When I was born it was already 70 years since we were condemned to poverty. We were deep in the belly of the evil apartheid era. I am now 30-years-old and that makes today 100 years since the Natives Land Act was passed into law by the all white rulers of our land. We were bulldozed and robbed of our land. Today, for the first time, I read the original text of this piece of legislation. I am bitter that this system was especially meant to set us back. Dumped into a generational crisis that lasted for this long. The dawn of democracy in 1994 was a pacifier for the outspoken. It was a glimmer of hope. Those who screamed "Mayibuye" at the height of apartheid had tears of joy when we cast a vote for the ANC government.
Twenty years down the line, our mothers, fathers still wake up at 3am to make their way from the townships to the urban areas to report for duty only at 8am at the white man's mansion. That's how our mothers and fathers earn a living two decades after the end of apartheid. Our government is dragging its feet in fixing the injustices of the past. We remain shackled in poverty, crime and all the ills of society. This Natives Land Act helped apartheid to confine us to townships. Far away from the economic activities that would see more and more black people exiled in their own country. Banished! Usizi lo mntu'mnyama!
The ghosts of apartheid today celebrate because their legacy has lasted till this day. The disempowered black nation remains poor. The custodians of the Constitutions are too afraid to confront this hundred-year-old-demon. Who will lead us to the promised land? The one written in the Freedom Charter. The land that was taken from us. Mayibuye iAfrika. Izwe lethu! Not yet uhuru!
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