Better off blacks should be ashamed - and whites too

SHOOT: I know when a British friend of mine visited South Africa for the first time, she said: "How on Earth can you have mansions with swimming pools and tennis courts, and around the corner, the destitute living in shacks?" Her point was that there appeared to be no effort to cross this divide. She may have a point, but how do you resolve the problems of the poor when the poor almost outnumber the rich?

Crime, and |South Africa's brand of ultra-violent crime, also tends to send suburbanites scurrying behind high walls.

The answer lies to some extent in education, but also in politics. If political leaders don't show, through their actions, an interest in the poor, then leadership in the community in this area is unlikely to make much of an impact. Another area is investing in labor intensive, organic, rural farming. Get the poor growing vegetables instead of dagga.

clipped from www.sowetan.co.za An interesting letter popped up from one our readers... "What concerns me is that the cocoon that I lived in during the 1960s 70s and 80s has been taken over by an emerging black middle class who have moved into suburbia, drive flashy vehicles, dress well, earn substantial salaries ... the pain that their parents, grand parents and most of their fellow South Africans endured, conveniently forgotten." This is what he thinks about emerging middle-class people. What do you think? I am one of those who still live in Soweto use taxi daily to get to work in Centurion. Let me tell you about “these” middle class people. They don’t care about anyone but themselves. I know many people who are driving from Joburg to Centurion BUT they will never make a lift club with those who are using taxis to the same place where they are going not even when its raining. Related Content Better-off blacks should be ashamed