Disclaimer: This book is written by a South African for South Africans. Many of the examples may not make sense to those living outside of South Africa but still within this book are some very important qualities for being a devoted citizen to any country where a person resides.
Published: June 2021
Pages: 192
Pace: Fast
Genre: Non-Fiction
Ps. Chris Mathebula wrote Devoted Citizen at a time where the message of the book is relevant and important. In South Africa, we face many challenges that are enormous in their scope and in their effect. As such, we need citizens who will choose to look at what makes South Africa so incredible, put their differences aside and make choices that will benefit the country as a whole. If we all chose to do that, our country would look vastly different. There is something special about South Africa that fills our hearts with pride and causes us to feel patriotic. This book inspires those same feelings.
Devoted Citizen sets out to inspire our younger generations to make choices that will benefit our country and our people as a whole. It takes a holistic view of our country and simply communicates the message that everyone is able to live their lives the way they choose to, but if we really want to see a change in our country, it will take all of us choosing the right way instead of our own way. This book touches on many aspects of being a devoted citizen such as paying taxes, voting, knowing our rights and responsibilities, protecting the environment, acting ethically, embracing change and many more. Ps. Chris writes, “I realised that I have to remind South Africans that we have everything we need to succeed.” (page 35) I totally agree with Ps. Chris’s sentiment. We are a rich country. We are rich in heritage and culture and beauty and intelligence and talent and love and resources and creativity. We have everything we need to succeed.
As a citizen of this country, I am fully invested. I believe in her people. I believe in her potential. Because of this, when things are not going well, it really upsets me and makes me heartsore. This book highlights some of those challenges and reminds the reader of the many challenges that still face our country. Some of these major issues are teenage pregnancies, high unemployment rates, corruption in government, wasteful expenditure and crime to name a few. It’s important not to lose sight of these challenges. But at the same time, this book is a reminder that there are things that we can do to effect change in those same challenges. Some of those things are as simple as starting to care about our country and about other people.
I loved the simplistic writing style. As this book is geared towards students, the content is simply laid out and written in an engaging way. There are many short chapters, each one packed with a punch of a thought. As easy as the book was to read, there was a lot to take in and the book forces you to do an evaluation of where you fit in on the devoted citizen scale. It takes one decision to be a devoted citizen, but that one decision has many implications and applications.
I really enjoyed how Ps. Chris used stories from his own life to encourage and inspire change. He uses stories to illustrate how our thinking can be the defining factor for us. I really enjoyed how he went back to the basics and wrote out our national anthem and translated it so we could see the beauty of its words. Equally, it was so informative the way our coat of arms was broken down and explained. These are things some people can go their whole lives without knowing. My favourite chapter of the book must be the chapter where Ps. Chris celebrates South Africa and some of the incredible things going on and some of the most impressive endeavours and achievements. What pride and UBUNTU these events and moments bring out in us. When we won the Rugby World Cup, no one cared about colour or class or upbringing. Everyone was a brother and a sister that day and this is the South Africa I, and many others, long to see every day.
As much as I love this book and all it stands for and all it communicates, I had one small grievance. Some of the topics that are covered are so massive. These issues destroy lives and impact the whole country. As such, I felt like the solutions or actions could have been fleshed out a bit more. I thought the solutions felt more like one-liners than real impetuses for change. As such, I feel like they would be easy to gloss over and not to truly adopt a positive attitude that will result in change in that area. My evaluation is that someone could read this book and say that’s nice but I’m not really in the mood to change. That would be a real shame since the message of this book is so pure and wonderful and inspirational. An example of this can be found in Chapter 7. Ps. Chris addresses the issue of women having many pregnancies and having children in order to get social grants. He then talks about how this grant money is often wasted and not even used to take care of the children. He explains how grants are government money and by needing social grants, these women are costing the state money. And then he finishes off the section by simply stating, “Devoted Citizens take responsibility in making personal decisions that will not negatively impact the nation.” I think more vision and hope could have been instilled in this section as that one-liner would not necessarily inspire someone living that way to just do a 180 and make better life choices.
Other than that one small gripe with the way the book was presented, I loved everything it stands for and everything it is communicating. I hope this book gets into as many young South Africans’ hands as possible so that their thinking can be formed and influenced positively as they enter adulthood and start to make a contribution to society and the country. Ps. Chris does have a way of writing that is engaging and inspirational and what’s even better is that his life reflects all the values that are explored in this book. He walks the talk and that adds massive credibility to this message.
This book has definitely inspired me to evaluate myself and how devoted I am to my country and if I am making choices that will ultimately help or harm the nation. It’s even important to realise that my actions do have an impact, whether it seems that way or not. I do try and live in such a way that I do all that is expected of me as a citizen of our country but there is still more that could be done. For example, I could work harder on protecting our environment by recycling. We haven’t prioritized recycling in our home and that’s an easy thing we could start to do in order to contribute to a cleaner environment. It has also caused me to put my citizens contribution on my radar as something to evaluate more closely. This book was a quick and easy but important read. I love that a book like this exists and I hope that it is able to have the desired effect as it has done with me.
Until next time! 😊
Chevonn
All The Books and I 
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