Apart from unblocked sinuses and a straight septum, what the operation has given me is ample time to mull over what is going on in our fair land. Rampant & shameless corruption, the slow hanging of Julius Malema (ANC Youth League leader and resident big-mouth-Trust-Fund-baby), tragic Springboks playing embarassing rugby, rowdy, smelly municipal strikes and an excruciatingly inept search for the new Chief Justice. So, business as usual.
And then there is the Bish - and his "guilt tax"
Bishop Tutu (who is my celebrity crush and Number 1 fantasy dinner party guest) has suggested that as wealthy white people in SA benefitted most from Apartheid - they should pay that benefit forward. He sees this happening in the form of regular conscience donations - paid into a fund, that will be used to eradicate the awful, awful poverty in this country.
Interesting thought. We whites did all benefit from Apartheid - most specifically through the excellent education and the sense of self-worth and entitlement we grew up with. An education that allowed many of us to go out into the world and prosper. A sense of self that taught us to be wholly sufficient, determined, capable. That gave us an incredible work ethic.
Not the same education that was offered our compadres.
Nope, that system, the so-called 'Bantu Education System' was aimed at keeping our countrymen uneducated and in their place. Which the Apartheid Government believed was as a manual labour force. Thankfully - brains, tenacity and ability triumphed and we have been blessed with great leaders, great thinkers, great activists, great artists and great business minds from that 'system'. People who prevailed over Apartheid and helped bring SA to this place of freedom.
But who do you pick to pay Bish? To give you this money? There are very rich white folks, no doubt at all. There are also very rich Black, Chinese, Indian and Coloured folks. Who became rich before '94, who continue to grow richer. And then there are the folks who have taken their new positions in our government and grown rich through pandering and corruption. If all of us who benefitted from apartheid are paying forward our bonuses and blessings - surely it would be wholly inappropriate to leave them out?
And what's the start figure. A billion Rand, two billion? A million? Do we start at the top of this food chain, or with the middle-class. What would be offered in return? This is Africa - there's always a trade.
You've suggested a group of 'elders': comprised of financial, moral, commercial and social leaders should administer the fund. Now, I like that idea. People with proven track records - who have been around the block and earned their stripes. Not the ANC's hiring current criteria: marriage, kinship and "what have you done for me lately"? Can I request that some of them come from other countries - and that they should be richer than any of our home grown billionaires? It will help keep everyone honest.
I want it to work, but I can't help but wondering: could this create a parallel government of sorts. A government apart? And could that encourage our already out-to-lunching ANC to see this as an opportunity to do even less about ending poverty, and even more about leaving it to someone else to solve?
Over to you now Bish. By the way - please know that I am entirely aware of the irony in my musings. And that they are happening from a hospital bed in a private room paid for by health insurance that I can afford because I was educated, able to travel, pretty damn tenacious myself and white.
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