Thamsanqa Dlambulo was born in Kimberley and is an entrepreneur. He says he’s a very positive person, who’s positive about the future of South Africa, hence he’s running a Non Profit Organisation (NPO).
The NPO has kids coming through, and then helps them with homework and assignments. It is based in a poverty stricken area where there are issues of drug and alcohol abuse as well as violence.
Dlambulo says he was fortunate enough as his parents were teachers and could afford to send him to a good school. In 1991, he was taken to what is now known as former model C schools.
“In ’94, I was sitting in a class full of white people. We knew that everyone was going to vote for the first time and we knew that there was not going to be any separation between black and white. After school, reality struck whereas all my friends – especially the white friends – they didn’t struggle with anything,” says Dlambulo .
They went to varsity, while some of them took gap years, went overseas to countries like Australia, and the UK, while he was at home.
‘’It seems as if the promise that was given to us in ’94, is just an illusion. The reconciliation that took place wasn’t the truth. It was…okay, let’s be friends, let’s go to the mall together but I’ll keep my privilege and you keep your poverty. You know what I’m saying?” says Dlambulo
He says the vision that he has of true equality can only happen if the poor and black people gain economic emancipation.
He says the only way for that to happen would be with the land issue, and South Africa finally starts with the redistribution of the land equally among all South Africans.
“I’ll go with yellow because I feel that we really need to be cautious. I’ve been a good citizen; I don’t have a criminal record. I’m a father; I’m raising three beautiful daughters,” says Dlambulo .
He thinks the government could be doing better to assist someone like him or all those that are working with him to make that difference.
“Because government can’t change the drug situation all by themselves, you need people in the community to stand up and do something and then government comes in and then partners with these people,” says Dlambulo.
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