Hey Equaliser

HEY EQUALISER
By Khosi Mabaso


You were sent to the best of schools to afford you a more privileged future. Pity you weren’t warned that as a result, you would forfeit the assiduous presence of a parent. You learnt independence from an early age. At the age of 7 you were waking up at 4 am because the “Kombi” picked you up at 5:30. S’ka masoja you sat in vans and mini busses for an hour and a half to get to the same schools that were a comfortable 7min drive for them.

You equalised and killed the misconception of unintelligence. Though you came from non-English speaking backgrounds you spoke as polished as they did. 8 hours a day, 5 days a week was enough to dilute your accent. After having excelled on the hockey, soccer and rugby fields, the netball and tennis courts you made your way back into kasi. Sitting through 2 hours of traffic to find no one home. Because you see that Private school you go to cost too much and something has to give, so the warm embraces and home relations fly out the window.

Through hard work, came the award ceremonies. Again you found yourself alone. At the school halls we applauded and cheered for each other for we knew they wanted to be there but The Labour Act didn’t include this ACT

Some excelled in sports but never pursued it due to lack of post high school support structures. Then came the booming industries, IT, Marketing, Accounting, Law. Not going to tertiary was a non-option. No longer were you limited to teaching and nursing. The onus was on you to be engineers. Never spoke about love in relation to career choice. Pressured by the status rank you family gets post your granduation.You spoke about lucrative value instead.


Like relentless warriors you entered the corporates who gave you internships. Giving double efforts was the order of the day because in the back of your mind you knew that the primary reason you were there was because our elected government enforced these standards

The concept of equality is a fallacy. At worst we are equal on human basis and at best equality is attained in job titles and salaries. That’s where it ends. Your reality is rectifying the injustices of the past. My first salary had to pay for my driver’s license, a friend sorted the home security wall and it could not be average either. Her mother wanted a wall that could reflect that she indeed did raise a doctor. Not only the illusion that you are now rich with your “entry level” salary. Your cousin needing money to register for a short course. You seldom had enough to cover your own needs. Whilst your non heavy pigmented colleagues on the other hand got their first salaries to venture out to holidays and see the world….how could this be equality?

For though we're expected to be equalisers true freedom and empowerment will come with full ownership, not buying 10% stake in someone else’s company. No longer SMEs but registered at the JSE. Equality means we give up the cheap thrills for long term gratifications. So those we give birth to become a fully liberated brood of world travellers, back packers and dream chasers.

Hey Equaliser, you’ve come too far and non of your efforts have gone unnoticed however boarding off is still a non option.