South Africa is falling apart! It is struggling to swim upstream. From bad leadership, a struggling economy, corrupt politicians, youth unemployment and horrendous crimes being committed, I don’t think I need to say more. As much as we would like to blame the government and current leadership for all the social ills of the country, we, as the citizens of South Africa, are also to blame for the country’s downfall. Why is that, you may ask? Here’s why.

We, as South Africans, are very entitled. We feel like we are being owed something. Whatever we are being given, we feel like we deserve it anyway, and it should have been more. First, we complain about the lack of jobs while we sit on our bums. We even complain about foreigners taking our jobs. We even fail to start small businesses because we think we are too good for certain ventures.

 I’ve never seen a South African peddling a trolley under the scorching sun selling vegetables because it is low class doing so and what will people say? A foreigner never listens to the negative talk because he knows at the end of the day his children must eat. If we could take a good look around, we would see that foreign people are smarter than us. Hair salons are operated by Mozambicans, tuck shops are being run by Ethiopians or Somalians and food stalls by Zimbabweans and please forgive me for stereotyping. 

What are South Africans doing? A nation that likes taking the easy way out when the other roads are full of thorns and ruts. Other neighbouring nations don’t even take us seriously. But who can take a nation that gets drunk, from Friday to Sunday seriously? Where our young girls sell themselves cheaply calling themselves” slay queens’ to older, moneyed married men? Where children drop out of schools like its in fashion? Where young boys turn to being “nyaope boys” picking and selling scrap metals for mere Rands to feed their habit? And when those scraps run out, they resort to stealing in their homes and from other people? And when stealing from other people doesn’t work out, they turn to steal and destroy the country’s infrastructure which in turn hurts the economy? Where a man can lose his life over R1 just because he said he didn’t have any? Where parents’ lives are taken by their own children because they couldn’t afford to buy them branded clothing? 

And who are we going to blame for the mess the country is in? The president? Maybe. The government? Sure. But we are also to blame. South Africa is rotting and we are to blame. We can’t expect our government to fix the problems alone. We are a democratic country after all. In case you have all forgotten what is democracy, I will remind you:” A democracy is a government of the people , for the people and by the people.”

 If we are to point a finger and hold the government accountable, we must remember the other three fingers are pointing at us. We must hold ourselves accountable for the slow demise of our country and work together to make it a strong and thriving nation. Let me close with the words: “Ask not what your country can do for you. Ask what you can do for your country.”