Rationale: Statistics already show that 2024 is going to be the second biggest voting year, following 1994. This is because the youth reported present in larger numbers, as a token of expression for how the government had been excluding our needs over the years. This poem personifies the current South Africa with its leadership, as means to modify my spirit of hope for a better tomorrow. The title of the poem is: Your Beloved Citizen.

Poem:
Hello, South Africa, I hope you are well.
I see, again, that you are showing initiative this year,
Booking venues and stuff,
Just so we can have our own private moment,
And address our way forward.

Well, to start, let us hark back to when we last met,
And see if we can ever reconnect,
Because it’s been ups and downs since then.
You left me with promises that were unkept,
And that hurt. Big time!

For the last three decades,
When I confronted you about your incompetence,
You always resorted to saying that things will be different.
What has changed now?
What do you have to say for yourself?

You tend to equivocate, and –
Make it look like I’m the one who doesn’t understand.
Give others a chance –
Since you are possessive with what you show no care,
Like your work deserves nine out of ten.
But that law, to you, is not even a compliment.

I only feel loved and prioritised,
When you need my cross,
Like a lady who’s only given heed behind –
Closed doors.
Why do you treat me like a side?
Has it always been about only what you get from me,
And never about reciprocity in our rapport?

Come on – surely you have a backbone somewhere around your spine!
You don’t need my support if you only aim for,
Delivering mediocrity and a little bit of incompleteness.
You can do better than that, baby land, you really can.

Best believe that this time around,
I will show up to our date with a fresh mindset.
I will bring with me my peers,
And we are going to make sure that we order,
What you never thought we are worth,
And most assuredly you will pay the bill,
With a hefty gratuity on top of that!
Yes – 29th of May is our date,
And I’m bringing my mind to that table, not my heart –
For you have grated that helpless organ.

I’m not intending on breaking up with you –
I’m just planning on being more active in this arrangement.
It seems like me trusting that you have my best interests,
Was just me being delusional – when I was just dormant.
Gone is I who would complain more,
And act less – …

Come 29 May!

History will be made.
We might even cancel Valentine’s Day,
And make the 29th of May a day I showed love to you –
Oh! My beloved land!
Do you not agree that Voters’ Day should be a holiday for romance?

I love you, land! Do you not see that?
But you will – call me clingy and obsessed,
But you will love me back.
This year, you will learn to love your occupants.

Yours with love,
Your Beloved Citizen…

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About the author:

Mpho (MrSir) Matlhabegoane is one of the A! Hub Writers. He became an Activator in 2019, and through Activate! Change Drivers, he underwent educational training with Programmes such as SWITCH Entrepreneurship Programme, National Mentorship Movement with Printing SA and Citizen Journalism with The University of Witwatersrand (Wits). He is a Mental Health Awareness Advocate, and to spread mental health awareness, he published three books that have been accepted by Gauteng Department of Education as of 2023, namely: The Story of MrSir (Word For The Record), Expanding The World Of Nerds, and Views and Emotions (Poetry Journal of MrSir).