Stop waiting for change – Kimberley already has hands

WAIT a minute … wasn’t it the Festive Season just a day or two ago? Are you seriously trying to tell me that we’re almost at the end of January already?

With the back-to-school rush behind us and the charge towards Valentine’s Day already gathering momentum, it may be too late to speak about resolutions. Not that I was ever really one for resolutions anyway.

But as 2026 settles in over Kimberley, many of us, I suspect, arrive at this point carrying two things at once: hope that life can improve, and fatigue from fighting the same old battles for far too long.

It’s easy to begin January with a list of what is wrong – what the municipality hasn’t done, what the government should have fixed, what irresponsible people keep failing to do. I’ve done that myself. I’ve written about it, spoken about it, and, if I’m honest, sat in that bog of frustration like everyone else.

This year, I want to start differently, because growth begins with responsibility. Not in grand statements or perfect plans, but in small decisions we repeat until they become habits, and eventually, character.

It’s one thing to point out what isn’t working. It’s another to become part of what could work.

When I talk about responsibility, I don’t mean pretending that poor leadership doesn’t exist or that service delivery failures don’t matter. They do. Accountability still matters. But my daily life is shaped by more than politics and policies. It’s shaped by what I choose to do when nobody is watching, when there’s no applause, and when it would be easier to say, “It’s not my problem.”

If I see litter, I can pick it up. I don’t have to make a show of it or turn it into an argument. I can do it because Kimberley is my home, and I want to feel proud when I drive through it, walk through it, and invite others to visit. A clean city isn’t created only by paid workers; it’s sustained by residents who care enough to act.

The same applies to safety, kindness and community spirit.

We talk a lot about what is missing – more policing, more resources, more programmes, more action. All of that is true. But there is also a kind of safety that grows from neighbours who greet each other, who check in, who notice when something feels off, and who offer help before a situation becomes a crisis. Surely we can’t delegate all responsibility to neighbourhood watches and authorities.

I keep thinking about the kind of city we build when waiting is no longer our default setting.

If no one else is being a fitting example, maybe it’s time we were.

Want children to respect their surroundings? Let them see adults respecting those surroundings. Want people to stop dumping? Let them realise it will be reported because residents no longer tolerate it. Want a stronger community? Be someone others can rely on.

Many of us are tired – I understand that. But responsibility doesn’t mean carrying the entire city on your back. It means choosing one or two things you can do consistently, so that you become part of the solution rather than a bystander to the problem.

Maybe 2026 won’t be the year everything suddenly gets fixed. But maybe it’s the year we begin rebuilding pride in the most practical way possible: one picked-up piece of litter, one kind gesture, one honest conversation, one steady example at a time.

If enough of us choose this – quietly and faithfully – Kimberley will shift in a positive direction. Not overnight, and not perfectly, but steadily. And one day we’ll look around and realise the pride returned the same way it left: one small decision at a time.

So let 2026 be the year we stop outsourcing responsibility and start practising it. Pick up what needs picking up. Care where others have stopped caring. Lead where it might feel easier to complain.

A sparkling Kimberley doesn’t belong only to the past we talk about; it belongs to the future we are shaping. The question is simple: what kind of city are we handing forward?

Let’s make it one that carries our imprint in the best way – through care, action and example.