South Africa is a very beautiful country and that is a fact. From looking at it with the naked eye to experiencing our moody weather, feeling the beauty and warmth of its people and enjoying their company.
This country is rich. We have soil that produces and supplies many countries not only with crops, but with gold and wine too. We have a very diverse culture; a rainbow nation out of which result legends and the most amazing people.
We are talented. There is nothing anyone from any other country can do that we cannot do. In many cases, we do things better because we have our rich history that inspires our creativity and we have hungry minds, hence we grasp information and often make use of it by not only enriching South Africans, but everyone else from beyond the borders as well.
We have the best of good hearts. When our neighbouring countries are facing tough times, we intervene. We offer help and we get down to taking on hard labour; just as long as it is going to help the other people.
When Haiti was faced with a fatal earthquake that left thousands of people dead, South Africa was amongst the states that took on the responsibility to help. When an internal quarrel arose within the Zimbabwean cabinet, our own Thabo Mbeki had to act as a mediator, as a result, we now see cordial relations between opposing parties, despite the permanent profound hatred that will forever remain.
Like any other beautiful creature, of course, we possess a bad side. Unfortunately, when the bad in us surfaces, all the beauty and the goodness in us vanishes. Consequently, many dub us many negative things while we see deeper dark spots in ourselves too.
Sadly, in seeing predicaments within our own fabric of society, we tend to disagree with each other which is a process that usually result to incarnations that merely segregate us with the same tools we use to join our forces against any external rival; race, gender, ability and sexuality.
Discussing solutions appears to be easy to us, those who see the cabinet via television and stadiums. We tend to assume –and sometimes believe- that our government is lazy to sort out issues. What makes people like me see things this way really?
Our public officials lie. They refuse to admit to failure in any case. Instead, they produce confusing statistic figures that leave me –who left mathematics in Grade 7- blinking a million times. These figures never sit well with my tasting buds.
Our government comprises corrupt individuals who see money and instantly think of illegal tender dealings, bribery and impish expenditure of taxpayers’ hard-earned cash, while their salaries sit to grow mould in their Swiss bank accounts.
Are they to blame? Yes. Yes, because they promised to work for the benefit of the public by developing and implementing strategies that will see many uneducated people getting jobs, sick and frail poor people getting the necessary help they need and the existence of humanity, unity and love between men and women, children and elders, blacks and whites, gays and straight people, able people and those who are challenged; physically, mentally and otherwise.
Of course, government alone cannot do anything. Just like citizens could never succeed without the help of the government. This is where things begin to shape up, and everyone know and understands this simple concept. But, is it exercised? No.
That is why many people – in and outside the government - throw tantrums that leave many of us bending trying to pick up our jaws from the floor. From the likes of Julius Malema who pride himself with uttering discriminatory statements about women and people of opposing parties, to Steve Hofmeyr and Annelie Botes who express their dislike of the Black race in public forums citing to be stating their views the only way they know how.
That is why families are betrayed. They send their children to schools and entrust them in the hands of men and women who vowed to act as parents to them, whereas disgusting acts of children having sex and using drugs takes place right in their yards, with many other children watching while some entertain themselves by capturing such events on videos.
If it’s not such, gay people excuse their laziness by blaming homophobia, black South Africans exploit and discriminate against other black people from neighbouring countries (from the same countries that sheltered some of our politicians during the apartheid regime), men engage in sexual activities with young girls promising them the world while the reap their viginas apart and certain women create plots to kill their partners just for the love of money.
No one knows better, but when our minds work together we become better. Even with these incidents, we are able to and we can sort things out just by quitting the selfish motives we carry within us when dealing with each other.
As a black person, I need to know and learn to accept my faults. I need to understand that, the world does not owe me anything. In fact, I need to get up and work hard to accomplish my dreams. I need to understand and believe that I am capable of becoming what I want to become. I need to have it instilled in my mind that I am talented and all that the other person can do, I can do better. Also, I need to drop the hatred, fear and intimidation I get when I come across a white person. However, I need to understand that, if I express discriminatory statements about people of other races, I am racist.
The same applies for Coloureds, Indians, Whites and Chinese.
We go around saying we are proudly South Africans. It is about time now we prove that by working towards building a rainbow nation just like we had claimed we were since 1994.
Branding t-shirts with hearts is not enough.
Happy read!
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