LETTER: A fake celebration, applauded by fake leaders
Freedom means nothing to more than 10-million unemployed people, who struggle to survive every day
The nation celebrated Freedom Day with pomp and pageantry. Flowery language from our out-of-touch leaders added to the carnival atmosphere.
The grim reality is that our freedom is a mirage and will remain elusive. The flame of freedom was doused by the political and social status quo.
Gender equality is a mirage as our women are commodified. Our poor are treated with contempt. For them, freedom remains meaningless. The unemployed and the destitute have lost all hope as freedom is a fleeting promise.
True liberty encompasses four cardinal components: freedom, justice, happiness and the truth. How can we celebrate Freedom Day when millions of South Africans go to bed hungry every night?
Freedom means nothing to more than 10-million unemployed people, who struggle to survive on a daily basis.
Freedom is meaningless to the 15,000 people living on the streets of Johannesburg, and millions who survive in shanty towns and squatter camps. Freedom loses its essence when only 17 in 100 South Africans have medical aid or health insurance. How do we equate freedom to the nearly 7,500 children under the age of five who die annually as a direct result of hunger?
Sixty innocent people are murdered every day in SA. Criminal elements robbed them of the most important freedom ordained by Almighty God: the right to life. Freedom evaporates when we are forced to live under siege.
We fought a brutal war to gain our freedom only to lose it because criminals took away our freedom of movement.
Where is the freedom of 14-million South Africans who have no access to water and safe sanitation? Where is the freedom of 1-million children who cannot afford schooling due to endemic poverty?
Our rail infrastructure has been looted and destroyed, depriving millions of people the freedom to commute. The freedom to travel on our roads has been drastically curtailed because of potholes.
Sadly, our government and its pathetic leaders have been given the freedom to lie. Like fake news, Freedom Day is a fake celebration, applauded by fake leaders, who with their fake promises have lulled us into a fake sense of security.
Anyone surveying our shattered landscape will realise that freedom in our rainbow nation is a fleeting illusion.
Farouk Araie
Via email
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