Back when I was completing my undergraduate degree at Rhodes University in Makhanda, my friend Charlene Mihi and I decided to approach various government departments in Makhanda to offer volunteering services.
I was pursuing a degree in geography and she in law. We had noted that all departments were not doing well in communications as well as the archiving of information, and decided that being top performing students with much-needed skills, we would plough back into the community by assisting government.
We approached many departments and were turned away by all of them.
They all claimed that they did not make use of volunteering services.
Even after we explained that we sought no remuneration in return, not even for the most basic of necessities, officials still rejected our offer for assistance.
Charlene and I are both from Gauteng, but we cared deeply about the development of the Eastern Cape province, which we believed required our dedicated efforts.
After graduating with my postgraduate qualifications, I left Makhanda, but the province remained close to my heart and I tried to find many ways to assist in its development from afar.
The opportunity presented itself when an arts co-operative run by young people, Liyabona Art Collective, based in King William’s Town, approached me earlier this year asking to do a portrait of my late mother, in whose memory I established a scholarship at Rhodes University two years ago.
I could have utilised the services of Gauteng-based artists, for there are many of them in artistic communities like the Maboneng Precinct, where I conducted research for my masters in geography.
But I chose to invest in the young people of eQonce, because I have lived in the Eastern Cape and have seen with my own eyes the devastation caused by youth unemployment and the dreams deferred by maladministration, corruption and lack of willingness to invest in this promising province.
But once again, the horrors we endured in Makhanda when we tried to assist government reared their ugly head.
Six months after I paid Liyabona Art Collective for the portrait, it is yet to be delivered.
Being a staunch supporter of black business, I was initially understanding and patient with the young men, even as they consistently demonstrated little regard for communicating with me.
I excused the delay as the result of lockdown regulations — long after such regulations were eased.
I waited for half a year, and continue to wait, for the co-operative to do right by me.
Despite endless promises for a refund, I continue to await closure on this matter.
When I made demands for my refund to be processed just days ago, I was met with complete silence, and then later with threats of legal action after I indicated that I would expose this lack of professionalism and injustice.
These experiences have made me question just what it is going to take for the government of the Eastern Cape and its people to recognise that the development needed in this province depends on their willingness to be assisted even by those of us deemed as “outsiders”.
There is no possible way to build this province without men and women who believe in its potential coming together to volunteer their skills and invest in its talent.
And if this pattern of not doing things correctly, at all levels, continues, the province is going to remain with its unfortunate reputation of being the epicentre of misgovernance, looting, corruption, brain drain and sadly, underdevelopment.
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