There is a temptation to see South Africa as a self-cannibalising charity case. Given the vast number of charitable causes, NGOs, NPOs and beggars on the streets, it seems everyone has a hand out.
And given the ANC government’s appalling record on social upliftment issues from health to housing to employment, even the ordinary individual feels she lives in the Republic of Gimme-gimme. One can barely walk to the corner cafe for a newspaper without being assailed by the ubiquitous begging bowl in one pathetic form or another.
And the persistent aching recession into which SA is simply sinking deeper and deeper declares our status as a nation on welfare with greater emphasis. Even more so as the list of countries emerging from the global recession grows.
The fact that this is an African continental phenomenon — and one which developed nations are increasingly taking a stronger stance against — doesn’t make the South African perception and experience any less real. Or relevant.
Friends of mine have been working in the DRC for the past several months. What they’ve had to tell not only underlines the view of veteran journalists such as Peter Fabricius who wrote in the Pretoria News a month or so ago, but dramatically reinforces the international perception that all African countries are funding black holes run by profoundly corrupt governments. Irrespective of whence the “foreign investor” comes, it is standard operating procedure to budget for all the backhanders they know they’re going to have to pay simply to do business. It’s nothing, but another form of tax.
“While the people in Washington or Geneva or Brussels talk about not funding corrupt governments, the reality on the ground is that you do it. Or you don’t do business. That’s just the mindset of the people you’re dealing with. Everybody wants his or her slice of the cake. They see the top people in flashy suits and fancy cars and they say, ‘Why shouldn’t I have some of that too?’ ” my friend told me. Hard to argue with that when even that erstwhile bastion of frugality, Trevor Manuel, now cruises the lunar landscape of our so-called “road” in a R1.2 million set of super-luxury wheels.
UN and World Bank reports along with those of numerous independent economic watchdogs and those of major foreign investors in mining, military and energy in sub-Saharan Africa repeatedly point to what can only be described as a destructive and rapacious way of doing things. It’s very politically incorrect, but business has never let political niceties between nations — diplomacy — stand in the way of turning a good profit. And if backhanders oil the wheels of profit, so what.
The hugely influential Mo Ibrahim Foundation even ranks South Africa, the biggest and most powerful economy in Africa at only fifth place as far as governance and leadership go, trailing with downcast eyes and drooping shoulders behind nations like Mauritius and Botswana — and island and a desert, for heaven’s sake!
However, some go even further suggesting more sinister motives on the part of the people on the receiving end. “We see it time and again,” says a Pentagon analyst, “And when we dig deeper, we’re hard-pressed not to come to the conclusion that these guys are genuinely convinced they’re entitled to every dollar they receive. That it’s not corruption; it’s just pay-back. And that makes it alright,” she says.
My initial reaction was, “Bullshit!” Maybe I’m naive. I know too many bright, enlightened, innovative, creative, artistic, moral and deep-thinking Africans.
But then I have to consider Jacob Zuma and Julius Malema and Winnie Madikizela-Mandela and Zwelinzima Vavi and Blade Nzimande and suddenly a Pandora’s box of everything that is detestable, destructive and rapacious flies open. Greedy, self-aggrandising, inveterate, duplicitous and untrustworthy addicts of nepotism, cronyism and the empty-promise are being spotlighted in the South Gauteng High Court in the Selebi trial right now.
I am probably more sceptical, more glass half-empty than most, but even I am gobsmacked at the depth of criminality that has been allowed to permeate this country. We’ve all sensed that something is wrong, very, very wrong, but as each new day uncovers another sinister twist in the dark machinations of criminality and the ANC government, a kind of stunned this-can’t-be-happening silence I haven’t seen since TV
images showed the twin towers of the World Trade Centre collapsing back in 2001 emerges. Cormac McCarthy couldn’t even script this stuff. It is the ugly rancid visceral gore of shoot-em-up video games!
The fact that it is being uncovered is good. It speaks of a very rare judicial courage and the strength of our Constitution. It is also a roaring, thunderous wake-up call to each and every person who put a cross next to the ANC in April’s election. But us South Africans are tough. We’ve got rhino hides. This is called “democracy”. And we have become so sand-blasted by bullshit that we’ve rightly adopted the view that talk is cheap and money buys whisky. So we burn some more tyres in Diepsloot, beat up our wives and kids and stupefy our minds with the 25 litres of pure alcohol the Parry-Dewing Report found South African adults consume a year.
