Travel lottery will help us ease our anger

South Africans are fed up with South Africa and their compatriots. Period. They are angry with South Africa continuing to be one of the most unequal societies it the world, a new century and decade later despite its abundant wealth. And they are sick of South Africans for being party to a system that allows for this continued state of affairs.

You can take any of the issues that plague our ugly country, from drugs to crime, corruption and services undelivered, to porous borders; at the heart of the matter are South Africans creating the misery that is affecting the majority of people in this country.

South Africans are frustrated – and there’s no frustration that kills the human spirit like one that does not have room for expression.

No room to think, to sulk, to talk, to walk in the fresh air, to appreciate nature and to get a change of scenery. It kills the spirit when there’s not even room or avenues to acknowledge and express that frustration in a constructive manner.

We need a travel lotto.

I’m not suggesting here a panacea for all our problems, but it will go a long way in shifting perspectives, renewing minds, refreshing tired souls and rebuilding relationships.

We need a travel lottery, funded completely by the main lotto as part of its social investment programme.

A travel lottery that costs a mere 10c to enter, giving South Africans an opportunity to win all-expenses paid trips or experience in or outside South Africa for a period ranging from a day to seven days. A daily draw and winner, seven days a week, even on Sundays.

Wouldn’t that be swell?

Gauteng, the economic heartbeat of South Africa, has some of the most underprivileged people in terms of having the opportunity to step outside their shacks, rooms, homes, neighbourhoods, townships, city or province.

Imagine living in a province that is home to a world-class African city and the economic powerhouse of the country, but you have not travelled within your own province, let alone outside it. I’m using Gauteng as an example because of its economic might and the opportunities that exist in this province. Use another province, Western Cape if you like, the story is not that different.

There are Sowetans in their advanced age who have never set foot in Atteridgeville and vice versa.

Imagine a travel lottery, which almost every entrant will have no problem consenting to being announced as winners and to share their experience afterwards. Oh, the TV show spinoffs? Nation-building content.

Imagine Thabiso Bogopa from Mshenguville near Atteridgeville winning an all-expenses paid to the Vic Falls in Zimbabwe? Groovy!