Our Black and White reality

This morning I drove from Soshanguve to Hyde Park, Johannesburg. That's where I work. On my way out of Sosha, I experienced the usual buzz; taxis rushing to town and back to ferry more people. My people have money. They've been paid their bonuses. Some kid will eat in a restaurant for the first time today. The queues at bottle stores are reminiscent of the 1994 elections. Maybe I am taking it too far, but the bottom line is people will be spending lots of money on alcohol. The cooler boxes will be filled, we will drink and be merry. 


When I got on to the Ben Schoeman highway, I saw a different kind of approach to December holidays. Luxury cars from Pretoria East suburbs getting on to the freeway. Most of them towing their caravans, mountain bikes and trailers filled with holiday luggage. 


You already know where I am going don't you? At the risk of sounding like ANC officials who only offer excuses, I will say it. It is the legacy of apartheid that keeps us in the generational crisis of Black people abusing alcohol and mistaking it for Christmas celebration. Living in the Bantustans that we call townships - the only way to embrace the holiday season is to buy booze, blast the hi-fi you bought with your meager bonus and wake up with the same old problems year-in year-out. 


A few of us have chosen to break the cycle. But then we don't always survive because we become victims of crime because the rest of our people are not empowered enough to escape the generational crisis. That's why we leave the township. That's also why townships are stereotyped as dangerous and "not safe for us" to go. 


The oppressor knew what he was doing when he crammed us all in one space, away from the life that could have saved more people. But we are stuck together, hopeless, stressed, killing each other. We maintain the reputation of being the inferior race, and therefore Black life remains cheap.

I took time before I condemned President Jacob Zuma when he blamed Eskom's woes on apartheid. He is probably right. But he is a discredited man. It's not easy to take what he says and believe it. At least for many South Africans who have been let down by his leadership, or lack thereof.


I hope one day Sosha and Pretoria East traffic will converge on Ben Schoeman highway - to take a well deserved break from the hustle and bustle of the year gone by. The struggle continues.