One of my failings as an optimist is that I have a disproportionate amount of faith in the goodness of people, not least those who are entrusted to lead others. Having spent just slightly over three decades in this world, I realise that I am slowly losing my look-on-the-bright-side outlook as more and more I allow my perceptions to be tempered by the experiences I have been through. And of all the things I have seen, the conversations I have engaged in and relationships I have had, none have made me more despondent about what is seemingly the hopeless condition of man than the scourge of xenophobia in South Africa and the sorry state of Zimbabwe. More on the latter in another post.
In the case of the recent xenophobic attacks, it is chilling to note how insular some South Africans are becoming. Notwithstanding the reasons for the resurgent attacks, I can confidently say that even if all the foreign nationals are expelled from South Africa, the country will for a long time to come still rank as one of the most unequal societies on the planet. It will still be plagued by crime, poor service delivery and all the other social injustices currently being suffered by the majority who live in townships and shacks. Until and when the leaders choose to take an unwavering and principled stance to always act in the public interest, the very essence of democracy to which the country’s long-term peace and prosperity are tied remains under threat from the very people who fought for such things.
Ironically, it is politicians who have been the beneficiaries of the misdirected public ire towards foreign nationals. Despite the perennial strikes and service-delivery protests, we are yet to witness a wholesale act of national civil disobedience as was the case in the apartheid era. So far, the government has been spared the concerted wrath of the disgruntled majority. No sooner than all the foreigners have been banished from the country will the populace realise that the true enemy was never the Mozambican or Somali immigrant but the government of the day, which failed to swiftly and decisively channel the fortunes of the country to uplift millions of the struggling poor.
After successfully project-managing the hosting of the World Cup, we can safely surmise that the government is not incapable of providing decent housing and creating much needed jobs first for its citizens with some to spare for other skilled workers from elsewhere. Hence, if capability is not the issue, we are then forced to conclude that the crux of the matter is a lack of a resolute focus to prioritise the pressing needs of the nation, over other more grandiose projects.
Unfortunately, in the eyes of those crying out for decent jobs and housing, this lack of prioritisation translates to inattention and worse, a failure to act on their needs. Worryingly, it appears that at some point in the course of this country’s history, someone must have promised the populace the earth. That someone committed a terrible error, because a few years down the line, the unfulfilled promises have spawned a culture of entitlement, crime and dependency on social grants. It is quite an unsavoury cocktail.
To avert the danger that lies ahead, the government must with immediate effect embark on a programme to reorient the expectations of society while doing all it can to resolve the pressing problems of our time. People need to be made aware that social grants without the backing of a healthy employment industry, are unsustainable. They need to know that foreign nationals are also human beings with rights that need to be respected. They must be told, unequivocally, that the current problems stem from many causes, two of which are corruption and government’s initial inertia in tackling the issues confronting the state.
Finally, the government must admit to the people that in the era before the World Cup, there was a mental block which led many to assume that the problems were too much to handle. If anything, the government should now use the palpable sense of belief stemming from the successful hosting of the World Cup to assure the people that it can deliver once and for all, the ultimate fruits of democracy — relative prosperity, peace and security for all. Project plans should be drawn up for each community and stakeholder meetings between government and the people should be held. South Africa can and must win the war on crime and poverty. In the aftermath of a splendid soccer jamboree that made the world proud of Africa, not only is this a fitting legacy to pursue, it is the only one.
Well said Sir.
I am amazed at your logic, Government has failed for the last 16 years to do anything decent for the whole of the population of this Country, the only beneficiaries are the ANC and its hangers on, yet you seem to sugest that Government must be given another chance, the only solution to this drama is to sugest a Government replacement, give other people a chance to show what can be done to improve the lives of South Africans now that the ANC has stuffed up.
You’ve got it! Now go and tell those who still don’t get it. As I see it, there’s a clear window of opportunity of about five years, during which we’ll all be busting our individual guts trying to pay back the horrendous debt incurred recently. After that, should we win the 2020 Olympics (predicted to happen in the middle of another, worse recession), social welfare in all its forms will again lose priority.
If that happens, things can only get worse.
If you want optimism, write something optimistic!
Oh, not again. I thought we were reluctantly, but gradually snapping out of this fantasy, and beginning to understand that the world cup is just that, ‘world cup’. It happened to be hosted in South Africa at a high cost to the taxpayer, but it is still a world cup.
The sooner we face the reality the better we will be able to move on with our lives, under one of the most corrupt governments in the world.
