Zola Radebe-Ntereke writes:
So much has been said about the topical issue of black tax, the family dependency cycle.
Sadly, though, so little is said about the fringe benefits and the perks that come with living in a black community.
We are so agitated by the drunkard aunt who always sends a “please call, no air” or the relative who borrows R5 000 from you and only returns R1 500.
My fellow black folks, I don’t wanna be misunderstood here – I’m not condoning black tax or giving it the thumbs up.
What I’m saying is that I think it’s time to lighten the blackness!
Black tax is a reality, whether you consider it a burden, as being the family ATM, as a legacy of the apartheid regime shoved down our throats or merely as a way of giving back to your family.
It really depends on your conscience.
Also, it depends on, after graduating or climbing that corporate ladder or even clinching that business deal, whether you consider yourself as falling under the haves or the have-nots.
In the same breath, we need not turn a blind eye to the advantages of living in a black community, from asking a neighbour to babysit while one is running errands, to leaving the key next door.
When there are break-ins or robberies, the whole neighbourhood not only holds a meeting to address the situation, but they even take it upon themselves to search for the criminal or criminals.
Need I mention how the entire community accompanies to the airport the neighbour’s son or daughter who has just landed a job overseas, be it a lucrative job, or just a job as a waiter or waitress or an au pair?
It can also be a study opportunity (forget Harvard or Oxford University), or it can be about pursuing a fledgling career in some less popular institution, somewhere in Idaho, Nebraska or Wyoming, perhaps some of the more boring states in the USA, or in the Bronx in New York City.
Even a qualification obtained there is said to be an anodyne.
But none of this information deters or dampens the spirits of the jubilant community members. They chant at the airport, hugging, kissing and saying their final goodbyes, beaming with pride that their child has “made it”.
They will be rubbing shoulders with A-list celebrities or respectable decision-makers.
It should be remembered that when there is a funeral or a wedding, the neighbourhood steps in to volunteer.
Men slaughter the cow while catching up on the latest soccer results between arch-rivals Orlando Pirates and Kaizer Chiefs, sipping their beer in between, while gyrating women, swinging their hips to and fro, gladly assist with cooking, baking and brewing traditional beer, followed by traditional songs.
There is so much positivity that comes with staying in the township.
We really need not focus on the darker side and intentionally turn a blind eye to the joys of being a township “jappie”.
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