February 9 will be remembered as our day of infamy as our country was subjected to a military siege under the guise of Sona. The president’s speech should have focused on the cardinal and immense issue of abject poverty in our nation.
If left unchecked, it could devastate this country. Poverty is a ticking time bomb, and we can see its effects in riots, increased crime and socio-economic instability.
The future of this country is linked to how urgently we tackle poverty, for it is the breeding ground of helplessness and its insidious twin, hopelessness.
The larger concern is that endemic poverty is eroding the foundations of democracy. We are at a critical juncture in our history. There are serious fears about violence truncating the country’s infant democracy in the wake of poverty.
State policies to redress the economic imbalance and other socio-economic concerns have been characterised by institutional gridlocks and cosmetic projects, with little or no impact on the poverty situation. Someday, if we don’t turn things around, our comfort zone will be rocked and devastated in ways we cannot even begin to imagine.
Poverty, ignorance, hunger and malnutrition still define abject poverty in South Africa. Poverty robs people of dignity and distorts the image of God among the poor. It is South Africa’s weapon of mass destruction which, if ignited, will leave no area of our country unscathed.
Poverty is powerlessness and voicelessness. The world looks different when viewed through the eyes of a poor person. The masses have to contend with the most emotive aspects of poverty, such as extreme destitution, homelessness and starvation.
The most dangerous effect of poverty is the vulnerability of the poor to extremists, who could mobilise them to subvert existing democratic institutions. The more poverty there is, the more people lose faith in the capacity of democratic institutions to improve their welfare. There is no freedom and certainly no democracy when millions are hungry, jobless and homeless. When the masses start to revolt openly, South Africa will tremble. No amount of military might will subdue them. A political superstorm looms ahead.