OPINION | He who pays the piper calls the tune
I’ve spent the past two weeks in my ancestral village on the Wild Coast, and it’s clear why the ANC has been the dominant political party for 25 years. And why it will scrape through and win another mandate to govern for five more years.
The party has largely kept its rural voters happy – mainly through cash transfers to poor people – even though the countryside is devoid of any significant infrastructure, industry, development or jobs to bring about the promised “better life for all”.
While city slickers are grappling with power cuts, life is humming along on the rolling hills of the Transkei. It is exempt from the rolling blackouts affecting the country; not once has there been load-shedding. Then again, we only got connected to the grid eight months ago.
Down here, not many people have heard of state capture and the efforts of deputy chief justice Raymond Zondo. Corruption is what the “clever blacks” talk about in the cities.
There being no industry whatsoever, young people are idle, with no job prospects. Those who used to go to the mines to look for jobs have long since given up. Many of my childhood friends have no hope of ever getting jobs. They will only get a steady income when they become pensioners.
Sure, the government does provide for the most pressing needs. Nobody pays school or university fees. And for food the government pays R400 per month for every child up to the age of 18 – a handsome income if you don’t have to pay rent or transport.
The government also pays for buses to transport children to school. The last “job opportunity” down here was when the municipality laid out the infrastructure to connect the towns to the grid. Now that the construction is done, people mill around. Elders wait for payday while drinking home-made brews.
My immediate neighbours, an industrious couple in their 50s, brew umqombothi and other alcoholic beverages, served in 1l or 5l containers. The first customer arrives at dawn. The last patron leaves at dusk. Nobody breaks the 6pm curfew imposed by the village. With such limited options to socialise, nobody wants to risk being ostracised.
Being first at the drinking hole confers a few advantages.
For a start, you’re early enough to enjoy most of your drink in peace. And by the time the next visitor arrives, you are halfway through your drink and merry enough to share. This guarantees good company and continuous drink for as long as you are prepared to stick around.
Down here, the government is the only employer. So you see teachers, police officers and state officials, but little private industry.
What keeps these sleepy villages ticking over are transfers from the government and remittances from upcountry. Together with the money sent by husbands working in the mines, these payments are the biggest source of income. Poverty is a thing of the past. But still, very few work the land.
Pensioners receive R1,800. Based on this income, the Pakistanis and Bangladeshis who run the general dealers then extend credit to the pensioners.
But the electricity stays on. And as sure as the sun rises in the east every morning, the cash vans will come around at month-end to deliver the life-sustaining social grants so many rely on...
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