Michaelhouse Nearby but Majority of Kids Walk Distances in Cold Weather for an Education

Siphumelele Zondi

@SZondi

Last week I was in the area of Nottingham Road in the KwaZulu-Natal Midlands and I met an old man who inherited a massive farm in 1990, he has built a hotel in a certain part of his farm, donated a huge chunk of land to the Crane Foundation and has built decent four-bedroomed homes for families he says his ancestors found on the land over a hundred years ago. He also does a great job in ensuring that indigenous ways of the Zulu people are promoted and even has a Zulu traditional healer in his hotel spa. But it’s the land that made me think, it mainly made me think long and hard because I spoke to the man’s son who said he went to the extremely expensive Michaelhouse College which is nearby, he also told me that his sons also go to Michaelhouse. After he had told me this I then observed that a lot of black kids in the area walk for long distances to school. Winter mornings in Nottingham Road are extremely cold. 

I Push a Wheelbarrow for 5km to Fetch Water as South Africa Celebrates Freedom Day

Zanele Ngwenyama

@zanelengwenyama

Image: www.colormagazine.com

I am from the rural areas of Bushbuckridge in Mpumalanga and as South Africans in the cities I started living in when I left home for my studies celebrate the various freedoms that came with our democracy nearly two decades ago, I feel areas such as the one I come from have very little to celebrate. People from villages in the area get tricked every four to five years during national and municipal elections as representatives of various political parties would promise the poor a better life, a life where they also don’t have to live in fear because there would be better policing. They often believe these promises that are seldom or never met.

As South Africans from the rest of the country celebrate the milestone of 19 years since our parents voted for the first time, my province of Mpumalanga has announced that two municipalities have been placed under administration. This is the same province that has failed to produce favourable Matric results despite all the tweaking and changes that happen which are done so it is much easier for high school pupils to pass. 

Young White People Discuss Trust Funds - Young Black People Repay Student Loans

Siphumelele Zondi

@SZondi

Recently I was in a pub in Johannesburg’s leafy suburbs of Parkhurst. My friend and I were the only two black people there and everyone else inside this popular pub was white. I overheard a conversation taking place across from us where young white people were discussing how trust funds their parents had set up were helping them get started in life. Another also spoke of the property his parents had bought for him.

I later had a conversation with a white friend of mine who acknowledged that a lot of benefits white people have come as a result of apartheid and other policies that existed before apartheid was formalised which ensured that black people would be near-slaves for white people. My white friend mentioned that he has a grandfather who owns a fruit farm in the Eastern Cape and knows that those that work on the farm are uneducated black people, who are uneducated because policies of the past made sure of that. He mentioned that his grandfather would never find labour that cheap if he was in Europe as that kind of exploitation would never happen there.