The moment the horrors of Agliotti, Selebi and their murderous network reaching into the uppermost sanctums of the ANC government are mentioned, the kneejerk response, born of thousands of hours of laborious court hearings, is heard: “Ya, but will anything ever come of it?”
I doubt it. Not if the shameful idiocy of Schabir Shaik, Nkola Motata, Tony Yengeni and the rest of them are any kind of yardstick. Coupled with that is the inevitable and inescapable reality of Africa time which makes the slow grinding of Earth’s tectonic plates seem positively turbo-charged. By the time any meaningful result comes of the Selebi disaster, humankind will have flown to distant planets and it just won’t matter any more, as Buddy Holly would have said.
Man, why do our own have to making it so fucking difficult to be proudly South African?
Tragically true – and well said Llewllyn. Loving a country shouldn’t make us blind to the reality.
Entitlement destroys and the worst pain is felt by those who really REALLY want this amazing country to work, as it should – and could – with more honesty and less ‘you owe me’.
I have no problem with any of your complaints.
But why would you want to be “proudly South African” and why is the loss of this pride a problem? In my experience the countries where people are the proudest of their nationality are, in general, those where I would least like to spend much time.
On a separate point much, much worse than SA is of course possible. The DRC, for instance.
And the venality, cynicism and skullduggery of politicians in a number of developed countries – the UK for instance – should remind one that being contemptible isn’t the sole preserve of African politicians.
Zuma and co obviously do their decadence a bit differently from how it’s done in the UK. (But let’s not forget that I can probably match your Zuma with my BAE.) Partly it may be the difference between the SA politician’s pedigree of Standard 4 against the UK’s (or at least the Cameroons’) Eton and Oxford, but it is partly cultural too.
I can understand and tolerate the foibles of people from a culture which I share, or which I am close to, a lot better than I can those from a culture I do not share.
I will therefore always deal more easily with a Brown, Cameron, Obama (and even a Bush or Blair) than I will with a Zuma, Malema, Mugabe or Mbeki. Not for reasons of race but culture.
Is the same not maybe true of you?
“Why make it so hard to be proudly South African?”
Dambisa Moyo, young economist from Zambia, writes in her recently published book “DEAD AID” about:
“In the past fifty years, more than $1 trillion in development-related aid has been transferred from rich countries to Africa. Has this assistance improved the lives of Africans? No. In fact, across the continent, the recipients of this aid are not better off as a result of it, but worse—much worse.”
So, you are not the only one with the questions!! (http://www.dambisamoyo.com/deadaid.html)
“In Dead Aid, Dambisa Moyo describes the state of postwar development policy in Africa today and unflinchingly confronts one of the greatest myths of our time: that billions of dollars in aid sent from wealthy countries to developing African nations has helped to reduce poverty and increase growth.”
Naturally, she received some negative comments form the NGO corners. NGO is big business!! A fair percentage of Aid, channelled through NGO’s goes towards “administration”.
Not unlike our African administrators, NGO administrators also live comfortably in poverty stricken areas.
No one is viewed behind a flag, border or any other barrier when the curtain falls. Focus on the value you as an individual have instead of trying to generate value through confined entities which will never reflect you anyway
“persistent aching recession into which SA is simply sinking deeper and deeper declares our status as a nation on welfare”
What on earth does the worldwide recession that most countries in the world are grappling with, have to do with a welfare state? This is nothing more than divisive rhetoric of the US neocon Republicans whose loose regulatory policies created a bubble and then threw the entire world into a protracted recession! Scapegoating the poor and voiceless for our economic woes is not only brain-dead and illogical, but also despicable and shameful. If SA was a welfare state, then why would be still have, as your claim, these beggars on every street corner? Doesn’t make any sense whatsoever.
“I am gobsmacked at the depth of criminality that has been allowed to permeate this country”
Your bitter cries have a hollow ring since your bad case of guilt-ridden amnesia is all to apparent when it comes to your strange silence of apartheid’s crimes against humanity and the present decay and corruption in our society and instiututions resulting from centuries of white AA, .
The “difficulty to be proudly South African” is borne out of a white supremacist mindset hardwired with a sense of entitlement from years of apartheid indoctrination. The idea of blacks successfully governing a country simply “does not compute” for you!
“…the international perception that all African countries are funding black holes run by profoundly corrupt governments…”
It’s so much more than just a mere perception.
@Dave Harris : “The idea of blacks successfully governing a country simply “does not compute” for you!”.
If by ‘blacks’, you mean the ANC, they’re not successfully running the country, have you been reading the news?
Enlightened and tragically true.
