I love travelling <3, especially in a public transport provided I am not rushing to anywhere. Ever since I've started writing I've learnt how to listen more than to check my grammar. Unemployment has hit our country so bad to an extent that people are no longer trying anymore, hope is fading away. I was in a taxi from Witbank, 60% of the commuters are employed by a national power station called Kusile and the rest are anticipating to be called by the same company excluding the driver and me.
Since it was the end of the month, one drunk commuter echoed a hot potato from the times of slavery. Though he was drunk he spoke the truth, there is something with alcohol that makes you speak sense(I am not promoting drunkenness though). His topic was around amawele not twins, but the chicken they serve them every day at work saying that he has had enough of it and he is angry because they had to work the whole month with no leave which robs them off their family time and they get peanuts from their labour. Of course, some took it with a grain of salt, but I listened with great enthusiasm without a drop of the hat we exchanged a few words then he started preaching nonstop.
Time, Money & Relationships
As I have stipulated, his concern was that they take up all their time at work having to work everyday and there is no longer time for him to bond with his family. Most young boys have providers, but not fathers because they are never there. I don't want to add my story here, but I know how does it feel not having a father to talk to because my dad also had to go to work before the cock crows and come back when we are fast asleep. And to their wives its not fair because they need them to be home too, as the drunk man asserted that there is nothing they can do about it which bothers him a lot. Time to hang around with the boys is out of question.
To add insult to injury, they get peanuts at the end of the month he further stipulated, which is ambiguous because the family expects to get a better living for the time daddy is away. Jokingly he stated that he doesn't eat chicken anymore because he has had enough of it as they serve them that every day, amawele. This is a serious concern because due to an inadequate salary sometimes his family barely have something to eat whilst he is feasting on the meal they give him at work in which they don't even allow them to take home, all being mentioned his concern was that it's affecting his child more than him because at home they have none to eat. Holding this thought I asked myself "Does hard work really pay?" according to the trials they face every day they should indeed reap a good harvest, but they only get crumbs.
The person I was next to whispered to me because he didn't want to challenge the guy and said that he(the drunk man) is crying over spilt milk because their leaders sold them out, it is them who agreed to this and all they can do is dance as the music plays. As much as we need empowerment as black people it is sad that when we actually get empowered greed overtake us. We trade our fellow brothers with a pay cheque, what I like about artists it's that they too speak the truth, unlike the speeches we hear every day by the so called elite. The lyrics of the song by the black eyed peas goes as follows:
"Yo', whatever happened to the values of humanityEntrepreneurs Affected
Whatever happened to the fairness and equality
Instead of spreading love we're spreading animosity
Lack of understanding, leading us away from unity
What's wrong with the world, mama
People livin' like they ain't got no mamas
I think the whole world addicted to the drama
Only attracted to things that'll bring you trauma"
We have betrayed each other to fill our own stomach. Its an old riddle, I find it funny that we tend to put all the blame on white people for enslaving us forgetting that they didn't just snatch us and put us on a boat to America, but we were sold out by our own black leaders in exchange of another commodity. This applies to work too, even when we are in charge we forget that we are our brothers keeper and we complain when given the taste of our own medicine. I think its time we learn how to love each other again because its evident that we forgot the elementary teachings we got from the breast we fed on that umuntu ungumuntu ngabantu which means "I am, because we are", humanity.
As we approached Phola, the drunk man linked his story with the way we operate at the townships, speaking of the invasion of the Pakistani's (this is a term we use to categorize all the Indians, Ethiopians, Arabs, etc.) who come to plant shops in our communities. In my community there are two well known entrepreneurs namely Abes and Zeph, they have been serving our community for decades and the Pakistani's planted shops all over the place and we ended up prioritizing them than the local businesses. "We have betrayed them," he said because they even support our local initiatives and been there for us through thick and thin. That what happens when opportunity meets greed.
Because I hate it when a conversation doesn't mature, I twisted the focal point to a solution and asked the guy that "what is the solution of all of these then?", Voice of reason he said. If we could all stand up and reason with the oppressors of this age which is our leaders there would be a breakthrough. Its time for us to tranced from being free on paper to be free indeed. We need to fight for economic liberation, again some will turn a blind eye to this which is why the black man will only hear about freedom.
There is a military quote I heard from Patrick David an entrepreneur and a former militant that says "Libertas non est sine pretio" which means that Freedom is not free and in its context it means that liberty is not without price.
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