Our president put it perfectly “Our people need to work; our people need to eat”. If eating is really all we need to do, then here are 2 statistics that will tell you that no matter how smart or hard people work they will continue to eat crumbs.
- The top 1% of South African earners take home almost 20% of all income in the country, while the top 10% take home 65%. The remaining 90% of South African earners get only 35% of total income.
- The wealthiest 1% owns 67% of all the country’s wealth. The top 10% owns 93%. The remaining 90% of South Africa owns a paltry 7% of the country’s wealth.
Our people have reached the point where we are willing to risk our very lives for basic needs, while others argue for cigarettes, alcohol and travel.
In the past few weeks I have found myself in a very odd position of the “Armchair Critic” literally. Though my opinions were shared with only one person, they were still opinions.
In chapter 2 of the SA Constitution (Bill of Rights), the order of the sections is as follows Equality, Human Dignity, Life, Freedom & Security…My opinion is that we were so concerned with politics and economics at the moment of writing that we forgot about the thing that mattered most…LIFE and the reverence thereof.
At any given time, the collective consciousness of a family, community, province, country or the world takes over and it becomes clear what directs our decisions MIND, BODY or LIFE. While each individual is well aware that they are not willing to risk LIFE, the MIND and BODY say something else. I have not really known, homelessness, hunger or serious ill-health. I have had the opportunity to work. This is why I may be arguing from a position of ignorance.
A new revolution should be on the cards led by our leaders, yet they continue to create a country of dependents. Equality is the number one right; we are failing dismally at upholding the constitution. With every economic decision we increase the gap between those who have money and those who do not.
Let people become self-sustaining, no one must own nature and use it to hold the rest of us at ransom for food and shelter. Protect your people from money for without money, we are all equal.