At last the penny is dropping when it comes to handouts
IT’S INTERESTING to read the message that came out of the recent Alliance conference. When all the political double-speak is brushed aside, it seems that our leaders have finally decided it’s time for the people to stop expecting handouts and to get off their backsides and start looking after themselves. Part of the statement praises the resourcefulness of the people, but adds: “This resourcefulness of South Africans is a remarkable asset, but these strengths and traditions have become somewhat weakened by a message that ‘the state will deliver’.” More than somewhat, I think. For far too long the voters have believed the promises made by politicians at election times. Candidates have assured people they’ll get free houses, free education, electricity, land, water, you name it. “Just vote for us and we promise a Better Life for All.”
Of course, if people are told they’ll receive free everything, why should they bother to work hard?
One of the results of these promises is that people have become angry when the promises are not fulfilled, so they stage protest marches, waving banners saying “We demand…”
But no government in the world can afford simply to hand out free houses and land and give grants to every parent, every unemployed person and every pensioner and malingerer who holds out a hand.
Sooner or later somebody has to pay – and taxpayers can only be squeezed to a certain point.
I heard a very interesting opinion by a young black school-leaver being interviewed on a radio chat show not long ago. “The people who have benefited most from the state’s BEE programme,” he said, “have been young white males. This is because they have seen that preferential treatment is given to black students, so the whites have had to fend for themselves and set up their own businesses. They’ve gone ahead while we blacks have been waiting for handouts.”
Now it seems that this message has finally reached our leaders, who seem to be changing their whole attitude toward handouts.
It will be interesting to see whether they have the strength to walk the talk and get communities improving their lives rather than expecting the government to do it for them.
The promised “better life for all” is an achievable goal, but only if we build that better life for ourselves. Nobody owes us a life.