Oh, to see – similar ,to the point,truthful articles BLAZONED across news papers and radio talk shows and TV screens.
Hopefully then, even bone heads, such as Dave Harris and likes…would begin to see the light. Sadly though…but true to form,the synapses in their brains, operate also on African Time.
Cry the beloved country !
If all else fails, blame it on “apartheid”, if that does not do the trick add “colonialism”.
Now we have given the root cause of all African misery a home, we can start thinking of solutions to the problems. Any volunteers??
http://www.noseweek.co.za/article.php?current_article=2108
DaveHarris uses a clever but time-worn argument about crime, corruption, ect. to wit:”why did you not cry out about the same under the apartheid system?”Heis cavalier dismissal of the crime problem is only ridiculous and immoral. Presumably he also feeds at the trough of corruption and nepotism that pervades his style of critique.
“The idea of blacks successfully governing a country simply “does not compute” for you!” so harangues Comrade Harris. Please show us (whites and blacks both) this successful governing a country!”
Dave Harris for President!
No joke, someday this horror might occur!
Dave Harris: “The idea of blacks successfully governing a country simply “does not compute” for you!” And it does for you, regardless of spectrum? Go twitter some place alse, you twit!
@ Dave Harris
you are living proof that not all whites benefited from the advantages given to them under apartheid. Your level of education seems to have progressed no further than a banana and an inner tube. So as a previously advantaged South African allow me to assist you: The main thrust of the article relates to corruption and its detrimental influence upon society, in particular our South African society. Therefore reread the article, analyze it critically and then systematically make your counter arguments.
Why do you think that Shaik, Mandella,Blade, Zuma and the rest say they are innocent? Because as you rightly say they feel intitled. As they see it, one is not stealing if you are entitled to what you take. Ask any black and he will confirm that this is true. It is a historic fact stretching back into prehistory. Even Mali has Arab records of such.
Dave Harris, you are one sorry individual.
If there’s a posting – anywhere – your name is sure to be somewhere in the comments.
Do you spend your entire freaking day, bent over your keyboard, composing bitter replies, while vinegar pumps through your veins??
The world owes you jack. Remove those mountains from your shoulders and look at the sun – for God’s sake.
Get a life bru. You’re just…. sad.
Who is Dave Harris? Vuke boeta! Like some children years ago I too wondered what it was that made so many of our unthinking white compatriots swallow the old regime’s bait hook, line and sinker. Not even the deaf and blind could’ve been oblivious to the injustices meted out to those considered less than human.
During these past number of years it has become clear to me that, whatever our status or lack thereof, human beings are easily fooled. Unless we continue to question and to condemn injustices committed by whatever stripe or colour we too are likely to accept without question the corruption, the evil and foolishness of whoever is leading us down the garden path. And if the events of the past ten days do not serve as a wake-up call, what more do we need? Was the apartheid government so powerful in its heyday that it has informed the actions and sensibilities of our present leaders? I thought we were once all out there with our high moral values and plans for a truly democratic society. Clearly, I too have been misled. We have all been born with a conscience and a sense of morality, no matter how blunted by the past. We have no one but ourselves to blame for this replay. Vuke boeta!
@ Dave Harris Wena! Nthet’ ukufufu.
You have no idea of the reality in this country Mr Idealist Englishman.
You have no idea that the ANC is just the same as the apartheid nationalists. In fact, those two dinosaurs quickly made mutual deals before and after 1992 when the ANC was unbanned. Have you no idea how many residue nationalists are now cosily in the ANC?
You have no idea, do you, that the ANC Inc cares absolutely NOTHING about ordinary South Africans, most of whom are poorer than poor. Through your sentimental outdated idealism you cannot see that truth is colourblind, as is corruption, misrule and self-serving in public office.
This umntu from Mzansi says it’s time you either ‘shut your gob’ (British idiom) or start to learn reality and to see how oridinary South Africans suffer under the incompetent, corrupt and criminal ANC government.
It’s great to read a well considered and truly hard-hitting opinion of the SA situation, where a spade actually gets called a spade. I’m sick to death of the endless spin and gilded reporting by folk who will not admit that the king has no clothes on. I left SA some years ago but would head back the moment I could see that things were positively and permanently headed in the right direction. In the meanwhile I’ve had to endure a lot of the so-called SA supporters ranting on about the Rainbow Nation and all that is wonderful about it, and slamming me for my decision to leave in the process. Next thing I hear they’re selling up and are off to Aus or the UK when they realise that the Africa syndrome has kicked in. Seems a lot of those who claim to be Proudly South African are in fact just enjoying the remains of the good life while they can, contributing nothing to further the cause for good. In the final analysis less Proudly than they are Comfortably SA. So, who is the hypocrite now ?
