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By Kekeletso Nakeli

Columnist


We are a nation in crisis

We work because debt keeps us there, but we cannot simply, catch that well-deserved break.


The South African economy is going through a lot at the moment and while the government repeatedly speaks of economic measures to bring us back to some place of hope, its results are not immediately tangible. Technical recession, quarter-to-junk status, regressing economic strength and the constant need for the population to borrow from Peter to pay Paul in order to survive – South Africans are going through the most at the moment and the economics are just so hard to overcome. If that was not enough, every second company is retrenching. The rate at which the country is experiencing retrenchments…

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The South African economy is going through a lot at the moment and while the government repeatedly speaks of economic measures to bring us back to some place of hope, its results are not immediately tangible.

Technical recession, quarter-to-junk status, regressing economic strength and the constant need for the population to borrow from Peter to pay Paul in order to survive – South Africans are going through the most at the moment and the economics are just so hard to overcome.

If that was not enough, every second company is retrenching. The rate at which the country is experiencing retrenchments is alarming, we are a nation in crisis. While government continues to promise to create millions of jobs in a said number of years, government does not create jobs, business does.

We will have a continued rise of unemployment and a population and an economy on its knees. The ANC screams, together we can do more, let’s do it for the Mandela legacy, then they silently turn around and sell the country, piece by piece.

We are a country under siege from those we have put into power legitimacy – they sold us a dream, we bought the dream and were left with the ruins in the form of a nightmare of a failing economy.

With the current state of affairs, we might have more social grants beneficiaries. The desperation for the R350 grants breaks the heart. These are used to put food on the table, keep the lights on and as minimal as they may be, these are used to help families survive.

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We must, however, admit that in other instances these grants are received by people who do not value them as lifelines, they are seen as pocket money, hair salon funds and funding for the night out at the tavern, or even clubs.

For the rest of us, those of us who do not have the immediate threat of job loss as yet – may we continue to put more effort and ethic into our output. There are millions who would trade places with us in a heartbeat.

As a worker bee, I’m exhausted but petrol costs an arm, food costs a leg. Life has taken my entire limbs. We work because debt keeps us there, but we cannot simply, catch that well-deserved break.

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