2010

I get so excited when I see the SABC add to come together and make 2010 a success. Similarly, after Mbeki’s Origins Centre speech, I was temporarily on a high, just imagining us all coming together to make this country great. Putting aside our selfish, petty little problems with each other, putting aside our little envy problems and material desires. Imagine the incredibly diverse people in the country uniting. The potential is limitless. And sometimes Mbeki seems to be the guy to do it. But then reality collapses on your head. Just at the point when you realise, “ITS NOT FOR YOU!”. It wasn’t said to you, for you, and you aren’t welcome to be part of it. You are one of the unwelcome fringes. You’re not the black SA businessman, director, middle class suburb dweller, ANC member or black SA woman. You’re Indian, or coloured, or Zimbabwean, or (gasp) white male the lowest of the low. Or you’re me. A black unemployed shack dweller who has never paid tax, never had a bank account, never been part of the New SA. And it looks like he never will be. The guy watching things happen from the sidewalk. Or the shebeen. Uninvolved and non-contributing. You can never apply for all these jobs which are all Affirmative Action Only. You can never take up these student bursaries for black South Africans Only. It’s a disappointment to see you coming to apply for a job. In fact, people would really prefer it if you weren’t there at all, if you just didn’t exist to complicate their lives. (thank God for this shebeen – I think I need another quart right now). You just spend your days hoping to receive your free house built by some AA contractors (Really you wish you could build it yourself, at least you’d feel you’re doing something creative). Mbeki isn’t referring to me. Nor is the SABC. They couldn’t give a damn what I do or don’t do, so long as I don’t interfere in the great 2010 organisation and preparation. I suppose that’s why the only part I’ll play is mugging the surprised Koreans of their digital cameras. At least I know most of the police force are as depressed and demotivated as me about it all. And they surely feel as alien as me too, despite their barcoded IDs. And the worst of it is, we all have no idea where we should go to be wanted. Barman, another and make it cold. However, I do hope whoever is shupposed to get it together for 2010 does sho, and ish a huge shucshess...