Credit is a very dangerous phenomena, especially if you don’t know much about money, budget matters.

Even people ( in SA the whites) before ’94, were easily snared into that deadly financial trap! We are promised the moon, eternal happiness by smooth advertising in all the media. The impression is created that we can ‘buy’ wealth and happiness on credit, most cases without a deposit and an easy payment plan.

In some ‘credit plans’we even get ‘cash back’! There is always ‘terms and conditions apply’added as a not so important afterthought!

Then came ’94 and freedom! Everybody could buy on credit as long as they were employed.

There was, still is, the Black Economic Empowerment law, so many people from the townships started moving into the city! Euphoria was something almost tangible in the air. Many whites were offered packages or just retrenched.

New South Africans started a shopping spree that was almost scary to behold! They bought clothes, flashy cars and property like I have never seen before! Black children came to city, (white) schools. Education suddenly becamevery expensive,including the school uniforms!

We were now living in a democratic country,but sadly the ruling ANC could not, would not deliver their promices..

People working For the government got benifits. The rest of the population did not have!

Most blacks were connned into believing that they would get houses,running water, electricity for mahala/ free if they voted for the ANC.They did not know that the whites had to work hard, pay a lot of money just for a place to live, let alone all the other trappings of a western lifestyle.

So many people believed the whites just went to the banks and got money, not realizing that they put their money in the bank for safekeeping, thus kept the banks going in the first place!

We suddenly had a new black middle class who spent money without discrimination.. They saw the, seemingly huge amounts on their payslips and still had to discover all the hidden costs of life!

It was frightening to watch, knowing this middle class did not know that,sooner rather than later, every body had to pay what was due on on all those willing plastic cards…

Meanwhile, back in shackland the poor became poorer, angrier for they were angry,hungry.. The jobs, the houses, the better lives they were promised did not materialize.. South Africa had a new name: Debtville!