It pains me to write this. SA is a beautiful country. But the contrasts are hard to ignore. The ultra-rich 1%, the better off 9% that manage on credit & the 90% that are not able to make ends meet. We complain about crime & derelict infrastructure. How did we get here? A Thread.
When we talk of apartheid and colonialism, people want to shut it down and say get over it. But it’s not over. Both had a terrible & lasting impact on the psyches of Black people which will take generations to erase. The violence & crime we see today is a direct result of that.
The violence and oppression of Black people in South Africa because is now manifesting as violent crime such as robbery, rape etc. Black men felt powerless & took their emotions out on women & children, those weaker than them. They turn on foreigners for the same reason.
Black people have been underpaid and many still are, compared to white people in the same jobs. If you don’t pay the parents a living wage, they can’t feed their children properly. Inadequate nutrition & mental stimulation before age 3 leads to irreversible brain damage.
Captains of industry complain that there are no skills in engineering, science & maths. Where will the skills come from? The people do not have the capacity to learn because of childhood malnutrition, because their parents were poorly paid plus they had ill-equipped schools.
The same people complain about crime & how it deters investors. They refuse to connect their desire for short- term profit 2 generations ago to the social problems that we see today. They pretend that everyone has the same 24 hours & equal opportunity while bypassing BEE rules.
There are no easy solutions. I agree with @UCT_VC calling for a wealth tax on the 1%. The project for national renewal needs funding. We can start by ensuring children are properly fed & early childhood learning centres are built. Then we stop manufacturing criminals.
We need sound ethical leadership at all levels of society. The focus on short-term profit needs to be done away with. Shareholders who put pressure on businesses to make a profit at all costs are equally responsible. Naturally they belong to the 1% .
We need conflict resolution work & debriefing to happen in our townships and schools to enable people to solve problems without resorting to violence. The work @ForestWhitaker is doing with his foundation in the Cape flats is commendable. We need more of that.
60% of households in SA do not own a book. Only 14% of the population read for leisure. A novel on average costs R250 in a bookshop. We need government to support the publishing industry by zero-rating VAT on books. Festivals like @Abantu_ need support to build a reading culture.
The film industry can also be used to turn the culture around. Nollywood & Bollywood are the biggest film industries in the world by turnover. Investment in local films to provide entertainment& facilitate a culture change. Mobile cinemas can help reach people in remote areas.
Government needs to be serious about creating employment for adults without STEM skills. It’s no use talking about 4IR in a developing country without basic infrastructure, roads, railways, bridges, water and electricity. That work can be done by unskilled people, just pay them.
If you don’t want crime, then don’t create fertile conditions for it, Incidentally among the 1% are those making money from the drug trade, trafficking of stolen goods & human trafficking. They can afford armed private security & sip champagne & cognac behind high walls & gates.
