Let’s eradicate a culture of dependency and teach the youth responsibility

When the ANC government came to power in April 1994, we took to the streets in celebration.

Fast-forward 24 years later, our lives are taking a dive into hopelessness as a result of the hard-to-resist, honeysweet promises we were made by the new government.

Free houses, jobs and a better life for all, free education and free everything. Where was the money to sponsor all these unrealistic promises to come from? A promise is a credit.

Our daughters keep falling pregnant as if it is fashionable to have a child; all that they want is to cash in on the grant payments. Our boys on the other hand have reduced themselves into walking skeletons with their nyaope addiction.

Life is no better for those boys who spurn nyaope because they also lazily sit on street corners to smoke dagga or drink beer.

Can we blame them when they behave in the manner the ANC government had expected to become: people who must rely on hand-outs?

No emphasis was put on teaching the youth various ways and skills to sustain themselves. While we are grateful for the freedom, to which the ANC immensely contributed, our lives today are miserable.

The war on poverty alleviation can be won if we teach people life skills; remove the freebies mentality once and for all. McDivett Khumbulani Tshehla Halfway House