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Show Us Your South Africa

During my preparation for #TEP2013 there are of course many challenges that come my way. The obvious one would be travelling a nation, something that on its own is a tall order. Similarly with an under-taking like this, a project with a small budget, it had to encapsulate the diverse nation that the world thinks they understand. The fact being that only locals understand South Africa, only South Africans have been a part of the nation’s history, and will be a part of its future, a nation that is not comparable to any other. Now I say this because non South Africans feel justified in labelling the country and its people. It is more complicated than that.

The Essence of the Traveller's Tale

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"But to look back from the stony plain along the road which led one to that place is not at all the same thing as walking along the road; the perspective, to say the least, changes only with the journey; only when the road has, all abruptly and treacherously, and with the absoluteness that permits no argument, turned or dropped or risen is one able to see all that one could not have seen from any other place."

James Baldwin, Go Tell it on the Mountains

Generalizations

I am white, and I am South African, so it would be easy to make a sweeping generalisation that because of the colour of my skin and my nationality, I am probably a racist. And because I am a white racist I am anti the ANC, have loads of money, a university degree, and not an ‘African’, simply a ‘South African’. Conversely, if I was black I would be pro ANC, the criminal element or a corrupt official, I would probably have AIDS, and I would be an ‘African’ through and through. It is therefore predetermined that generalisations will be made, no matter how ridiculous they are and so where better to generalise than a country with such a history as South Africa?

Racism

There are examples all over the world and the fact is every country has had and still has racial and culture conflict and this will probably always be the case. Where there are differences, be it in colour, religion, culture, there will be conflict in something as simple as a bar altercation right through to a civil war. In light of this South Africa has managed a transition in a proud and peaceful way, something to be satisfied with, and the country can indeed hold its head high. But right now it is time to get on with it. Move on. Move forward. What has happened has happened, we can all learn from it and the beauty of that is that we can grow even better because of it.

New South Africa

It has been a generation now since South Africa’s new democracy; in 1965 the holocaust survivors were not still blaming their lives, be it negative or positive, on the Nazis twenty years previous. The US may have abolished slavery back in the time of Lincoln, but the fight for equal rights still went on into the 60’s and 70’s, and then 20 years from then the blame for that did not still occupy the minds of Americans as an excuse for their daily lives.

Jobs vs. Careers

So, to the present day, let us take this positive out of the darkness of Apartheid and turn it into what defines the country. South Africa needs jobs and so the country should be providing these and be building the supply and demand of local industry slowly up from there. It may not be as cheap as China initially but eventually South Africa will be able to cater in both price and quality. China didn’t get to the point it is now over night, it had a long term plan and so must we.

Apartheid

Apartheid brought South Africa two advantages; firstly, it proved that the nation could be self-sufficient. If the world didn’t want to deal with South Africa then South Africa would provide what it needed on its own and so it did. Secondly, this left South Africa’s economic grading as far superior to most of Western Europe and the world due to this and the lack of lending that went on when the rest of the world borrowed from the World Bank and now find themselves in massive debt.

Constitution

The problem I have is the government and the people equally need to get their act together. South Africa’s constitution, although progressive and inspiring is providing a platform from which to make your protest about anything and everything known. Now this is not necessarily a positive in my eyes, and it really needs to be channelled to the pertinent otherwise it will quickly get lost into a sea of negativity. So for one, the people of South Africa need to realise that you can complain about everything now and for ever more or you can start in your own home and business and help to provide the answers. 

Public Transport

If you haven’t driven through a South African taxi rank, and in this case one of a Friday afternoon, then do yourself a favour and try it just for the experience. Organised chaos, like so much ofAfrica I guess. South Africa’s public transport, even after a 2010 World Cup attempt to develop to more sustainable and enviro-friendly options, is based around millions of white mini bus taxis through out South Africa. A large proportion of these are government subsidised and promoted as a truly South Africa transport system. Any deviations from this as the main means of public transport are passionately protested by Taxi Association.