@Dave Harris
“The “difficulty to be proudly South African” is borne out of a white supremacist mindset hardwired with a sense of entitlement from years of apartheid indoctrination. The idea of blacks successfully governing a country simply “does not compute” for you!”
The words of Mbembe, Bayart and Fanon are not those of the all terrible racist white folk. Their work on post-colonial Africa shows a frighting pattern of corruption, nepotism and violence. A pattern I see emerging more in South Africa as I follow the news and read post-colonial history.
It is a cheap and worthless trick to pull the race card as it diverts from the issues.
It is not a case of black or white, corruption is a part of politics.
Truth be told it is not the white population that greatly suffers at the end of the day but those who were oppressed during apartheid and so desperately need the help of the government, through education, health care and basic services.
Anyone claiming that someone cannot govern simply based on the colour of their skin is a fool.
At the same time the ANC must make good on their promises and curb the rampant corruption which compromises the reputation of the country and themselves.
It is hard to be proud of SA at the moment but I hope one day that I can.
.” It is also a roaring, thunderous wake-up call to each and every person who put a cross next to the ANC in April’s election. ”
I have the conviction that people no longer care. Our nation is in Zombie Mode. Other countries march, demonstrate and unite to let the government know that they are discontented.
Our streets are trashed and buildings burnt – those are for more wages and delivery. The ANC could not care less nor do the intelligent, thinking population.
We need to let the RULERS know that they have allowed our country to degenerate to a banana republic, while they empty the Treasury. Sadly, the majority will again vote ANC as it is the tradition and custom, in Afri, to keep voting for a thieving party. Its beyond comprehension.
Perceptions do not solve problems. The focus should be on morality change, which will only follow humanity for all.
Mr Harris. Do you view government theft merely as a payback thing? Do you think that your government is stealing from whites, and therefore its OK? Is that what you think?
Mr Harris, your cronies in government are stealing from their own people, the ones who trustingly voted them into power. Not the white man. They have been stealing, are stealing, and show every sign of continuing to steal from the beggars on street corners and from the grannies raising AIDS orphans in the townships.
But I think you realise this. So let me give you a little tip, Mr Harris. No amount of smoke and mirrors invoking colonialism and apartheid is going to make this OK or give your cronies a shred of respectability.
Why do we worry so much about ‘being South African’. Screw it all. National pride is for sports matches only.
Despite all the valid concerns you raise about the integrity of lack thereof of parts of our leadership, there remain many reasons to be proud of SA, and positive about our future. SA has a vibrant civil society and many independent, functional institutions. Middle management in the public sector have many hard-working stars who are 100% ethical and competent – the problems you point out unfortunately tend to be at the top levels, but fortunately are not universal. And finally SA still has a large active and independent citizenry with a great deal of goodwill across all race and class groups, and a strong desire for the country to succeed.
“Man, why do our own have to making it so fucking difficult to be proudly South African?”
Well, maybe cause 50% of south africans live in misery while another 20% sucks more money from the economy than they can chew ? Maybe because the end of apartheid never meant a change in the structure of the socio-economic system ? And maybe because the people who live an indecent rich life prefer to shout at scapegoats such as corruption instead of accepting that they should share the wealth ?!
But this is all maybe, I don’t expect you to find truth in it…
Why do the likes of dimple Dave makes it so hard to have a decent discourse? Extracting individual phrases does your intellect a disservice, lad, and sends our debate off on a tangent that might be academically interesting in a Pythonesque fashion, but sidesteps the issue. I WANT “blacks”(sic) to govern successfully (like Obama does rather gloriously. I WANT South Africans to be proud of what their leaders do, and it really pisses me off when the majority in SA cannot rise above themselves. You included, dear boy!
@ Dave Harris
“Your bitter cries have a hollow ring since your bad case of guilt-ridden…” yadda yadda
Sounds like you have a bout of propagandist rhetoric. Take a dose of reality and wake up! Crime is a national concern and is being felt by everybody across the spectrum of colours and creeds…especially the PDIs and the poor. If you cannot see that then you are stuck somewhere on the utopian planet of la-la land. And add some more tobacco to whatever it is you are smoking. Do you think for a moment that there are credible people who share your view? Read “Architects of Poverty” by Moeletsi Mbeki for a wake-up call.
