The TV is blaring politics. "Order! Point of Order, Honorable Mshweshwe." South Africa is once again in a state of false hope and euphoria. We have a new president. I, unfortunately, do not have much hope in the man, as he is a representative of the same corrupt political party that our prior president headed up, the man who thought he could cure AIDS with a shower, Jacob Zuma. The country is hopeful, almost desperate for someone to pull us out of the mire. I am not optimistic. I am sad. I am thinking of leaving my homeland.
Rape and murder is a familiar story on the news, and I can't take it anymore. Our infrastructure is falling apart, while Zuma swims in his firepool at his mansion built with our tax money.
I want to leave. My heart breaks.
In this insane chaos, there is precious beauty. There are stories of love, union and pain. I always feel at times like these, we are more united as a country than ever before.
To be South African, is to be resilient. We are hard working bastards. We are tolerant. We LOVE hard. We are not called The Rainbow Nation for nothing.
I hope for change. I hope that corruption is abolished. I hope that my hope is not false. I WANT to stay. I want to have babies, and I want them to be South African. I want them to feel the African sun on their skin, while playing with their friends in the sand. I want them to defined by their intelligence and honesty, and not by the colour of their skin.
My hopes are that the people of South Africa realise that corruption needs to be extinguished. That a welfare state is not the way forward. We CANNOT pay people to stay at home with the hardworking every man's money. We cannot have free everything. It is a vicious circle; welfare and many freebies create a culture of laziness, a people who will rather wait for handouts than work for their money. The more handouts, the more tax. The more tax, the less money to go back into our beautiful economy.
In all of this, I remember that I am a child of God. I remember that my God has always got my back. I am always protected. I am grateful. I am hopeful. I pray for my country, and I stay put. I am an African child, and this is where I stay.
Africa Unite.
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@princessesmewmew your country situation is same like Pakistan because in Pakistan there are many corrupt politicians and presidents of different parties which are not doing well progress but I want to know why a Nation select such corrupt politicians again and again
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I totally agree with you on this:
A lot of people need to understand that nothing is free, especially if its offered by the government. But apparently the idea of receiving something "free" is too attractive to some, so attractive that they don't take time to think about the possible repercussions of a dynamic like that.
This meme explains it perfectly
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absolutely! I think for most, they don't even think to ask... But where does the money come from?
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Nope, they don't dare think that question, I don't know if its because of innocence or because of fear for their "free things" fantasy to collapse.
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This has a tremendous amount of depth and sincerity. I appreciate you opening a window into what's going on there - first person accounts are always more honest and raw than media reports.
With all the turmoil and uncertainty, you end the article beautifully:
I hope the very best for you and your nation — Much respect!!!
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Ah thanks my friend. I sat staring at my screen wanting to do a post in beautifully distressed items and had all my pics ready, but my husband was watching a political assembly on the tv and the way they were going on, I had to say something. It started with the first sentence and then it wouldn’t stop pouring out !
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I love your honesty and your faith, @princessmewmew , your heart so devoted to your country. The quote @overkillcoin picked here is beautiful, though I can feel your frustration and pain as well. You speak of resilience, and I think we all need that. Blessings to you, to your country, and to this beautiful planet we all share together.
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thank you babe! I am in a better space of mind now, but still confused as to why people are celebrating this new president. It's the same party with a different representative. I can't understand! Anyway, we see how it goes, make sure we have money in silver and cash, and loads of crypto, so we can escape to be millionaires in another country (hehehe that is the dream at least)
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That's a good dream! Dreamin' with you. :)
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I think the issue with African leaders is shortsightedness and people pleasing. We need in Africa, leaders that will do the right things regardless of people's opinions. Most of them want re-election and they belief pleasing people will do that and so they bring up policies that'll make the people happy regardless of its long term negative effects.
I am a Nigerian and there's this governor I really respect. He conducted evaluation tests for his state's teachers and 80% of them failed. He laid them off. Leaders like this are what we need, leaders that'll do the needful regardless of people's opinions. Insightful and hopeful post by the way.
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thank you babe! I appreciate your comment. I think you are 100% right. Here (I'm sure it is similar in nigeria) I think the politicians like to grease the hands of those who will help them personally - therefore making decisions based on usefulness, and not qualifications :( its so sad, we live in the most beautiful place in the world!
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politics cannot bring change. Change has the be lived from the bottom upwards! We can only hope governments do not get in our way too much
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Most valuable word is
Corruption Creates poverty
this is damn true
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exhilarated & congenial!
