I was never really good with Bible studies, but if my aged memory serves me it's in John 12 verse eight where Jesus says something about the poor being among us. His exact words were: "You will always have the poor among you".

But many in South Africa, especially those who dream of one day appearing on Top Billing, die at the thought of this insightful scripture.

When people graduate from seeing their backrooms (usually furnished with a single bed, a hi-fi system and Drum posters) featured on Selimathunzi to bigger things, they easily forget where they once lay.

The higher the townhouse, the bigger the ego and the more the poor are looked down upon.

It's like a woman who's just bought a new car a month ago and now takes fright when she hears a sister saying she took a taxi from Wondrous to Durban.

"How do you do it?" she'll ask, as if she's never taken that five hour journey in a taxi driven by a drunk at a murderous speed.

In fact, once they have swapped Soweto for Sandhurst, many of the debt-ridden rich would rather have the poor far away – but certainly not close to their suburban homes.

Close to railway tracks, highways, near floodplains (as close as possible to the river) and two or hopefully four taxis away from town is more fitting.

It used to be a white people thing, but it seems the black people have also grown allergic to the poor. "We're moving out of this suburb, they're building RDP homes across the road," said a neighbour who tried to be useful by warning me about the coming "tsunami".

"There's just going to be too many black people," said a woman who by all accounts is black, is married to a black man and before "making it", lived among black people.

If you still don't know your neighbour by name, even though you fake him a smile now and then, if the wall is still high enough for you to slaughter an animal undetected, then the value of your property is safe.

Once you have a neighbour that greets you over the fence or his kids hang around on the streets in a "threatening" way, ring an estate agent immediately. The suburb is going to the dogs!

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