Dear Mr President 

Allow me to introduce myself, my name is Zikhona Sonyoni, a young proud South African citizen. I would like to take this opportunity to thank you for taking care of our wonderful country. May the good lord give you strength so that you can keep on serving your people.

There is a lot to love about South Africa. From the democracy, the people, the minerals to the land itself…the list is endless. I am grateful to the 1994 government for introducing the democratic system to our country. United we continue to stand as a rainbow nation as we have sworn on our national anthem. 

Above it all, my community has made me the proudest citizen ever. It has shaped me to becoming the respecting and responsible young woman I am today. My elders have taught me the spirit of Ubuntu very well from a young age and I have witnessed them practicing what they preach. We possess a very beautiful land where we can also extract valuable natural resources like gold which enrich our wealth as a country. Our South African flag actually summarises all these precious traits of our country. Each colour in the flag symbolises an important aspect of our country.

Unfortunately, there are some challenges which remain unsolved in our country. Take my community for instance, unemployment has become a norm for many residents especially the youth. This issue affects most of our South African communities, educated or not, and with all the corruption and nepotism taking place in the state, a solution is not promising. Unemployment has given rise to even more problems in my community, it has led to crime. Residents are engaged in illegal practices like house break-ins, car thefts, mugging…you name them, and when caught the excuse is always “I need to put food on the table” or “the cost of living is too high and I don’t have a job”. The government needs to create jobs for the people, following straight procedures. 

A lot of communities travel long distances to access health care services, including mine so perhaps building clinics in every community just as it is with schools will create job opportunities. Residents can participate in these building projects by doing site clearance as part of volunteering. This means removing trees and vegetation then digging out roots, organic materials, large rocks and other impediments. Once the project is done, the government can then officially hire people as cleaners, securities and health care assistants for those qualified.

These means will not accommodate everyone but will surely make a huge difference in the community. The more the government establishes community projects, the more job opportunities are created. 

Our communities are still short of many recreational environments like safe sports playgrounds, libraries and art galleries. These are the type of environments that keep our youth busy, these are places where young people nurture their hobbies and pursue their talents. All these things I have mentioned will give our residents something productive to look forward to and I believe that if our people are kept busy, chances of turning to crime are very slim.

My take is, South Africa is a beautiful and interesting country however it still needs to be developed into an even better place. People need to be involved in these developments as a way of giving back to the community. Thank you.