Let me educate you not with anger, but with truth. You assume South Africans lack exposure. You assume we believe other African countries are poor and undeveloped. That is not the case. We know the reality. We know Nigeria has oil. We know Ghana has gold. We know Kenya has tech. We know Botswana has diamonds. We know Zambia has copper. We know Zimbabwe has platinum and lithium. We know the DRC sits on $24 trillion in minerals. We know Africa is rich.
But here is what you do not understand, wealth beneath the ground does not translate to prosperity above it. You can have all the minerals in the world but if your leaders steal, your constitutions hostile towards humans rights, if your institutions are corrupt, if your people are divided by tribe, if your healthcare collapses, if your schools crumble, if your youth flee then you are poor. Not in resources. In governance. In accountability. In dignity.
We do not look down on Africa. We look at the mirror Africa refuses to face. We see our own flaws corruption, unemployment, crime and we fight them. We protest. We vote. We demand better. That is what makes us different. We do not run. We stay. We build. We hold our leaders accountable, even when it hurts.
You say we lack exposure. But we see you. We see your leaders flying overseas to get treated, some in our country to get medical treatment, while your children starve. We see your ports exporting raw minerals while your people have no jobs. We are not blind. We are not ignorant. We are honest.
The difference between South Africa and many other African countries is not wealth. It is the willingness to confront failure. We own ours. You run from yours. That is not a lack of exposure. That is a lack of accountability. And until you fix that, no mineral, no resource, no tweet will save you. Go home. Fix your house. Then talk to us about exposure.
I once lived in Mpumalanga, Kinross, Secunda for one year, in 2012. While I was there, I tried to get involved in Community projects. One project was a "Community garden" in a school yard, started by a Primary school teacher, the aim being to teach her learners how to plant and grow vegetables. Later, the kids' parents were invited to get involved in tending the garden, weeding, watering, and then allowed during weekends after doing the work, we would take some spinach, carrots, pumpkins home. This was a way of putting some food on the table and alleviating hunger.
The teacher had sought permission from the school Principal to use the piece of land.
The teacher's husband was a Sasol employee, he held a senior position at Sasol. He was very supportive to his wife, bought water pipes and watering cans, seeds, whatever was needed, he just sponsored the project from their pockets.
There was an informal settlement emerging around the school, so the parents of these kids came from that informal settlement. When I came on board, I saw potential for the mothers who were part of the project to organize themselves into a Cooperative. I wanted them to own the project when I leave, since I wasn't going to be there for long. At the time I still believed in the government promise of supporting Cooperatives. So I thought maybe they could get support from government too.
Sasol, through the teacher's husband, heard about the project and were entertaining the idea of assisting from their CSI with some resources, a possible borehole, and grow the project to a point where they could supply one or two of their kitchens with vegetables. It was early stages, but it had potential.
Then, the Chairperson of the SGB, who happened to also be an ANC Women's league Chair in the area, and a girlfriend of the principal, heard about the Sasol offer. Suddenly there was interest because they thought money was coming. She called me and some of the ladies from the project to talk. In the meeting she suggested to us that she would like to report on this project as an ANC Women's League initiative. I was like what?? 😂 I said no ways, this is a community project, it has nothing to do with any political party or affiliation to anyone.
To cut the long story short, the project was then sabotaged, the teacher was harassed, told to present in every SGB meeting about the "funds received from Sasol". There were no funds. We were called "outsiders" not welcome on the school premises. I used to run at the time, just for exercise. My heart would bleed when I go for my runs, passing the school and seeing those cabbages rotting there. They had no decency to at least let the parents to come and harvest those vegetables.
I left Secunda later that year, only to receive a call that one of the ladies who was in the leadership of the project had died of a heart attack. I couldn't attend the funeral, but I was sad and angry. 😏
@TwaRSA26@Siviwe_G@CyrilRamaphosa And their children and grandkids do not travel this much for school, if anything, they do not even travel to school as they live in porshy hostel residences.
JUST IN: A South African parent resorted to registering his child as a foreigner to secure admission to a South African school. The child was immediately admitted and placed in a nearby school with no documents required by the Department of Education.
@DelaKufaPatriot You almost got it right, it is caused by the government. If the government did something about the illegal immigrants crisis, we wouldn't be here.
@stan_nare@LwazieDaSilva@Shadaya_Knight That's contra bones mores, against good morals, such a contract in SA invalid. In America it might be valid, not in SA.
@stan_nare@Shadaya_Knight I've never even set foot in that institution, but if it'll make you reason better and stop arguing about things you know nothing of, then I'm in full agreement with you. 🤝
@stan_nare@Shadaya_Knight Lol how are you going to prove the breach if the agreement itself is not part of the evidence in the court bundle, is it through verbal submissions without making reference of the said NDA?
@stan_nare@Shadaya_Knight Lol you've spewed enough nonsense for a day. In SA, only a civil court can hear a breach of contract matter, including one related to a non-disclosure agreement (NDA). I don't know where you're taking your info from but you're wrong!!!
Criminal court for breach of NDA? SMH!
@stan_nare@Shadaya_Knight Then he files a NOITD & on his plea he admits to having had disclosed their relationship and further mentions the transactional sex (thus voiding the NDA)... The court will find in whose favour? C'mon!