Throughout the world, elections bring out a string of promises of what the government will do once it has been elected. In very few cases these promises are honoured in full and the reason for that is simple. It is easy to describe ambitions, objectives and dreams, but very much more difficult to ensure that they are fulfilled. The promises, however, promote the belief that it is in the hands of government to provide whatever relief is required and that the voters need only sit patiently and wait for this to happen. Well, we are still waiting for many aspects of the relief promised before 1994 and the reality is that we will have to wait a good deal longer. This is not because government has lost interest in its objectives; it is because the cost of providing in full is beyond the capacity of the country to pay. Free education was one of the cornerstone promises. But with some minor exceptions, it is not free, not even for parents who send their children to fee-exempt schools. As it is, the country spends huge amounts on education, but there is still not enough to provide what was promised.
Poverty alleviation is usually thought to be an action that someone else engages in. Yet the state can do only so much, and it is necessary for people to make every effort to alleviate their own poverty. Many do, and it is heart-rending to see people working hard with so little return for their efforts. But some are inclined to wait with their hands extended until money is placed there. The question of a basic income grant has been debated at length and, at least for the time being, rejected by government which prefers to use its limited resources for dedicated grants – for children, for the aged, for the sick and so on. The danger of introducing such a grant for everyone is that dependency would be increased and this is not good for our society. Our young people, in particular, must learn to be more dependent on self, with greater confidence in their own ability and skills to make ends meet.
What we also need to face is that many efforts on the part of government to meet the needs of vulnerable people have been systematically undermined by those among us who are driven by greed and the desire to improve their own circumstances at the expense of others. How many pensioners have suffered as a result of money earmarked for them having been stolen away into the pockets of others? We are in danger of having become tolerant of our misfortunes and tolerant of those who have willfully added to them.
At the same time, people in business and those who are not held back by hopelessness and poverty, must learn to understand far better the plight of those with whom they do not come into contact – the people who live in make-shift shelters, comfortless and forlorn. What opportunities there are for helping hands to give, not hand-outs, but hand-ups, or hand-ins. What could be achieved for poor hungry people if land that is not occupied by buildings were used for the growing of vegetables? Not only would this provide an occupation, a daily activity that is productive and beneficial, but it would also reduce malnutrition and improve food security. This is not something that we must wait for government to do for us. Let’s get to it ourselves and see what a difference it makes.
Zinhle Sokhela - PCB President
This article appeared in the Edendale Eyethu on the 10 July 2008