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My dad always says:"The safest place to be is where God wants you to be". I think the whole world is in chaos at the moment and right now God wants me to be in South Africa.
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ah I love this so much!
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Maybe one day people will realize that what you sow is what you reap.
If they want a royal life for free - then they should be prepared to offer up freedom. (well so to say, at least.)
Hope you have a stunning day!
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Oh hey! Thank you so much for your comment. I just want people to understand what they are doing when they offer these hand outs to the poor, who are more likely thinking of their next meal than where the money comes from.
Are you South African?
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I hear you!
Yup - I am indeed a resilient, hard working basterdess, with overflowing love-levels, as well as a sense of tolerance towards the chaos that we call 'life' in SA
:D
Which part of SA do you stay in?
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Basterdesses unite! I’m in Cape Town. And you? Look we both know, it’s a beautiful country, it just gets a little crazy sometimes. 😣
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True Story!
I am a Limpopo 'plaasmeisie'
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Lekker meisie kind! Dankie vir die mooi boodskappies. Ek waardeer jou ondersteuning 💜💜💜
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If it gets to the point of being seriously unsafe do you guys have a plan? I hope so, and I say this as I lived abroad and a Civil War started/Coup.....had to come back to the states which has a TON of problems but I wasn't having to hear Molotov's crashing into the Coffeeshop up the block.
stay safe, dm me if you guys need anything
<3 b.a.
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Ah you know babe I don’t know if it will get there, especially where we live (Cape Town). It’s beautiful here, and it’s not unsafe in the streets or where we live. It just kills me that I can’t go hike if I am alone or go to a secluded beach. Mork doesn’t like those things so if I want to hike I have to find at least two other girls and make sure we are very vigilant. I feel caged sometimes.
We’ve thought about California and maybe Spain or somewhere like that, but we’ve never thought too hard so we don’t have a proper answer.
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This is true for almost all the people in the world, we need to abolish corruption in all forms of government, I say this to you @princessmewmew for it is also true for me here in my country. It only take one to lead a nation, may south africa find a leader that wishes what is good for the people and not take what does not belong to him/her. Keep your stand and always be safe. Thank you for this eye opener.
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Gosh, I feel like a totally uninformed moron reading this about South Africa. I had no idea the turmoil your country faced. I feel you sister.
American is batshit crazy right now, with school shootings and an assininely embarrasing buffoon for a president... but, where do we go? We love our land, our people, our customs. 💓
I'm going to go get woke on what's up in South Africa because my mainstream media certainly isn't doing your strife any justice.
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ah don't feel that way! Steemit is a great tool to educate ourselves on the different situations all over the world. 💓 💓 💓
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ha ha Dis 'n moerse plesier!
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I'm a firm believer that the people gets the Government they deserve. If the majority continues to vote and support these corrupt Politicians, things will never change.
Having said that, I'm carefully optimistic about the future now that Zuma is gone. I mean, he has set the bar so low, anybody will do better.
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A blind elephant could do better, so yes, I understand the optimism. But having listened to the budget speeches and all this talk of land re-appropriation and increasing the welfare percentages - I think it is not good.
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Coincidentally, I've been getting a lot of material about South Africa in my usual media digest, and well, I can't deny that's one country I have a vague knowledge about.
You know, the usual stuff: BRICS, wines, Elon Musk, apartheid regime.
But then, this week I was reading about lack of potable water in Capetown, and what has caught my interest was the fact that two sources that usually have rather similar points of view had a bit of a disagreement:
while one was saying the whole issue was the result of the global warming, another claimed it was corrupt government that has lead the capitol of the Republic to limit water distribution to 50 liters per person.
As I see it, it is probably a really unfortunate combination of both factors.
Next thing I know is yesterday I read about Jacob Zuma resigning and a the same party appoints another guy that has been involved in some shady deals with energy and mining corporations.
Anyways. Where I'm going is: while it is hard from me to get fully the realities of South Africa, I can relate to your feelings about considering leaving the country and wishing for the corruption to finally cease. As a person born and raised in yet another BRICS country, a modern history of which has also de-facto has been restarted in the early 90s, I have faced those thoughts at some point.
I have left though. Not that I am suggesting that, but I definitely would suggest you to go out and unwind a bit.
Hope you have a great day
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thank you so much for this encouraging comment. Yes, I do feel like I need to get away a bit to appreciate it more. I think with the crazy media we can become completely . inundated with it and definitely need to turn off sometimes
My opinion on the water crisis is that we live in a hot and dry place. It has always been hot and dry. The government knew in 1990 about the issues with the infrastructure but pushed them under the carpet, and did not spend the tax payers money on upgrading it. they instead built a huge motherfucker of a house for our fat ex president Zuma.
