Is it a betrayal to celebrate Christmas before redressing the imbalances of South Africa’s past?

At the end of a year filled with fear and despair, it might be difficult to look forward to 2022 with enthusiasm. Fear, because the state has demonstrated — in July during the violent riots and looting — that it is incapable of protecting us as citizens and despair, on the part of those that participated in the looting and criminal activities, because a future without need or want seems impossible to them.

For many marginalised groups in South Africa, the prospect of employment and, with it, dignity is fallacious. Waking up every day and setting out to look for meaningful work but failing to gain employment each time is demoralising, to say the least.

Experiencing the horrors of the Covid pandemic, and having to stand in long queues for food parcels and handouts to make ends meet, is an everyday fact of life for millions of South Africans.

Poor people observe from afar how some of us buy Christmas trees, decorations and plenty of gifts for each other — and yearn for the day when they, too, can spend money without care or bother.

But their hardship will continue for a long time. The history of this, our beloved country, is such that inequalities, poverty and unemployment levels will not, and cannot, be reasonably expected to be corrected in 27 years. Yes, the levels of corruption retarded progress towards a better life, but any reasonable person cannot argue that dramatic transformation would have happened if there were none. It will take time.

So, does this mean we must feel guilty as the “haves”, in a country that is the most unequal in the world? Absolutely and emphatically, yes.

Have the rich made more money in the past 27 years due to the South African economy opening up after years of isolation and sanctions? Yes.  Should we, as taxpayers, pay towards a wealth tax? Absolutely, yes.  Should we be more charitable during this period? Yes.

For some, this period is a welcome reprieve. We have worked very hard during the year and have paid our dues in many ways. We’ve paid for our Covid jabs through private healthcare; we pay for private security; we pay for private schools; and we pay for our children’s university fees in toto. So, it is fair to say that we do pay our fair share, subsidising the rest of the citizens in our country.

But is this enough? Can we do better as a society, as the haves? I think we must. Does it mean we have to forget our fears for the future? Surely not, but must we pretend we have comfort and joy when, in fact, we have none?

Santa will not come this year because he is mourning the suffering of so many children, who will get no gifts this year or the next year or the next. The comfort and joy of Christmas should not come from setting aside our mourning, our pain and our outrage, but by recognising that it is to the mournful, pained and outraged world that we send tidings of goodwill and peace. We will endeavour to do better, to be better, come the new year.

Martin Luther King Jr said: “Yes, I am personally the victim of deferred dreams, of blasted hopes, but in spite of that I close today by saying I still have a dream, because… if you lose hope, somehow you lose that vitality that keeps life moving, you lose that courage to be, that quality that helps you go on in spite of all.”

But the hope King described was not just an idea he needed in order to remain committed to his exhausting, and often disappointing, work in pursuit of justice. And it shouldn’t be for us, either.

It is Cornel West that reminds us that hope without action, without courage, is futile. It’s a fool’s errand. The joy of Christmas, even in its least religiously explicit expressions — lights, colours, spices, warmth — has its most fundamental meaning in this unshakeable realisation. “The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.” (John 1:5). This means, now more than ever, giving concrete expression to our belief in “cosmic companionship” by supporting movements that work against injustice or racism in any form — as well as working to eradicate poverty and inequality.

Hope is not an illusion; it is what reveals the truth about who we really are. We were not made for murder and brutality. We were not made to lie. If you believe, we were made for the reckless, consuming, astonishing and excessive love we see both in the manger and on the cross. Or, perhaps, we were just made to find solace in our humanity.

Let us embrace the truth about our past, about the history of this country and let there be a recognition that even though the constitutional amendment for land expropriation without compensation did not pass muster, it is incumbent on us to redress the imbalances of our past. To right the historical injustices of colonialism and apartheid, and maybe, just maybe, we wouldn’t have to feel so guilty or see our celebration as a betrayal to the majority of our people.

Merry Christmas all, and here’s to a wonderfully considerate new year. DM