South Africans, including those who manage to focus on their blessings, have a lot to complain about.
The Poor
While about 50% of South-Africans live below the breadline, 23% lives in extreme poverty. They are mainly people from rural districts flocking to large cities where they’re supposed to get a house from the government, or at least a job. A great number of them are legal immigrants from elsewhere in Africa, while almost a million are illegal squatters. Some of these extremely poor people have lost all their belongings in fires and/or floods.
Unemployed, waiting in vain for the government to provide houses, water, a decent sewerage-system, and services such as health care, the removal of refuse, and free education also on tertiary level, they participate in riots, torching vehicles and buildings that belong to the government or whomever they see responsible for their suffering. After all, the children in this group amount to about 63% of all children in the country.
Because they can’t afford televisions and Internet, they are not aware of what goes on elsewhere in the country, or on the government level where corrupt ministers and managers of state enterprises steal millions from treasury through rigged contracts.
Poor people have a lot to complain about.
Unemployed, waiting in vain for the government to provide houses, water, a decent sewerage-system, and services such as health care, the removal of refuse, and free education also on tertiary level, they participate in riots, torching vehicles and buildings that belong to the government or whomever they see responsible for their suffering. After all, the children in this group amount to about 63% of all children in the country.
Because they can’t afford televisions and Internet, they are not aware of what goes on elsewhere in the country, or on the government level where corrupt ministers and managers of state enterprises steal millions from treasury through rigged contracts.
Poor people have a lot to complain about.
Poor South Africans have a lot to complain about
The Middle-class
People in the middle-class have a lot to complain about. Although grateful for having a job, or some source of income, they complain about ongoing nepotism and cronyism and injustice committed by the powers to be. They complain about the rising inflation, the increasing petrol price, increasing traveling fees, unaffordable food and electricity prices, and about local municipalities going bankrupt due to the ridiculous high salaries of incompetent managers.
Many complain about math and science being compulsory school subjects, and universities not yet extricated from colonialism. Some complain because the government denies its incompetence by reducing the standard of education. Some see no future for their children, as ANC-government’s racial policies hamper economic growth.
The middle-class complains about expensive yet insufficient medical insurance, and the ridiculous high cost of medical treatment and medicine. White farmers owning land they have inherited or bought and cultivated to the benefit of many, complain because they are being told to return the land their forefathers have allegedly stolen. They cry in vain because they are the daily target of merciless, murderous criminals. Landlords, too, complain in vain as their properties are being usurped by illegal migrants including drug lords, pimps, and prostitutes.
Middle-class people have even more to complain about.
Many complain about math and science being compulsory school subjects, and universities not yet extricated from colonialism. Some complain because the government denies its incompetence by reducing the standard of education. Some see no future for their children, as ANC-government’s racial policies hamper economic growth.
The middle-class complains about expensive yet insufficient medical insurance, and the ridiculous high cost of medical treatment and medicine. White farmers owning land they have inherited or bought and cultivated to the benefit of many, complain because they are being told to return the land their forefathers have allegedly stolen. They cry in vain because they are the daily target of merciless, murderous criminals. Landlords, too, complain in vain as their properties are being usurped by illegal migrants including drug lords, pimps, and prostitutes.
Middle-class people have even more to complain about.
Middle-class South Africans have a lot to complain about
The Rich
The rich also have a lot to complain about, as they are being exploited through government’s tax policies which demand more from the rich than from the middle-class.
They complain because the government continues to threaten them with ‘land expropriation without compensation’, and ‘elimination of monopoly capital’. They complain about the weakening of their shares in companies that are unable to show any profit due to immovable labour laws and the relentless demands of workers' unions.
The rich have a lot to complain about!
They complain because the government continues to threaten them with ‘land expropriation without compensation’, and ‘elimination of monopoly capital’. They complain about the weakening of their shares in companies that are unable to show any profit due to immovable labour laws and the relentless demands of workers' unions.
The rich have a lot to complain about!
The Rich in SA have a lot to complain about
But ...
..... May anyone complain while war is raging in Syria?
The devastating results of the war in Syria – for all to see on television and YouTube - make me realize that the people of South Africa are still fortunate in spite of all that is wrong and not yet on par with a constitutional democracy. South Africans should, perhaps, complain less and rejoice more because war is still a baboon on the other side of the mountain.¹
I am sure citizens of many other countries ask themselves the same question: “May anyone complain while war rages in Syria?
¹ “Do not fetch the baboon from behind the hill,” is an Afrikaans idiom meaning ‘don’t talk about problems that haven’t happened yet.’
The devastating results of the war in Syria – for all to see on television and YouTube - make me realize that the people of South Africa are still fortunate in spite of all that is wrong and not yet on par with a constitutional democracy. South Africans should, perhaps, complain less and rejoice more because war is still a baboon on the other side of the mountain.¹
I am sure citizens of many other countries ask themselves the same question: “May anyone complain while war rages in Syria?
¹ “Do not fetch the baboon from behind the hill,” is an Afrikaans idiom meaning ‘don’t talk about problems that haven’t happened yet.’
Five ways the conflict in Syria has changed the world
Condolences
My deepest condolences to all the victims of the Syrian war! May their suffering soon turn out for the best.
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