Peace bro
I think you miss their point. They don’t particularly want us to be South Africans. We are really just hanging around searching for recognition like subservient dogs after bones. But it was a pleasure to read…wish Zuma had an e-mail address and we could send all these posts to him.
How proud can you be when the so-called leaders of this country are voted in by an electorate who don’t pay the majority of taxes…of course if the electorate and tax base are the same then good thing…but I’m afraid they’re not and to make matters worse that money you are I are obliged by law to pay offer is being squandered on 5 star lifestyles as we speak…Manuel another blue lable for my friend and we’ll be dining in the cigar lounge this evening…will that be all sir…ah actually some chicken wings!!!! Maybe cholosterol will be the taxpayers curse on them!!!!!!
Good Gwad Almighty! If you Neanderthals spent your energies rebutting my arguments instead of your lame brained insults, SA would be a much better place.
I wonder what makes some of you jump to the conclusion that I am white….hmmm, maybe I should remember to tone down the Old Spice before I go online again …LOL
I read the article and celebrated. More and more people are speaking up and objecting to the corruption, waste, and mismanagement. And that’s all we need to get these criminals masquerading as freedom fighters out of office, through elections, and into jail. I feel that the tide of opinion is going to wash the ANC right out real soon!
And then I read Dave Harris’ bit and my heart sunk. Is he indicative of many voters in this country who cannot see what is painfully obvious to moralistic ethical people? If so, the battle is far from won.
But then I read the MANY many rebuttals by other commentators and my heart soared.
There is hope!
“Why do you think that Shaik, Mandella,Blade, Zuma and the rest say they are innocent? Because as you rightly say they feel intitled. As they see it, one is not stealing if you are entitled to what you take. Ask any black and he will confirm that this is true. It is a historic fact stretching back into prehistory. Even Mali has Arab records of such.”
Hugh Robinson do explain you comment.. it seems rather…err pregnant and full of generalization about black people and their sense of entitlement…hmm
@ Llewellyn and Dave
I have to stress here that Dave’s comments seem to me very accurate, and they obviously were produced by a person who has a good knowledge of the world’s social and economic history… So probably he would need more space to make his point clearer, but there really is in South Africa a “white supremacist mindset hardwired with a sense of entitlement from years of apartheid indoctrination.” However this mindset is no more the privilege of Whites.
Steve Biko taught us that being black is a matter of where you stand in or against the (racist and capitalist) domination system. SA’s leaders today clearly work for that system, but so do those who want us to believe that the corruption of these leaders is the source of present problems.
Ask yourself : how big is the amount of money that disappears in corruption, compared to the one that’s never distributed to the people who work, sweat, and bleed at the bottom of the capitalist pyramid ?
South Korea and most Asian dragons not only developed in spite of corruption, they developed through corruption, as the capitalist class there reinvested corruption’s money into the economy. So the problem has to be somewhere else…
And just one last remark : if you had spent your last 30 years in deep Soweto, Llewellyn, you’d know that crime and violence today are nothing comparable to what they were 15 or 20 years ago… No need to darken the picture…
@ Harris & Pierzo
@Harris: Please enlighten us with your superior insight and just rebuttal the article instead of making random, disgruntled remarks. Don’t worry so much about people presuming you are white, worry more about people presuming you to be an idiot.
@Pierzo: I have reread the article many times and try as I might I just cant find the place where the author advocates that we should or indeed could reverse SA ills by going back to white dominated system. With regards your last remark, if you are trying to imply the violence/murder rate has gone down, you really need to spend some time helping out at your local casualty unit.
@ Frans
By rereading my posts, you’ll find out that I never claimed the author advocated a return to white domination. My position is to say that the domination system never ended : only, it was white, and then it opened to non-white people. But the system remains the same, and the dominated masses also remain the same ones.
Regarding crime… well if all crimes could have been accounted for in the 80′s and 90′s, it would be obvious that the crime rate went down… Children in Soweto don’t have to walk over corpses on their way to school any more, this is for sure…
I am white, and I lived and work in deep Soweto for a good while, and never felt endangered. I also lived in Sandton, behind walls and fences, and guards and cameras : I had no contact with any other human being around my place, and I was told every week by my landlord or colleagues to hide myself, to be afraid, to consider all (poor)person as a barbarian awaiting to attack me…
SA suffers from 2 illnesses : 1) the leaders of the poors betrayed them, and embraced the domination system ; 2) the rich are so scared of everything that they’ll live in a bunker rather than meeting their own fellow South Africans…
I add that I am white, but not South African. And that I’m afraid SA will still be the same in 200 years, like Brasil…
An article, articulately writ. Bravo