It took one man walking on water to change the way the Judeo-Christian part of the human race thought about itself, to make people believe that verily, the meek shall inherit the earth. Two thousand odd years later, can one man walking on shit change the way we think about poverty in South Africa?
Short answer, no. The meek ain’t inheriting anything anytime soon, if our government’s pretty woeful service record is anything to go by. And being meek didn’t earn the inhabitants of Diepsloot a personal visit from Minister of Human Settlements and Shoes, Tokyo Sexwale. Tossing rocks around got them noticed, rather than approaching government. It appears lobbing is proving more effective than lobbying.
But there was something special about Tokyo Sexwale’s overnight stay in Diepsloot. At least here’s an MP coming down from his ivory tower — well, ebony tower, I guess — and getting in touch with the all-too-common people, to, in his own words, ”have an understanding of the problems”.
Quite why you would need to personally investigate these problems is unclear. Much is being made of the fact that Thabo Mbeki never got his shoes dirty when dealing with ”the people”. Well, call me elitist if you will — and you will — but can’t the government just believe that poor people need houses, without actually bothering some poor woman trying to get a night’s sleep?
And yet … even if this is more PR than HR, I still have a sneaking admiration for Sexwale. It’s all very well to talk the talk, but here we have a man who is apparently willing to walk the walk through piles of shit. We’ll see if it makes a long-term difference, but in the short term, it’s a hopeful sign.