Black and white must unite to get it right
A number of people are only motivated by power and greed
GEORGIE Z writes:
Thank you Arthur for your letter, “SA is soos ‘n skip sonder ‘n kaptein”.
It puts the current state of our economy and country into perspective. Unless individuals use their common sense, we will soon be another Zimbabwe or, are we already there? It has always been my policy to vote for the strongest viable opposition, thus ensuring that there is an opposition.
Initially our country experienced the “brain drain” and currently the “capital drain”. Rumour has it that Zuma is stashing his trillions in Chinese banks.
During the 350 years of development that Arthur refers to, our world has changed from a planet with vast unexplored territories to a global village. You can view anywhere in the world on the internet and these pictures are updated when the satellite passes. There are so few mysteries left to explore, which perhaps explains why the current trend is for people to demand their “human rights”.
What rights should people have who do not respect the rights of other people and should they be allowed to procreate that which they cannot nurture. Populations are exploding while planet earth is eroding and our perceived human rights become earth’s biggest blight. This last sentence forms part of a poem I composed during one of my granddaughter’s literature homework sessions.
The instincts of survival and fear are common to all creatures but no two individuals are the same. Unfortunately quite a number of people who enter politics and become religious and other types of leaders, are motivated only by power and greed. Zuma’s cronies won’t oppose him because they are scared to lose their seats on the parliamentary gravy train.
I was born in 1936 when the world was recovering from the First World War and the Second World War was brewing. I was only 12 years old in 1948 when the ”Nats” first came into power and I can still recall the jubilation among the Boerenasie.
In retrospect I can understand their joy in perceiving that they had finally won the “Boere-oorlog” and “K…….. oorloë”. The “swart- en Roomse-gevare” were popular topics.
While I will never condone the policy of segregation (the worst thing that ever happened was naming it “apartheid”), I can understand why “Europeans” fear the consequences of black rule. At least the “Nats” did not break down the economy (nor the statues) they inherited but built on it.
When foreign companies were forced to leave South Africa by sanctions, local entrepreneurs took over the businesses, entering into agreements with partners, which allowed the partners to return to South Africa when viable. Large quantities of strategic stocks were purchased so that the businesses could survive. Some of the partners returned but have now fled.
As politics and business will never be totally compatible it is up to the individual not to make demands that cannot be justified.
My 15-year-old granddaughter is in Grade nine at Hoërskool Birchleigh. It is the only Afrikaans High School in Kempton Park that has become bilingual (English and Afrikaans).
In the English classes of about 40 pupils there are only an average of four to five white pupils. When I initially asked my granddaughter how many white children there were in her class, she asked why I wanted to know and I am convinced that to her it is not an issue.
My granddaughter comes to my home in the afternoons as I live close to the school. When I am asked to get involved in homework, I try to make it fun. She is very special and mature for her age. She is not only at the top of her grade but, while only in Grade nine, forms part of the top 10 achievers in the school.
With the “BEEE in the Government’s bonnet”, nobody can blame me if I am worried whether the establishment will allow her to develop her potential. The teachers at Birchleigh are, however, doing a great job under very difficult circumstances as they are under pressure every year to accept more and more “English” students.
However, each generation has its own “wars” to face and, unfortunately, as human nature does not change, there will always be narcissistic politicians and leaders. All that normal law abiding citizens can do is to unite to try and get it right.
They say that your brain is like a computer. At my age it means it is cluttered but, at least, it is stimulated when I analyse a situation and put it in writing. As I am currently trying to accept being old it may be the subject of my next letter.
