Calling to the Heart of South Africa

Good evening South Africans,

We are living in challenging times. It feels like we are all living from one disaster to the next, none of them of our making, and it is becoming a little much for everyone. Eskom is a blight and it badly affects our abilities to help the poorest of the poor.

The politicians are on their circus side shows promising delivery of services, building stupid stadiums for 15 million, spending billions on feelings and thoughts the value of which can feed this nation for ten years. Unemployment is sky high; businesses are failing and have been failing long before COVID-19. If I have to write down the list of issues, I will fill a library of books. The politicians of South Africa of all political parties frankly nauseate me to the very depth of my soul and publicly I have raised a complaint directly to the door of heaven about them.

I just read that South Africans will need to have a monthly income of approximately R 7911 to have a decent standard of living. This is according to research partners from the Studies in Poverty and Inequality Institute (SPII), Labour Research Service (LRS) and Southern African Social Policy Research Insights (SASPRI).

I mean, have we missed the bus of common sense? It is not rocket science to fix this, people still expect this useless government or some foreign knight in shining armoured vehicles to come and save this country from stupidity (I call it self-inflicted narcissism – a hope that your hero will come). The politicians you elected will never bother responding and will never be held accountable, the people that donated billions to them and the trillions of taxes that are missing will never be found and no politician of any significance will ever see the inside of a jail cell. Get over it or stand behind organizations like ours that WILL do something about it.

This is not the fault of our country, our laws or systems, but your fault, yes, you reading, this because you do not act when organizations, like ours, calls you to action.

It is up to us to take back our communities and to start making the changes we want to see. Last week I believe that people were turned away from the Social Development Department in Jeppestown Johannesburg, families that had travelled long distances to get there in the hope of getting a food parcel. Apparently, some were foreign and then also because of bunch of other vague reasons as usual. Frankly who cared or even noticed right? No one; because everyone is too busy worrying about themselves and which of their teams, political parties or favourite show will be their next hero.

I ask you what have we become?

Tonight, I am in serious mode and if I have offended anyone thus far, then good, it is time that you hear the truth. What we resist persists. What we continuously fight against will always conquer. It is time to stop complaining and to stop doing nothing. You’ve spent millions on crazy ideas and ludicrous adventures by so many out there on social media purporting to keep your best interests at heart because they say nice things, things that are common sense and make you feel good. Some try guilt. None of them will tell you where to get off when you are wrong because they are false. They do talk shows and chit chats and print posters and bill boards, this which could change a country in less than six months. Give us 1% of that money you gave to them and 0% of the tax lost by this government and I will change this nation in a few months – with no violence.

We are direct and callous because it is time that people in this country HEAR and understand that THEY are the problem and now we have seen it for ourselves.

We are under severe pressure as an organization, we have acted, we have shown you what the power of the Spirit of this country can do, with only a few people we have moved mountains, we have instilled hope, in our actions and not our words. The results speak for themselves. They are not just words of faith; they are faith in action nut now your heart MUST change in order for us to bring all of this together and it must change NOW.

We are running three projects simultaneously, while also running our own lives (or trying to make sense of it) and we really need the help of every single South African to allow us to cross the barriers of what can and cannot be done, so that we can prove to you that what we are doing and have been doing will really change this country.

We are helping farmers, in multiple provinces. We are providing food to families in distress in all nine provinces and we are not a multimillion-dollar organization, we’re probably closer to a few hundred because we do what we say and deliver 100%. These outreaches are running simultaneously while we are building the systems that will endure long after we are gone in order to connect, rebuild and reawaken our communities.

In our latest venture we have had to stop halfway mainly because of funds and waiting for logistics companies to come to our rescue, our food parcel fund is depleted. We have reached out to multiple companies to help us and we wait for their answers but what is breaking our hearts is that the people of this country that can help are either not seeing this post or not reacting to it.

These are not the wealthiest, but the people that we call our “members” - You reading this.

What is R50 really? If every single person did donate just R50 we would have enough funding for two years, but right at this moment we are struggling with trucking companies that are helping us to deliver food to the hardest hit drought areas of the Eastern Cape, we are unable to provide food aid and are doing so at the kindness of our suppliers.

We feel abandoned by The People of South Africa while we have stood at the front every single time and defended you, not from this page, but literally in front, fighting and winning and succeeding in everything to prove to you that we can change this country.

Tonight, we are asking you to show your loyalty to us, by opening up your hearts to the farmers in the Eastern Cape, Free State and Northern Cape that we are trying to help plus the hundreds of families that are coming to us for help as well.

If you want to know why you should choose us, look at what we have done. We have fought on every front for South Africans, for individuals, for business, for those most in need (like we are now with this brutal message of honesty) and we have achieved the impossible every single time, literally at times by the grace of God.

You may ask why you should help us, then again a reminder, we were the first at Bell Pottinger (it was in fact us and our influence in London that brought them down), we marched in front of you in 2017 and brought the second largest and MOST peaceful protests this nation had ever seen. We helped in the Knysna fires and fought our own military and the operations centre to bring helicopters, we were hands on in helping people during and after those fires. In every disaster, during COVID-19, we were there for YOU, for YOUR FAMILY, for this country.

During the KZN Riots we got donated R33000, most of it from one donor in particular, with that and our partners we delivered 44 tons of food and 4 tons of dog food to 50+ communities in KZN and Gauteng. Shoprite graciously donated R50000 after that with which we have helped 300 families, and provided roughly 40 000 meals through our wangling and negotiations to help those in need.

With the recent drive for the farmers, we have received an appalling R4300, yet we are shifting 100s of tons of food to these regions again through the kindness of just a few.

Tonight, we are depleted, emotionally and physically, we are tired because we have given our all for this country and its people. For us though, it does not feel that the feeling and thoughts are mutual. Many promise, talk and don’t deliver, much like our politicians, while people like us and our organization are struggling severely to reach the most vulnerable and help them to see through the most difficult times of their lives at our own cost.

We are still at the forefront of bringing change, leagues ahead of any other organization, political party or other civil movement. What we are bringing to the table for this country will change it, through all of this we have been building it, developing the policies and systems needed to find a new way to freedom. Our question again is do you see the same worth in us as we see in you!

Tonight, we come again to you and ask you to consider giving our foundation the wings it needs to fly, the ability to help as many as we can and set in motion the ability to change our country forever.

We have to ask ourselves are we truly a people driven organization, or just the negotiating chamber of our founder that has gone beyond the ability of any normal human being to help this country.

Consider donating to us tonight as there are countless families we cannot help, organizations that have reached out to us that we cannot answer. Restore our hope in the Spirit of the People of South Africa because our light is going out and even though we will never give up, we are beginning to believe that the people do not want change and do not want to help this country up from the place it has fallen too and that is indeed sad.

With that said we remind you of the riots and how fragile this nation is. Will you still not hear us and understand the urgency of what we are trying to do for this nation.

We leave with the banking details and a thank you to all the partners, donors and fellow South Africans that have made an effort to help us to restart this country the way it should be and hope you will finally get to the point of changing this country, with us too.

People of South Africa Foundation

Mercantile Bank

Account: 1050929764 (Cheque)

Branch Code: 450105 SWIFT Code: CABLZAJJ

References: FARMERS (feed) or PEOPLE (food)

www.wearesouthafricans.com/donate