After no water for days, I’m willing to march with Malema

Can we, for just a minute, concede that Julius Malema has a point?

Even a stopped clock is right twice a day. No, not with his kiss-yo-mama-goodbye talk – although if you take the time to listen to that particular speech, you’ll notice he says this in reference to people who threaten his own life over today’s protest – but instead with his demands that something needs to be done, that something’s got to give.

To quote our man in the red beret: “We are concerned about the state of affairs. We can’t fold our arms.”

He’s right, even if only because he’s stating the obvious: the economy is in jeopardy and the government is failing the country.

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This national shutdown called by the EFF is, or was originally, intended as a protest against unemployment – undeniably appalling – and electricity cuts.

And yes, I thought the load shedding was catastrophic… until the water disappeared.

For four days last week, my 81-year-old mum and special needs sister were completely without running water. Not a drop. It wasn’t the first time this has happened of late, except this time the dry taps affected most of Benoni, the one-time city of lakes.

Yes, they say misery loves company, but not when it means you can’t even fill up your containers at a tap at a friend’s house several suburbs away.

Meanwhile, my older sister on the other side of the country in Gordon’s Bay was about to celebrate one glorious Sunday of “only” stage two load shedding, except that she woke up to no water, not even in the fire hoses.

Two days later it was intermittently back. On Thursday they again had neither water nor electricity.

So can we add water to the protest list?

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Can we cut the party-political, white-black, fearmongering rhetoric and agree that South Africa has a problem, everyone knows it, and this is the time to stand together, shoulder to shoulder, and shout: “Enough”?

Can the EFF, DA, FF+, ACDP, IFP and co all join forces on this?

Can we add some white faces to the mix?

United we might still stand, but divided we certainly fall.

And when you’ve got nothing – no water, no electricity, no prospects – you’ve really got nothing to lose.