Despite the rhetoric of democracy, South Africa has had and still has a function ing slave class.

A key component to gold mining is cheap labour and this has dri ven the politics of the country even before the Boer War. Yet the slave class, b ecause they are not called this, are afforded few (if any) rights. An unseen fun ction of the Trade Unions is to distract from this fact and give perpetual aspir ation towards a utopian future while criticising the present state of affairs. T he economic slave class will not be strengthened by a government programme of em ployment. South Africa has some of the highest rates of unemployment in the world. SAStats of ficial unemployment figure for South Africa is 25%. An interesting observation b y South African economist Mike Schssler that puts this figure into perspective is that during the Great Depression of the US in the 1930s the country only had as much as 25% unemployment for a few months. In South Africa this figure has been maintained for over a decade. Furthermore, the unofficial unemployment rate is a ctually closer to 35%, with provinces like Mpumalanga as a high as 40%. This is coupled with the fact that South Africa has the highest wealth disparity between the rich and the poor, now greater than Brazil. So how can we act on this? Clearly this shows our people in a state of disease. How can we create pockets of health around the country? The first action is to gain some perspective away from the economic and politica l jargon. Despite the rhetoric of democracy, South Africa has had and still has a functioning slave class. A key component to gold mining is cheap labour and th is has driven the politics of the country even before the Boer War. Yet the slav e class, because they are not called this, are afforded few (if any) rights. A f unction of the Trade Unions is to distract from this fact and give perpetual asp iration towards a utopian future while criticising the present state of affairs. The economic slave class will not be strengthened by employment. The only real chance for the economic slave class is go beyond both employment a nd the government. Beyond employment to entrepreneurial trade. Beyond government to community cohesion. But this needs to be accompanied by a change in behaviou r. This is actually the greatest challenge. Go into any of the Townships. See. T hen be honest. Let s call it as it is - the Townships are living Hell. The Townships were created to destroy a people. Physically. Psychologically. Morally. The fir st step is to no longer accept the Township as an option. It is to aim to go bey ond the phenomenon of the Township. 'Human Settlements' as they are now euphemis tically called by government indicate that they are an accepted part of our soci ety. They should not be. Building houses that hold seven or eight people can onl y lead to social disease. It is sub-human and unacceptable. It is a failure. It destroys communities rather than rebuild them. In the Townships, amidst the squa lor, filth and lack of basic amenities there is the guiding example. The Somali quarter. There rubbish has been cleaned up and a semblance of order and health i s put in place within the unhealthy set-up of a Township. There is movement of m oney by trade. It is the extension of these people. Intelligent. Healthy. Clean. Self-reliant. Active. Community. The Somali Communities are the examples for the South African economic slave-cla ss to follow and transform themselves out of government-accepted slavery. The So mali arrives with nothing. Through cooperation, trade of essential goods, hard w ork, patience, cleanliness, and a social hierarchy, they are able to generate we alth and be economically self-sufficient. There is no right to housing. This assumption is a curse of the redundant ideolo gy of socialist-communism. First work. Then income. Then housing. The Somali mod el is one of self-respect and social growth. It does not expect a house. It gets one. Its key component is operating as a group beyond individualism. The Somali economic and social model is the guiding light for future success for South Afr icans to go beyond employment and out of the economic slavery than pervades the country.