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Recently, I was eavesdropping on a conversation between my mother and one of her colleagues.
They were talking about how the colleague could not fix the rear window of her car after it had been smashed during a protest.
At some point, I heard my mother say:
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That got me thinking.
My job has placed me on both sides of the protest divide – on one hand with the protesters and on the other with the police trying to restore law and order. However, I have never been on the side of the victims, the people who are under attack and left traumatised.
I had an epiphany not so long ago.
Am I fighting my cousin who is in Grade 12 and is on her way to write her final exam? Am I fighting the doctor who must help treat my grandmother? Or am I fighting an oblivious motorist who was just in the wrong place at the wrong time?
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Ahead of the 29 May elections, this is the time to reflect on what we are fighting for and think hard about who we are actually fighting in our communities when we protest.
Neither will burning local clinics improve healthcare in the country nor stoning a random person’s car fix South Africa’s many challenges.
The passion a protester has when picking up a huge rock and placing it in the middle of the road or stoning cars and burning schools, is the same single-mindedness we should possess when casting a vote.
Punish government for failing you, but do not take out your frustrations on people who are also struggling like you.
