There I was egontshini lam, concussed by current socioeconomic situations and looking forward to some gratifying news. So I gazed at my phone hoping for a grand call – nothing materialised. I then remembered sending a parcel to the Government Pensions Administration Agency (GPAA) through a fastmail facility from the Paul Kruger Square post office on August 2 2022. Surely it must have reached the GPAA head office, I reassured myself as I made a reconnaissance call.

It was the longest call of my life – listening to that monotonous recording: “We have a high volume of calls – your call is important to us, stay on the line.” I experienced the real "Waiting for Godot" culminating in that bombshell-like message: “Our systems are down, call tomorrow at 8am.”..