The year is 2044, this marks exactly 27 years since Sizwe was born, and 50 years since South Africa had its first democratic election. 54 years ago, Nelson Mandela and his fellows were thrown behind the bars of Robben Island while they were in pursuit of liberating the black man from the apartheid regime, and to ensure that a young black man like Sizwe is treated equally and as fairly as his fellow white, Indian and colored friends in the future.

Sizwe was born on 18 July 2017 in Soweto, a township situated not very far from the City of Gold, Johannesburg. Sizwe takes pride in being born in one of the cities that is constantly mentioned when one speaks of the political history of South Africa. Soweto is popularly known for the Soweto Uprising which took place in the year 1976 where mass student protests erupted over the government’s policy to enforce education in Afrikaans rather than their native languages. This riot left many young and old dead and some crippled for life.

So much has changed since the year Sizwe was born. Everything is digital nowadays. Sizwe since moved from Soweto to Sandton after he finished his studies in Information Technology with Belgium Campus. He currently works for an ICT company as a software developer. Sizwe wakes up every morning at 6 a.m. His alarm is a bed built-in system which wakes him up through gentle vibrations. He firstly takes a shower after that he asks Lerato to prepare his breakfast. Lerato is a human robot that does almost every house chore for Sizwe; from preparing breakfast and supper, dishwashing, laundry and house cleaning.

And amazingly enough, Lerato does all of this from just a simple instruction Sizwe communicates through his hand watch at any time of the day. After his breakfast, Sizwe heads straight to work. He gets to be driven by his fully automatic electric car. With all these technologically advanced smart cars in the roads, Sizwe’s generation has seen lesser accidents and deaths in the roads compared to the past 20 years when most cars where operating manually. And he also gets time to start his work while being driven to work.

As Sizwe walks into his office, it’s obvious that there has been tremendous transformation in the corporate industry. All races are represented and many black employees, especially females, are occupying managerial positions. It truly is a pleasant environment for Sizwe to work in. When you take a walk through Sizwe’s workplace you get perplexed by all the technological improvements they have made.

The printing and scanning machines are automatic. Sizwe basically directs it using voice command to his emails to find a specific document to print or scan. And the robot brings the copy right back to him or whosoever he wants to send it to. During lunch time, he simply sends an order online, makes payment online and gets his order delivered by a human robot. During knock-off time, he gets to be driven back home by his smart car.

On weekends, Sizwe does not have to stand in shopping malls and bank queues because groceries and banking are now done online at any time of the day and any day of the week. Sizwe gets his groceries delivered by one of the human robots right at his door. He is also able to access many government department’s services online, this includes applying for visas and identity documents, and paying bills and monthly instalments. He can basically run his whole life with just a simple button touch.

Sizwe’s phone also comes in extremely handy. It does not only take 2000 Megapixel pictures both in 2 and 3 dimension, video calls, snapchat etc., it’s also connected to his emails such that it reads and makes work schedules and reminders for him and lets him know when he is running late for an appointment. And by simply holding the phone in his hand, it detects his pulse and temperature and lets him know when he needs to book and appointment with the doctor. It is also able to detect other illnesses such as hypertension, diabetes, cancer etc.

Sizwe is still studying with the University of Johannesburg. The great part about this is that he does not have to attend classes because all of his classes are streamed live through the university’s student portal. He is also able to do all administrative business online without physically going to the university. All his assignment and test are done online.

The world has truly become a much better place for Sizwe, he can now become anything he ever dreams of becoming.