Dear Mr President

I am a light in my community; what comes from my mouth can change the entire country to be a better place, or perhaps I must say it’s bigger than this tiny body before your eyes. I stand firm placing my right hand on my heart, and bow my head down before you as a symbol of showing respect to what I’m about to say.

I’m a young man from a small rural settlement called Dibhini, otherwise known as an outcast land on the southern side of Nelspruit. As you see my skin is beautified with the richest melanin of our great grandfathers; I’m an African. I wish I could see your feet one day stepping in Dibhini, but I’m afraid if you have any breathing sicknesses; the dust doesn’t hesitate to take everyone’s chest down; we only survive by mercy, not to mention the unpleasant smell caused by the big forest that stole our spaces and gave home to our fears; I mean the rapists and the snakes that sent our loved ones into graves. My apologies Mr President if I’m exaggerating! It’s the pain inside me. South Africa is shedding blood, and we are scared in our homes because the law is too lenient! What happened to the freedom that our grandparents fought for? To walk free in the street and not be afraid that you might be the next one going to the grave. It pains me because perpetrators have more rights nowadays than victims. Just like a few weeks back, my neighbour’s child got raped in the bushes by a known businessman, and now that treacherous man is back in the village because of bail, meaning as long as he has money he can continue to rape people. Mr President, is this the country you’re happy of leading?

To numb my pains let me dig into the beauty of my village; I live near the mountains, if I visit the top I see big and healthy cows going into the river to drink water. We don’t have electricity but we never starved because our place never ran out of firewood. At our homes we cook healthy food from our gardens; morogo and natural chickens, not the cloned ones, and it makes me happy because it contributes to saving the economy of this beautiful country. South Africa is rich in minerals, we have our gold and platinum. If you as the head of our country can take care of all the communities of South Africa, I swear we can go far. Even though I live well as a resident of Dibhini without electricity, we all need it for the sake of safety and improvement. It should be a crime to diminish nature and to litter anywhere. The law needs to be tighter! Any rapist or killer must rot in jail! Our girls and boys shall be taught at a young age about the danger that crime can lead to, and the importance of loving yourself and your own country. Sometimes people do things because they lack knowledge, hence everyone needs to be taught.

If I were the president of this country; I would make sure that no place should be called ‘abandoned’ because every part of South Africa is precious, it holds the spirit of our forefathers, hence everything that comes from the soil gives life. Our hopes lie in your hands, Honourable President, South Africa is nothing without you.