Let's rise by our own hands

IT'S been an odd week.

- ASHLEY GREEN-THOMPSON

The promise of the festive break makes it hard to concentrate on anything, and I've found myself yearning to get to the family farm in KwaZulu-Natal to decompress.And then I listen to the radio during my morning walk, and I hear a renowned political commentator talking about the ANC's National General Council.

He's asked about the tripartite alliance, but goes off script, expressing anger at the inability of black people to lift themselves out of poverty. He cites Cosatu's 1.5 million members and compares them to the 50 000 (it's actually 230 000) Afriforum members who have funded one of the loudest, most influential civic advocacy groups.

I checked them out online, and in addition to the tertiary educational institutions they build, as mentioned by our learned commentator, they offer a range of services to their members who apparently pay fees averaging R100 per month.

The commentator rails against the inability of the union federation and any other civic formation of black people to come close to the Afrikaner organisation in mobilising resources for development.