To the north on the African continent there are 1 billion people, most of them in dire straits. As the coastguard and naval forces of EU ramp up their patrols it becomes more and more difficult to cross the Mediterranean.
So they start walking south. Even if only a small fraction of them end up in SA it will totally swamp anything you are trying to do to lift your people out of poverty. That is the reality, as real as the orbits of planets around the sun. If you cannot understand that, if you think you have the luxury of providing access and human rights to these people, you are unable to solve even the simplest of problems.
Jeremiah Kure – you wrote an excellent piece and we agree on every point except one.
Zimbabwe – is a mess granted. But even the UK if subjected to the same sanctions and confiscation of their property abroad would buckle up whether Simba Makoni or Gordon Brown was the Chancellor of the Exchequer or not. Whites generally use Zimbabwe as a blunt instrument to alienate blacks from their own heritage and culture. Its more like shutting down the water supply and then blaming him for not being a good gardener when everything starts wilting.
Mugabe messed up but the total sanctions brought him down. It’s not that he deliberately mismanaged his country that is why Mbeki’s govt was blamed for not hitting the final nail on the Mugabe coffin. What do you mean when you quote Zim? is it the sanctions or the human rights issue? Can the economic melt down have happened without the resolute and total western sanctions?
More people die in Nigeria from sectarian violence than in Zim; more grosser human rights violations are perpetrated there but it does not register on the white political radar.
I deplore what Mugabe has done with human rights but I equally deplore those who use this in order to re-colonise my mind about Africa and the role of whites in it. And I am painfully aware their political morality is very selective. And I dont have to say the mantra of Zim bashing just to please them.
Kure, the Treaty of Versailles gave us the political state – a flag, national anthem and currency and an official language. In Africa the Berlin Conference gave us the artificial borders with the anomaly that you speak the same language and have the same culture in Zim, Moz, Zambia and Malawi.
The 21st century dismantled all that. The EU is part of a response to that. and people vote with their feet. The new phenomenon is the transnational migration in search of a better life. Spain and North Africa fights a gauntlet with Africans getting into shifty boats just to reach Europe. Chinese stow-aways die in containers just to reach the UK. Mothers give birth in the UK just to have kids with a dual citizenship. The US border patrol is tired of Mexicans trying to make it illegally into the US.
And here in South Africa, the rest of our poor in Africa have come. We have two options: to seriously control the inflow and seriously integrate those already inside. Its not comparable to the 1960′s, 1976′s exile of South Africans. It’s a totally different phenomenon. We never hustled Zambians WITH OUR WOMEN AND KIDS at robots in Lusaka ekking out a living. Its not wrong to migrate in search of a better life but we need to harness this enormous human potontial correctly.
For one I would send all brilliant African youth with scholarship to study at our universities. They will enhance our intellectual gene pool.
secondly I will maintain the African languages spoken by our immigrants and to start with Shona must be the 12th South African official language. It must be taught in our schools and universities. This will further allay xenophobic fears and will help integrate Zimbabweans with us.
Even on the intelligence front we are the only African state where almost 95% of all African languages are spoken here. Instead of hustling Somalis and Congolese I will have a better and effective role for them to serve here and be a part of us.
I meet many Congolese doctors guarding cars ar our malls and speaking impeccable french. I would pay for these guys registration fees with SAMC and have them practice and pay for their infrastructure.
The sheer waste of human potential going on here is astounding! It only confirms our govt gross ignorance about Africans.
In 10 short years we can become the most advanced country in the world. We must choose between xeonophobia and progress.
And we also have the enormous potential skills of our white (South)Africans, we need a polity that will involve them and not marginalise them! They have also have a role to play when we deal with service delivery!
A new set of ministers preaching birth control as a national priority [and leading by example!!] is required as a matter of urgeny. The electorate needs to undertand the crisis at hand for the above to become reality here in darkest SA.
My money is on ANC rule until civil chaos, followed by territorial rule by warlords…with the ANC still clinging to pockets of the place via assistance of well fed troops, with heads full of hope for the future….
@ Mandla, you make such excellent points. I couldn’t agree with you more!
We need a groundswell of like-minded people not only to think differently but more importantly to translate such noble thoughts into action.
There is an implicit belief that before sanctions, Zimbabwe’s economy was second to none.One only needs to identify the leading pillars of that economy and ask what happenned when White farmers were nullified, European/American businesses were expelled and NGOs were disinvited.Where are the miracles of the LOOK EAST POLICY? Say it again, what goes around, comes around even in Africa.