Can we defeat the invisible enemy killing off dreams?

Is there really a light at the end of the tunnel for South Africa, or even the world? It feels like I’m carrying a heavy rock on my shoulders with lots of questions about my future and the future of this country.

So many things are being said by our government and other world leaders, but we seem to be fighting a losing battle with this invisible coronavirus as the global death rate just keeps climbing.

The world seems to move very slowly while the debates keep on raging.

Take schools, for example, shall we open them or shall we let the children stay home, only to grow with blank knowledge?

So, I asked Sphokazi Khethiwe Mbatha, a Grade 11 pupil from eKhondlo Secondary School. The answer was harsh in its simplicity: “The coronavirus is affecting me – in my pocket. I have to use more than 100MB of data for one subject and I’m a scholar, I don’t work. It’s best if all the pupils go back to school and let our government protect us. We are, after all, the future leaders.”

His words hit home: are we running scared, or have we now run out of ideas on how to get rid of the enemy?

Companies are closing and retrenching left, right and centre. Is there a way to stop this looming tidal wave of joblessness awaiting the country?

These are the questions I wake up to every day – and I feel helpless … so many lives have already been taken by this virus. Are we fighting this enemy adequately?

Can we block this vicious monster that is eating away at our very fibre because, believe me, this enemy will awaken so many other enemies, like hunger and unemployment.

Can we defeat it in such a short time, or is all we plan in our fight just educated guesses?

I see a painful history rising, borne out of a virus that is changing the world as we know it. And it is growing fast.

I look at children in the streets; my children, and I cry inside because do they know what is happening? Will they have a bright future, or is this enemy going to dash all their hopes and dreams?

But I can’t lose hope for this beautiful country with its rainbow nation and its 11 official languages, all beautifully spoken.

Yes, we will surely go through the pain of burying many, even some of our loved ones, but I’m pleading with you, my fellow South Africans: let’s not give up the fight, hard as it is.

Lucas Khumalo.

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