Use our rands to shower the poor

Some may decry it as a meaningless gesture in the face of almost overwhelming poverty; others may say – with some reason – that it is a cynical pre-election popularity ploy by the ANC.

However, we think that the rolling out of mobile showers and toilets for the homeless at locations around Gauteng is laudable.

And the Gauteng department of social development, agriculture, rural development and environment has it spot on when it says the deployment is aimed at restoring dignity to those forced to live on the streets.

After a clean-up, they can feel like normal humans again… and few in broader society regard them as such.

How we treat vulnerable people like this shows who we are as a society – and, currently, the lived experiences of indigent people means history may well judge us as being heartless and uncaring.

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Support for the homeless can bring positive results. In the story we run today, unemployed graduate Michael Rasebokoa, who ended up on the street when he lost his job, said he had been able to link to a job opportunity through a non-profit organisation funded by the Gauteng department of social development.

That’s how we like to see our tax rands being used.