She introduced herself to me as “Miss Brenda”. She was standing in a long queue of people outside the shop with the soft drizzle of rain falling on her already soaked clothes, waiting for her turn at the ATM to draw money.
In the queue are mainly elderly people, here to draw their Sassa pension grant, which is for most their only income source. The distributor of the grants, Postbank, informed the grant recipients they can, for now, only access their grant at ATMs.
Miss Brenda is one such elderly lady, with wet grey hair now clinging to her wrinkled and weather-beaten face. Her shoes were old and dirty and her jersey full of holes. She was shivering from the cold, and I walked up to her and asked if I could buy her a hot cup of coffee. She said: “Please madam, and madam, lots of sugar please, I have not eaten this morning, I have no food.”
On my return with her coffee and a sandwich, I noticed that the queue hadn’t moved at all. I asked her if she knew why there was no movement and she said there was no more money in the machines, and they are all waiting for the “cash car” from the banks. As I looked around at the other ATMs it was the same situation at those machines as well.
As I walked away I looked up at the Helderberg, and I saw large houses adorning the mountain side, knowing that inside those mansions it is warm and cosy, with lots of food in its kitchen cupboards.
Which words does one dare utter about the inequality of this beautiful country? Who are to be held accountable? So many questions with no answers.
