Ndlozi is right, we have a humiliating sort of poverty in SA

The EFF’s Mbuyiseni Ndlozi recently said South Africa has a humiliating kind of poverty.

This got me thinking. Not only about the truth of the statement but also the sadness laced in it.

At the dawn of democracy, hopes and dreams were moulded and aspirations became bold and were no longer limited by race or gender. But fast-forward to the here and now, shack dwellers and estate residents now live side by side.

Residents of the estate are upset by the depreciating influence of the shacks, while shack dwellers have to watch the life they hope and pray for: sleek German cars that drive their dreams further and further away.

Alexandra and Sandton are built side by side. While in Sandton, one takes in the sunset with a glass or two of sherry, but the residents of Alexandra are choking on the smoke-filled air, preparing evening meals after a long working day in the very Sandton they look across.

Sandton lawns are manicured, paved and well-hydrated; swimming pools have sparkling blue waters and children lap up the joys of youth … while across the highway, lawns are too expensive to keep, water is stored in buckets and children give up their youth as their parents sweat it out in places of affluence.

It must be a struggle for the haves to live so close to the have nots.

The most difficult must be for children who attend schools with an entirely different economic class: imagine while Natalie’s mother drops her off in the latest SUV, your mother walks into the school with you – she is, after all, the cleaning lady.

While Phumzile wants to be seen as equal to those who were born into privilege, she has to do more to be accepted in this world.

Phumzile is likely to look for a man to take her out of poverty, exposing herself to sugar daddies or local thugs who represent prosperity and power. Phumzile opens herself up to teenage pregnancy, dropping out of school to mother children she is left to raise on an entry-level income – the sad destiny of many young township girls.

Because Phumzile is raised by a Phumzile – and the cycle continues…

Kekeletso Nakeli-Dhliwayo.