None but the poor can save themselves

Poverty is not a priority problem in this country. In fact, it does not deserve the status that it has been given. What is needed is to provide for the material needs of the poor through infrastructure-building and inspirational messages. It is enough that that is being is done.

The black poor cannot continue to blame poverty for their failures. Living in a shack, walking scores of kilometers to get to school, or lack of funds may be a factor in lessening one’s chances of success but they are not a cause of failure or underperformances in themselves. Those activists who benefit from the poverty industry should be allowed to speak freely according to conscience and without fear.

But hell, no, we need to urgently stop blaming poverty for failure and underperformance, for instance. Surely people can refuse to be idle and save themselves by doing the best they can with the little they have. The rules of success don’t change: work, work and hard work. This can only be enhanced with focus, discipline, determination and resilience. This attitude is what has given us Nelson Mandela, Walter Sisulu, Duma Nokwe, Robert Sobukwe, John Hlophe, Mamphela Ramphele, Dikgang Moseneke, Pius Langa, Ruel Khoza … the list is endless. These are people who faced the greatest odds, especially poverty, but never made excuses. Instead, they kept moving forward until they fulfilled their aspirations.

After all, we are all responsible for what happens to us. It is not where we come from but where we are going that is important.There are qualities that have greater bearing upon the fate or destiny of man, irrespective of his race, background or political creed. What are they? They are the simplest things in the world within reach of all. If these things were a secret I would understand but they are not and never have been. Without hard work, focus, discipline and resilience, everyone has an excuse to blame outside factors for the situation they find themselves in.

We all need to realise that self-advancement, especially out of poverty, depends on the amount of hard work people are willing to put in. Thus the poverty trap that most find themselves in has very little to do with poverty or class background. The apologists of self-sabotage claim there is a connection between crime and poverty, for instance.
This is a myth for we should know that crime and corruption, for instance, have very little to do with poverty or class background as crime is committed by some of the richest people, too.

Sadly, what this means in practical terms is that if you are poor, your resilience, determination, focus and hard work are not going to make a difference because you are going to fail, anyway. Also, if you are poor you supposedly have no sense of morality because your poverty will, unavoidably, make you commit crime. Granted, the poor are, largely, a product of the 1913 land dispossession, economic injustice and dehumanising policies of colonialism, apartheid and racism. But we also have to accept that the poor reproduce and create themselves through spiritual poverty or lack of ambition.

Poverty is no longer a convincing explanation for lack of super-excellence and integrity. It may be a very good and politically correct excuse to promote the myth that poor students, for instance, perform poorly because they are poor. This is simply not true. An interesting parallel is that the rise in the middle class has not seen an increase in the number of previously disadvantaged individuals who do very well at school. So, material condition or class seems to have no connection with achievement. We have to discontinue promoting the excuse of racism, poor infrastructure and degrading conditions to explain the perceived sense of failure and under-achievement.

Over the last 17 years, we have continued to see white and Asian students dominate and almost monopolise the ranks of straight As in matric results, for example. However, there are encouraging signs that some black students are working very hard to turn the tide of matric results. Some black students who have attained numerous distinctions come from poverty-stricken backgrounds. How do we explain this phenomenon? Also, social scientists and researchers can provide us with an analysis of developments and trends on the number of poor students who finish courses they start at university and the grades they get. The fact that some teachers in mostly black schools are under-qualified, demoralised and demotivated, drink a lot, and have affairs with pupils may be a factor for failing pupils but is not an excuse. For God’s sake, Judge John Hlophe started school at 11 years of age and studied under a tree!

Instead, this pitying of the poor to prioritise their plight suggests that they (i.e the so-called poor) are not inclined to give their best when it comes to challenges in life. This is not because they are poor, or stupid, for that matter. Furthermore, when you closely examine the history of black super-achievers, they are not necessarily people who were straight A students but average folks.

The time has come for frank talk on why advocates and other activists for the poor want to blackmail the nation by suggesting that there is a link between poverty and crime or lack of achievement in life. It is just not right that decent people continue to “clap hands” for apologists of the poor self-sabotage who spout nonsense. It simply does not make us grapple with the real issues behind why the poor are not making headway to get out of the rut.

I am not blaming the victim here but the poor are, largely, responsible for their dehumanisation as they have it within their power to change their lot just like everyone else. But we are setting up the poor for failure, entrenching a culture of entitlement and rewarding failure by accepting the excuse that there is an immediate connection between poverty and crime or lack of achievement. The government continues to prioritise the poor by creating infrastructure to address their needs. But it is time that the poor showed their self-transformation through a change of attitude to their own problems. We can witness a drop in the number of poor girls who fall pregnant, for instance. The poor must admit that, sometimes, they are part of the problem.

If we want to save the poor from themselves, we must listen to the voice of Albert Einstein: “We cannot solve problems by using the same thinking we used when we created them.” We cannot treat the poor as a problem and think that this attitude will encourage them to be part of the solution. It is time that the poor not only assume responsibility for their plight but learn to liberate themselves.