It takes a cursory glance at media platforms during the past four days to quickly ascertain that 2025 was not a year which will be recalled with much fondness by many South Africans. There are, of course, seemingly insurmountable and ongoing examples of poor governance, the absence of service delivery, housing woes, the plight of the poverty-stricken and endemic corruption — hiding in plain sight in some quarters — which continue to blight the nation. It has become habitual, obligatory even, for leaders in both the public and private sector to take to a keypad, scribble messages and offer the hope, if not guarantee, of a more prosperous new year.
We are not alone. Countries the world over are constantly contending with obstacles unique to their populace and international conflict is never-ending. We only have to look at unprecedented developments in Venezuela at the weekend to appreciate that global turmoil never sleeps.
But perhaps at this time it is not so much a question of making fresh resolutions as to reflect on the need to honour those who, in the past, set out to create a better South Africa during its darkest days, months and years. Their hopes lay not in the promise of an improved year, but a better life that stretched beyond — for their children and grandchildren. There was a time when the wish of a happy new year meant anything but for millions of South Africans still suffering under a system of ingrained inhumanity and inequality.
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We have a long road to travel yet but let us not forget amid the headlines of tragedy and heartbreak which are despairingly prevalent, the citizens who go about making our land the one we desperately want it to be. Let us remember staff who work through our festive seasons, dedicated to helping those in need of care and comfort, our first responders, workers who labour so others can rest. We are quick to spot a bad apple, often forgetting we are standing in an orchard of an abundance of givers who sustain us unfailingly. Perhaps 2026 should not be so much about what it brings to the individual, but to bear in mind that it is a chance to further fulfil a vision of what a new year and the idea of longed-for opportunity is all about.
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