“Not everything that is faced can be changed; but nothing can be changed until it is faced.” James Baldwin
Why do I feel like white people played us when it came to Joburg hey? Why do I feel like I’ve been in the sunken place when it comes to it? I mean, who even dubbed it the city of gold hey? Nah Maan, follow me here…… Almost every black person who wants to make it in SA gets concentrated in Joburg! Every single one of them! *And this is what I find most problematic about it, to be honest* This is apartheid 2.0, think about it! They get us out of all our other provinces (Huge ones, I might add) and get us to move to the smallest one. How did we fall for this?
Now we go to places like Cape town and feel like guests in our own country! We need to be smart! and actually follow the money! I mean isn’t that what we want from Joburg anyway? Money? To better our lives and live a better quality of life! Yes, Joburg has the highest number of millionaires than anywhere else in the country, however it’s still not us and they have second homes outside Joburg! We mingle with them and start thinking we are them! And they’re preparing to move out in dozens fam, while they have you convinced it’s the holy mecca of SA!
While in reality, we are actually lab rats stuck in a cage, they sell the dream that is not truly attainable. Reasons, why we make jokes about people buying expensive cars that they cannot afford in Joburg! *we can discuss that phenomenon another time* Why People are on constant burn out, property prices are sky high and therein making ownership near impossible and they build bo Cosmo city for us while they are chilling ko bo Hyde Park, Sandhurst and Bryanston! *By the way, realise that these places have a lot more greenery than anywhere else in Jozi* They said, u can make it, it is all in your hands and impossible is nothing! And we drive ourselves crazy trying to get this golden apple, live on coffee and late nights but they forget to tell you the systems they put in place to ensure you are stuck in beggarship’, they got us believing we are free *fine print is: only in theory and only within this part of the country, know your place black man! *
I mean the argument is Joburg salaries are better, well why don’t they make salaries everywhere better? Imagine if you would get paid the same everywhere in the major cities at least, would you still choose Joburg? This is by design bruh! Same way apartheid was designed! Why are they making it the only place we feel included and inclusive? ‘The only place where we are not tribalistic’ and we don’t have to face the real issues we need to speak about and sort out as black people! Bophuthatswana or more appropriately, Sun city much?
Fam, they have us competing with ourselves, never them but us! Why the emergence and fight to be “the chosen black”! See, I get it, being in a place as hard-core as Cape Town is hard for us, hard for our souls and sanity but it provides reality! Joburg takes out the revolting out of us, we forget places like Diepsloot exist! We forget 65% of black south Africans still live in abject poverty! FAM! “Stats SA’s poverty trends report shows that one in two South Africans live under the poverty line, amounting to about 30 million people living in poverty. Statistician-General Pali Lehohla black people continue to bear the brunt of poverty”
Fam, Joburg is not real! It’s a trickster! It’s a lab rat! The real money and economy is out there, where there’s fresh air, majestic views and loads and loads of land! These people are pulling our strings while chilling at the beach I am not welcome in, in my own country and I have played right into their hands!
They got me convinced Cape town is not for me! PE is not for me! Pretoria! They have made me a hesitant explorer in my own country! Aowa! I am getting myself out of this Matrix Shem. The more we allow this, the more they take ownership of the country! We need to fight for our country! Fam Joburg is easy! It’s the rest of the country that’s a problem and worth fighting for!
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