SONGEZO ZIBI | Deprived communities need mental health services,

Last month we introduced RISE Mzansi to the country and the world. Although in terms of South African law you have to be a registered political party to contest elections, a mere element of what our mission is about, we always knew we have to build something bigger – a movement.

If you are wondering why, I hope what I write below will help you understand.

Changing a whole society is not a job of political parties alone. It needs millions of people to choose to take certain actions on a regular basis. A key agent in that mission is state power – the ability to legislate, build or change institutions to get the job done better, but it is not enough.

South African society was broken in many more ways than I had imagined before I decided to join my colleagues in the task of trying to build a country and society we can all be proud of. Many of us swing between frustration, anger and despair, with hope fading almost every day. The things that frustrate us, the horror stories such as a young man killed so that Thabo Bester could escape prison or a community activist gunned down in broad daylight, are just some of the incidents that command national attention.

However, since we launched RISE, we have been to several cities around the country, especially townships. In all these meetings, attended by hundreds of people, we encourage people to speak about anything in their hearts that they believe needs attention.

Two themes are raised sharply each time and in a deeply emotive way.

The first relates to individual, family and community traumas. The daily struggles people go through are traumatising. So many people speak of suicides, drug or alcohol addictions. Painfully, they speak of looking for proper therapy – a basic public health need and finding nothing. They are left to struggle, cope and survive on their own.

It may seem patronising to suggest that people in deprived communities such as we have need mental health services and support. They don’t get it as if it should not be obvious that poverty and neglect are traumatic.

If medical aid schemes pay for therapy for those with higher income, then our public health system should do so too for the people we think just need a job to be happy. It has become very clear to me that every South African deserves both a sustainable livelihood and a happy life.

The second issue appears to be linked to the fist and it is drug and alcohol abuse and the resultant violent crime in the home and community. Young people who are already traumatised are further depressed by lack of opportunity and hope.

Psychological trauma requires a public health system response too. We are a society that does not think that these issues require the response they deserve, only the jackboot approach of tough policing or community vigilantism due to frustration. In some of the meetings, residents advocate for community and police brutality in response to these mental wellness issues.

These problems may look insurmountable, but they aren’t. Not if we start doing something now, however little. I suspect there are people reading this post who are trained counsellors. Alternatively, someone reading this post knows someone who is a trained counsellor. The same may be true of people who work in spaces or platforms fighting drug and alcohol addiction. They are all needed.

Some may be mental health advocates and educators (knowledge of mental health is a big need). If you are or know someone who is keen to spend some of their time helping in the communities we have been to (in Buffalo City, Ethekwini, City of Cape Town, Tshwane, City of Johannesburg, etc.), please click on this link and let us know if you can help. We will build a database of people who can assist in communities to which they are close.

Such issues cannot wait for an organisation like ours to win an election before they are properly attended to. Human suffering should not extend one more minute if we can help.

• Songezo Zibi is the national leader of RISE Mzansi