Five Weeks in South Africa

Five Weeks in South Africa

Back again in the country where I have given my best years; with apprehension I asked myself how things are going and what the prospects are for the future. Again there is this sense of being thrown between hope and despair. The five weeks coming to an end, I must say that hope comes up on top.

One is shaken by the fact that the country is marred by corrupt practices, and you see it most clearly in some of the state owned companies, ESCOM (electricity), The South African Airways, SAA, and now also The South African Broadcasting Corporation, SABC. In the latter case the CEO has definitely enriched himself, increased his salary by more than 100% and ZAR 400 million are missing. Asked about the latter, the CEO simply said that the SABC is not a profit making operation but for the common good!

Corrupt practices should however be seen against common practices bordering on corruption in multinational companies based in the West, and we know that SAAB’s involvement in the Arms Deal in this country is not free from such corrupt practises.

South Africa is still marred by violent crimes and rape continues to be a nightmare in the nation and an indictment on the whole male population. But typically, here there is always an antidote to the ills that rear their ugly heads.

At the end of last month people walked in demonstrations against corruption, in Pretoria, Cape Town and other places. “End Corruption now” is a countrywide movement that is on the alert. In Cape Town we walked from District Six to the Parliament, outside the gates of which Archbishop Thabo Makgoba and others spoke. We were not the biggest of crowds – it  was after all an ordinary working day – but I gather we were at least 3 – 4000 people who marched. Many NGOs were there, churches and other religious leaders from Muslim and Jewish organizations as well.

Not having been part of a march like this for quite a while I observed one thing: the strong sense of being physically embedded in one group consisting of all existing population groups and many persuasions; all were just so sick and tired of this endless self-enrichment and these corrupt practices and therefore wanted to march in order to show this openly.

Last night had very disturbing news about child rape in India and one could see that people are out in the streets demonstrating wildly against this terrible thing. Not so in South Africa; not yet. But it will come and women are now beginning to take action and they will not leave this issue until it is solved. One should for example take note of a new book titled Rape – A South African Nightmare, by Pumla Dineo Gqola, Associate Professor of African Literary and Gender Studies at the University of Witwatersrand.

It may seem like another academic exercise, perhaps in futility, but that would be to underestimate this young woman. She comes down with a very strong message to all men involved in such practices, men of all shades and ages: we will expose you until you change your behaviour. One should then hasten to add that until now, men committing these violent and distasteful acts are not really exposed at all. Many still dwell in a culture that allows for this thing to carry on, while the plight of the victims is highlighted. She wants to turn this around and focus the men.

I think this is very courageous and our hope must be placed in such women as Professor Gqola.

Again, as I am sure I have said this before, repeatedly, South Africa remains an open society, more so than for example Sweden, where people in fact may be afraid of uttering their honest opinions. With this I mean an atmosphere where people have a space where they can express themselves on so many issues and currently this is even safeguarded by the sitting government. So, for example, President Jacob Zuma opened last week’s ANC council meeting by declaring the painful fact that the membership of the party had gone down with one third. It is interesting to note that he did not try to hide this fact at all and it is important as this dwindling membership could eventually bring the party out of government; so, not yet any attempt to cover up or bring in excuses to why this sad state of affairs had now caught up with them.

Secondly, and I must say I was somewhat surprised, he and other ANC leaders congratulated Archbishop Tutu on his 84^th birthday on 7 October. This was a gesture to take not of, seeing that Archbishop Tutu has continued to be the most vehement critique of the ANC government during the last couple of years. In addition, on his very birthday the Public Protector, Ms Thuli Madonsela, gave the keynote address at the annual Desmond Tutu Peace Lecture at the University of the Western Cape. Ms Madonsela is the person who as Public Protector has had to call on the President to pay back money spent on his retirement village to be – Nkandla – to the state, and we are talking of more than ZAR 100 million. She is in ANCs bad books and attempts are being made to unseat her and bring this legal office under (party) political control. But that is not yet on the horizon – but there are thus warning signs.

Yesterday afternoon SAFM, the public radio broadcaster, ran a discussion on the future of South Africa, following the title of a new book by O. R. Johnson, How Long Will South Africa Survive? The Looming Crisis. Johannesburg and Cape Town: Jonathan Ball Publishers, 2015. Johnson, a well-known South African journalist, also since many years a Fellow of Magdalen College, Oxford, wrote a book with the same title during the apartheid era. Now it is time for another book putting the same question to the ANC regime. Johnson gives the government about five years. If nothing drastic is done (like dealing with corruption, creating jobs, etc.) there will be a melt-down.

The other discussant in the programme was Moeletsi Mbeki, a political scientist and brother of former president Thabo Mbeki. He was more optimistic. The sitting government could also change its mind, it will have to happen. He also pointed at powerful groups in society that to quite some extent would make a melt-down impossible. He mentioned the private sector, which could do more to help in creating jobs, but is nevertheless important for the stability of the country. He also mentioned religious bodies as being of great importance in keeping the nation afloat. He clearly had the various church organizations in mind and not so much their financial muscle as their moral and faith muscle, so to speak. This is of great interest and importance and Mbeki’s comment one would not easily hear in for example Sweden. He simply admits that the various church bodies, by virtue of giving meaning and drive for many millions of people in the country are a formidable power in the inevitable task of nation building. An uplifting and encouraging discussion an ordinary Monday afternoon, an afternoon during which students in Johannesburg (Witwatersrand’s University), Grahamstown (Rhodes University) and Cape Town (University of Cape Town) demonstrated and held their vice-Chancellors and other administrators accountable for the uncalled for increases in student fees.

When writing this I side with Moeletsi Mbeki. I can’t help saying that there is hope for this country. There is still a glorious future and South Africa will eventually lead the way out of despair, inequality and meaningless violence.