lack of resources within our education system, the number of homeless children who are idling on our littered, urine-stenched streets, the astronomical levels of unemployment and deprivation far from reflects a healthy nation.
If you focus briefly on outlying rural areas, then you will comprehend what I am talking about. Even within Gauteng, supposedly the pulse of our economic vibrancy, there are human beings who only dream honey and milk and cheese.
These democratic freedoms have simply made a few political leaders, well-connected budding business moguls and other hangers-on richer.
As we speak the rich are getting richer and the poverty-stricken are being ravaged, maimed and killed by malnutrition, HIV-Aids, TB and other treatable and manageable afflictions.
According to the UN, 18million children will be orphaned as a direct consequence of the debilitating and corrupt public servants and political leaders who are only interested in their own and their families' enrichment.
Thousands of matriculants, year in and year out, find tertiary education inaccessible because of lack of funds and resources.
Every year workers go on strike, including teachers, and this often turns violent because cats are sleeping on their stoves - there is no food to cook.
As we speak, millions of people living with HIV are dying like flies, simply because the state cannot afford to care for its own people.
Yet on a daily basis, we hear of the unfulfilled promise of a better life for all.
The fact of the matter is that our country is simply going through a natural growth based on the political freedom that has come with a democratic dispensation. Nothing more, nothing less.
In other words, the fact that the majority of our people can afford to access privileges which were previously denied them, the fact that the majority of people are now tax payers, means that the economy will experience a natural growth.
Therefore, if there was any extra- ordinary economic strategy that has been implemented, the growth should be twice or thrice as much.
The untold and masked reality of our political miracle is that the majority of our people still live under unhealthy conditions, in abject poverty and that only a few privileged individuals have become filthily and unnecessarily wealthy.
As a person living with HIV, one who has travelled the length and breadth of our country, one who interacts with the hungriest and most illiterate of our people, one who is not only with, but is also of, our people, I would be failing in my duty if I suppressed the truth.
bitter life for most
I am astounded, somewhat perturbed and indefinitely confused by the cheers from everyone regarding the so-called growth of our economy.
I am astounded, somewhat perturbed and indefinitely confused by the cheers from everyone regarding the so-called growth of our economy.
Of course, you will be obliged to excuse my ignorance, as a detribalised Zulu man, I might not be qualified to engage anyone on such highly sophisticated matters.
In my humble world, wealth and the measurement of such is determined by the wellness of the individual, the family and this in turn extends to the nation itself.
However, a microscopic look at the wellness of our nation, especially the welfare of people living with HIV, the scandalous lack of resources within our education system, the number of homeless children who are idling on our littered, urine-stenched streets, the astronomical levels of unemployment and deprivation far from reflects a healthy nation.
If you focus briefly on outlying rural areas, then you will comprehend what I am talking about. Even within Gauteng, supposedly the pulse of our economic vibrancy, there are human beings who only dream honey and milk and cheese.
These democratic freedoms have simply made a few political leaders, well-connected budding business moguls and other hangers-on richer.
As we speak the rich are getting richer and the poverty-stricken are being ravaged, maimed and killed by malnutrition, HIV-Aids, TB and other treatable and manageable afflictions.
According to the UN, 18million children will be orphaned as a direct consequence of the debilitating and corrupt public servants and political leaders who are only interested in their own and their families' enrichment.
Thousands of matriculants, year in and year out, find tertiary education inaccessible because of lack of funds and resources.
Every year workers go on strike, including teachers, and this often turns violent because cats are sleeping on their stoves - there is no food to cook.
As we speak, millions of people living with HIV are dying like flies, simply because the state cannot afford to care for its own people.
Yet on a daily basis, we hear of the unfulfilled promise of a better life for all.
The fact of the matter is that our country is simply going through a natural growth based on the political freedom that has come with a democratic dispensation. Nothing more, nothing less.
In other words, the fact that the majority of our people can afford to access privileges which were previously denied them, the fact that the majority of people are now tax payers, means that the economy will experience a natural growth.
Therefore, if there was any extra- ordinary economic strategy that has been implemented, the growth should be twice or thrice as much.
The untold and masked reality of our political miracle is that the majority of our people still live under unhealthy conditions, in abject poverty and that only a few privileged individuals have become filthily and unnecessarily wealthy.
As a person living with HIV, one who has travelled the length and breadth of our country, one who interacts with the hungriest and most illiterate of our people, one who is not only with, but is also of, our people, I would be failing in my duty if I suppressed the truth.
Would you like to comment on this article?
Register (it's quick and free) or sign in now.
Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.
Trending
Latest Videos