KARABO NKOLI | How do the youth celebrate freedom amid injustice

American social philosopher and author Eric Hoffer once said: “The oppressed want above all to imitate their oppressors.”

As a South African “born-free”, that sums up my analysis of 30 years of our democracy.

The only difference between us and the youth of 1976 is that we now share the space as our oppressor. We the so-called "born-frees" of SA are the most educated generation and yet the ones affected the most by unemployment.

What do we have to celebrate when many of our youth sit at home with their certificates, diplomas and degrees, plunging into a world of depression? This is why I found it  distasteful for  President Cyril Ramaphosa in his January 8 statement, to be proud that  millions more  South Africans are relying on grants in comparison to 2.5 million  in 1999.

His Tintswalo analogy during the state of the nation address  sounded like our president is out of touch with the challenges South African youth face. What do we celebrate 30 years later when SA is seen as more corrupt than ever before? What do we celebrate 30 years later when white supremacy still reigns in SA?

 Thirty years later racism still thrives in SA which is  why on December 9 2017 the Leicester family forced a black employee to drink faeces before attempting to drown him in a septic tank on their farm.

The apartheid flag continues to fly  high, as seen with the  existence of a whites-only town, Orania.  And there are whites  calling for Western Cape's independence. What do we celebrate 30 years later when our right to education as the youth is infringed?

A recent study report, Progress in International Reading Literacy Study, disclosed that 81% of grade 4 learners cannot read for meaning in any of SA’s 11 official languages. Thousands of schoolchildren in the Eastern Cape  walk more than 10km a day, passing through rivers to get to school, their shoes wearing out and their books getting wet.

Then there's the neverending issue of sex-pest  teachers, who use their positions of authority to  coerce learners to have sex with them. In extreme cases, forced sex is used as a bargaining ticket to progress vulnerable pupils to  the next grade. Perpetrators  evade accountability by paying bribes to the school and even to the learners’ parents.

What do we celebrate 30 years later when our society's enablement of rape culture has produced a grade 7 learner who raped a grade 2 learner?

Today congregants assemble claiming to  pray to  God  and yet enable  injustice in society through suppressing rape victims who speak out in the church, in the effort to protect their predatory pastors.

What do we celebrate 30 years later, when very sick patients are transferred  from Kopanong Hospital to Sebokeng Hospital due to a lack of an X-ray scanner? The Life Esidimeni tragedy that led to the deaths of 144 people as a result of poor leadership and negligence by this government is another blight on this democracy.  What do we celebrate when there are patients who sleep on the floor in the corridors of hospitals, patients who die in wheelchairs in our hospitals while the former president seeks medical assistance in Russia?

All this injustice by our leaders has unfortunately visited lethargy upon my generation.  The youth  rather spend their energy tweeting and using hashtags on different social media platforms instead of being physically present to lead the winds of change. We are more informed about TikTok dance challenges, the lives of celebrities than the real state of the youth and country at large.

 Thirty years later, it makes absolute sense why Mama Letta Mbulu in 1996 hit   Not Yet Uhuru,  asks if we are really free.  Those words echo the reality that we young South Africans face today. 

What's next beyond voting?

• Nkoli is an author and founder  of Youth Must Rise Movement