Thanks for your commenty. I really appreciate it :)
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Let us assume for a moment that the government does not fix things (a fair assumption I believe), and that you feel compelled to leave. While anywhere in the U.S. would be orders of magnitude better than SA in its current state (as relates to governance), for goodness sake, you might as well set your sights higher than CA (or The People’s Republic of California as it is sometimes affectionately referee to)! Heck, from a water supply standpoint alone you would be moving from the frying pan to the fire. Swings and roundabouts as far as I can see in that regard...soon enough anyway.
Seriously though, I am angered by the direction we seem to be headed in the U.S., and I can see a day in the future when America will resemble SA. Still, I cannot imagine how frustrating it must be to want something better and have so little hope of it coming to fruition. I do not do well with hope (aside from my hope in eternity with Christ), but you seem to be pulling it off.
It seems there is little I can do to affect change in the states and even less so for SA. My current plan is to educate myself more, and try to let others know about the situation.
I am excited to see Lauren Southern’s documentary, and I hope it gains some traction. Stefan Molyneux has some good insights as well I believe. I would be interested in your take on these sources, and any others you would recommend as I can guarantee you your situation will not be properly addressed in our (or most anyone’s) mainstream media.
Even in Cape Town, stay frosty, stay safe!
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Yes, I watched Lauren Southern's doc, and cried like a baby. It rings very true with me. My family had a farm, and it was just my ouma and my groot ouma (my grandmother and great-grandmother) who lived on the farm after my oupa (grandpa) died. They were attacked. These two tiny, strong willed, hard working, salt of the earth farming women were tied up in their small farm house, while some filthy bastards looted their already bare and meagrely furnished farmhouse. These are farmers. These are not millionaires. Luckily, they were not hurt, and we promptly sold the farm (we had to in order to buy them a small townhouse in the nearest town). I lost my heritage because of that. The place I grew up and dreamed of taking my kids to one day. It is so sad. Heart breaking. And much, much, more violence than is necessary in a "robbery" as they are being called.
I honestly say California as the lifestyle seems so similar to us here in Cape Town, but to be honest, we have not given it much thought, and have never even visited America.
Having said all this, South Africa is a beautiful, magical place, and I am convinced that there are enough people who live here that truly care to make a change.
So yes. I am glad Lauren is doing this series. I saw a fellow South African write how she is wasting her time doing this, and that there are better topics to cover. I truly believe this is a great topic to cover. These are families, being raped, and murdered, and yes, I do also believe that it may subconsciously be a plan to eradicate the farmers from their land. Guess what? It is working. We sold our farm. The farm that my family legitimately bought way back in 1840.
And now, I leave you with a light hearted farewell to that crummy bastard, Zuma.
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Ok, I interact directly with three or four people from South Africa in my entire life, all in the last month, and one of them was directly affected by the farm lands issues. I would say it is a more than important enough to be discussing. At the end of the day it is about way more than that. She is getting at the systemic problems underlying the entire mess! I am sorry your family went through that and that you lost what cannot be gotten back.
I am glad people obviously understand what a waste of good breathing air Zuma was, I hope they come to the realization that a stand-in is not going to solve the problems. One wonders if it can get worse.
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I think it can. The budget speech was the day before yesterday and there are plans to increase the welfare allowances. Not good. I don't want to end up like Venezuela
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I have read your post half a dozen times in the last two hours. Knowing I have to comment, but not finding the words.
The last two paragraphs hit me. Some of the most powerful words I have read in quite some time. I too will pray for your country, and for us all.
Thank you for a very heartfelt post. I really do appreciate it.
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Ah you don't have to comment, but I am pleased that you felt that you should. I enjoy your comments. I'm glad you appreciated my little prayer. I think prayer is what gets us through some very tough times.
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Unfortuantely I know about all this from my SA friend...
It is insane to think that it is still happening now, in 2018... :(
Part of stuff like this made me leave Athens, even though maybe I shouldn't have (?)
Stay strong!
Lots of love sweetie :*
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thanks babes :) I feel like I should stay, like it is my duty to stay. But i also worry for our future.
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Good post...add me
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the great one. please follow me
i need your help
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no man!!! TSEK!!!!
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I can't wait to get my SP back so I can flag these crazies with full power again!
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nuke dem dead!
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good loov
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