As a former member of the privileged class in South Africa I am going to be in trouble for saying this….
Dear Suburbs Dweller
If you want a dose of reality away from that single pothole outside your home, that overlong grass in the park, that single streetlight that still works, that intermittent electricity and water supply and those onerous service charges, then I suggest that you take a drive to Motherwell along the road to Addo and towards Kariega.
This is a road that I travel often on whilst taking employees home and last night was an exercise in disgust and futility.
On the way in and away we were dodging potholes, stagnant water, incomplete road works that have been ongoing in the same place for the last three or so years, unroadworthy vehicles, fargknuckle drivers, no street lights and the pall of heavy black smoke.
If I didn’t know better I would have imagined that I had stepped onto the set of a War movie.
On the way back was even worse – with the light fading one cannot see and anticipate the potholes, see road markings, the extent of the roadworks or drive at the legal speed limit whilst dodging what I call ‘Transkeian Motorbikes’ – vehicles with only one headlight working.
As you hit the section of road close to the Motherwell Police Station then another reality hits you – along with the smell of fried chicken – the thick dust thrown up by Manganese trucks and other road users is appalling – you cannot see properly and every breath you take is one step closer to a permanent state of drunkenness and madness called Manganism.
Manganese Dust – see what I did there Rajesh? – permeates everywhere, even to the Kentucky bravely dishing out food in an outside environment that Gordon Ramsay would shut down with a few choice words.
The reality of our situation is that in life there is always someone prettier, uglier, nicer, harsher, richer or poorer than what you or I am.
Somewhere along the way we lost our outrage at how people ‘lesser’ that us are treated and, as a consequence, are now victims of our own attitude.
Just like charity begets charity so too do we need a reminder that caring for others ‘lesser’ than ourselves will ensure that our own circumstances are improved.
