There ’ s still hope despite SA ’ s ills
STORIES OF KUBHEKA AND XUZA MUST INSPIRE ALL OF US
WE ARE supposed to be depressed because Bafana Bafana were kicked out of the Chan tournament and reduced to *** words that only Sports Minister Fikile Mbalula has the courage to utter. It is as if we had expected better. We are supposed to be depressed because in December, while we mourned global icon Nelson Mandela, our President Jacob Zuma seemed to be out of his depth.
It took US President Barack Obama and his Malawian counterpart Joyce Banda to give us something to lift our spirits.
It would have been better coming from our leader, but I can almost hear a political cynic like our popular columnist Prince Mashele retorting: “What did you expect from Jacob Zuma?”
We are supposed to be depressed because the scourge of violence against young women and children continues despite the establishment of a ministry that is allegedly championing the rights of women, youth and those living with disabilities.
We are supposed to be depressed because the majority of young people, particularly blacks, are unemployed.
A large number who have passed matric and other school leavers have entered a hopeless labour market that has lost the appetite to give them a chance of a decent livelihood.
For the past few years young people have been piling into the labour market in vain, creating what could develop into a social bomb with an unknown detonation date.
We are supposed to be depressed because our democratic state has begun to transform itself into a murderous state, killing civilians at whim and in a manner reminiscent of the apartheid and colonial era states.
Political science literature is full of theories that explain the desperate necessity for states to use force when their moral clout to get their way through peaceful means has waned.
Rather than investigate and exonerate the cops who killed in Mothutlung, the government might do well to establish why the state over which it presides is losing persuasive soft power.
If many citizens were to spend disproportionate amounts of their time thinking about all these things, they could easily end up in an inten- sive care unit in a state hospital where the likelihood of emerging with worse psychological scars could not be ruled out. But I refuse to be depressed. We have a wonderful country. Despite all its ills – and they are countless – ours remains a beautiful place to live in.
We also have wonderful people doing wonderful things. Whenever I think about them, I believe this country has a great future – never mind Zuma, Mothutlung, Nkandla, e-tolls and other factors that fuel the national depression.
I have in mind Sandile Kubheka from Masondeza village near New Castle, KwaZulu-Natal, who became the first known South African to qualify as a doctor at the age of 20.
I also have in mind 25-year-old Siyabulela Xuza from Mthatha, Eastern Cape, who invented a fuel cell – a chip capable of storing energy for a longer period.
Kubheka started school at age five and his excellent performance motivated his teachers to skip him a grade.
He graduated from the University of KwaZulu-Natal’s Nelson Mandela School of Medicine in November last year and he is doing his internship in Pietermaritzburg.
Kubheka confounded a sceptical nurse who examined him prior to his admission to the school of medicine.
“A nurse who did X-rays on us [prospective students] told me straight to my face that I was too young, that I would be distracted and never complete my studies,” Kubheka told Sowetan last month.
“What is important is to prioritise the future and plan ahead. I always keep a positive mind, expect the worst and hope for the best.”
Many young people in this country need a prescribed dose of Kubheka ’ s philosophy of life.
Even more inspiring is Xuza, whose story was published in the Sunday Times.
He graduated with an energy engineering degree from Harvard University in the US.
It certainly can’t get more prestigious than the mention of graduate, science and Harvard in one sentence.
While pursuing his studies, Xuza decided to investigate an alternative way of storing energy for cellphones.
He was quoted as saying that micro fuel cells will offer a solution to the cellphone battery problem.
He spent a year of his five years in the US putting together a groundbreaking innovation. He put in 20 hours a day, surviving on mineral supplements.
“Some people have five years to work on a project like this. I had one year and I had to make it work. I think I lost 15kg in 2012,” Xuza told the Sunday Times.
His commitment to his work has earned him praises from US first lady Michelle Obama, who said her husband and Xuza were a living proof of what Mandela said about education; that it is the most powerful weapon you can use to change the world.
Kubheka and Xuza are the real role-models for a future South Africa. We would like to tell inspiring stories like this.
If you have, or know someone who has done wonders for themselves, their family or your community please send me an e-mail. I would like to have your story published.