A young man called Elias gives me hope for the future

Today I’m forced to admit a little secret: I’m scared witless by the prospect of a post-corona economy.

The new “advanced level 3” regulations will change little in my unremarkable life. I’ll still be a criminal every time I go out to buy cigarettes, but I can’t change it. I didn’t choose the thug life, the thug life chose me.

“My throat is sore,” the lovely Snapdragon told me this week.

“Probably just the ’rona,” I put her mind at ease.

“Nope,” she said. “It’s these terrible cigarettes you make me smoke.”

“You know those terribly loud neighbours who always fight when they drink?” she continued. “Do you know what they argue about? When they drink, they accuse each other of smoking all the stompies and then things get violent.”

As a feminist and supporter of Uncle Cyril, I support his war against gender violence – as I support the reopening of the bulk of economic activities.

But I don’t agree that the virus has left our economy in tatters. It has been demolished by a decade of systemic plundering, corruption, state capture and a bloated civil service with far too many snouts in the trough. Covid-19 has merely pushed us over the edge.

A friend who works in the civil service tells me they’re forbidden to use the word “problem”. They have challenges, not problems.

But over the past few weeks, I have seen a young man who can turn challenges into opportunities. Elias Phiri, a slightly built, dreadlocked young man, owns a motorcycle repair shop near the Cresta shopping centre.

He’s one of those rare young people with a knack for service delivery, no fear that the grindstone might harm his nose and a superior knowledge of his subject.

He works long hours, gets his hands dirty and is always willing to make a deal. Which, unfortunately, makes him a rare exception, rather than the rule.

And that is where I believe our saving grace lies. It won’t be government that will rescue our economy. Neither will financial geniuses such as Patrice Motsepe or Johann Rupert.

Future prosperity is in the hands of small and medium enterprises owned by young people who dare to dream, such as Elias.

I just pray that there are enough of them.

Dirk Lotriet.

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