I read with a mix of disbelief and astonishment Kevin van der List’s opinion piece on beggars.
While everyone is entitled to an opinion, no opinion is entitled to be above criticism.
The author’s commentary on beggars is highly problematic, not least because it casually oversimplifies and trivialises what is a deeply complex and multifaceted issue in South Africa.
Beggars, or more accurately the homeless or poverty-stricken, do not exist in a vacuum separate to the rest of society, nor do such people exist for the sole purposes of “sending one on a guilt trip”, to disrupt one’s otherwise pleasant existence.
Statistics indicate South Africa is one of the most unequal societies in the world.
Each year the economy sheds thousands of jobs and creates almost none to speak of, leaving the country in the dire situation of having over five million people without work.
The people who make up the staggering number of the five million unemployed are to be found in every community in South Africa, including our own.
So while the author refers to possible con artists playing on people’s emotions, given the statistics, the logical assumption is that most people living on the streets are there not because it is the easier option, but rather because it is the only option left.
Engaging with the subject of abject poverty requires more than privileged musings in which we ponder whether it’s better to give money or food or nothing at all, or in which we decide who among the poor are “just lazy”, and who are “making an effort to help themselves”.
How anyone can presume to know the difference just by looking at someone and never having had a conversation with them is entirely beyond me.
Van der List’s simple solution that beggars “should be removed from the streets and be encouraged to find employment” is naïve at best.
Who should remove them from the streets?
To where should they be removed and at whose expense?
Who exactly is best placed to encourage them to simply find employment in a dwindling economy?
If the measure of any society’s decency and humanity can be taken in the way it treats its most vulnerable people, then surely beggars deserve more than our outright contempt or a fleeting moment of guilt?
Perhaps the least we can do is reflect on the manner in which we think and speak about the poor and ask ourselves if we are being fair and objective.
More than that, we could try show a modicum of empathy and compassion. Of course, in a perfect world we would all donate more of our time, money and expertise to charity.
My only hope is that those who have the most to say about beggars and other social problems are doing just that.
