27 years ago since the end of apartheid (racist segregation system that lasted 46 years from 1948) in South Africa & the birth of democracy on 27th April 1994 with freedom fighter Nelson Mandela who spent 27 years of his life in prison (1963 to 1990) who fought against apartheid, becoming first elected black president of the country. 😀🙂🇿🇦
It must be a lucky & interesting number. 27. My mum’s country (which I visited three times in my life).
Fast forward to today, unfortunately the challenges facing South Africa still remains very problematic. 😔
Now with South Africans (black, white, coloured & other races) living together (although racism still exists & that most South Africans know that racism played a role during the apartheid era), the issues facing SA is really unbearable economically, socially and even politically. It is the third world country & when the country is a third world country, that’s where crime, poverty, inequality and corruption arises & being normalised. Even the coronavirus pandemic & the Delta Variant that have already severely impacted South Africa & gone into lockdown. I am saying this because I am half South African. South African descendant.
So here are the highlights of the problems in South Africa since life there is not easy.🇿🇦
Crime
We already know for the fact that crime rate in South Africa is high. Dangerously high & high crime rates have not really gone down as it is still problematic. All type of crime: violent and non violent alike. en.wikipedia.org
Plus I was not surprised when my uncle shared to me on WhatsApp with the news source about six South African cities being ranked one of the top 20 dangerous cities in the world: Durban, Pretoria, Pietermaritzburg, Port Elizabeth (now renamed as Gqerberha), Johannesburg and Cape Town.
Even my own relatives told me that I have to be very careful because of crime level in South Africa & that anything can happen. Like theft or any of criminal behaviour. It is not even like being free to roam around. It’s like everywhere is danger despite it is not really in war zone or conflict zone. Broadly speaking, crime level is enormous in South Africa & it is not controllable. Authorities should really step up & put a stop to it. No wonder some of South Africans moved out of the country. Relocating to different country including here in the United Kingdom.
Corruption
Corruption is a big issue for the country. en.wikipedia.org
This highlights the corruption of the former president of South Africa Jacob Zuma (2009 to 2018) & his wealthy buddies. Indian businessmen the Guptas. Nepotism. It was a big political scandal in South Africa. Including spending taxpayer’s money at his own home in Nkandla. All for selfishness and greediness.
There were several vote of no confidence motions when Zuma was the president. All attempts at the South African Parliament were unsuccessful. At least he had finally stepped down as the SA President in February 2018 (three years ago. A disgrace to the country.
No wonder now as of the recent developments that the former President had gone to jail for 15 months due to contempt of court. The result of it?
Violence, riots and looting which it have happened across South Africa. From Durban to Johannesburg. Destroying businesses & causing mayhem.
It is very heartbreakingly shocking but not surprising.
Furthermore, the credit rating under Jacob Zuma was downgraded to junk status in 2017 & sacked the finance minister. google.co.uk
Which brings me to the next paragraph.
Economy, wealth, poverty and inequality.
Unemployment level in South Africa is shockingly at 32.6% tradingeconomics.com
It is the most unequal country in the world & the South African economy doesn’t benefit to all its citizens (including my mum’s family side). Plus during my time in South Africa, I even saw that some of black South African who happened to have poor wealth or being jobless, lives in suburbs. In South Africa, they called it Townships.
Plus with unemployment already high there, some of South Africans who seem to be bitter filled with hatred, targeted Foreign nationals (mainly African nationals who are from the same continent in different African countries). It really really makes no sense at all logically. Targeting fellow Africans from the African continent (same continent). As if it is not from the continent of Africa. For me, my opinion is that some of ordinary South Africans including those who don’t have a job doesn’t seem to realise & acknowledge that the ones that they are targeting innocent African nationals who are from different parts of Africa are the ones who liberated South Africa from the racist apartheid regime. And that’s how they get payback? Migrants (African immigrants) being wrongly blamed for the problems & ills of the society in the Republic of South Africa. It is very appalling. Xenophobia is something that shouldn’t be tolerated. Even if the country is not in good stability economically. Even non African nationals are being targeted too in SA. Like Indians for example. Mostly, it is other African nationals who are the main ones of being targeted. Which it should never be so.
Lastly, politics in South Africa.
Politics
South African politics is tribalised. It is not well civilised.
Apart from Jacob Zuma which I strongly disliked, the ANC (African National Congress. The party of Mandela) under Cyril Ramaphosa is way different than ANC under Zuma. The reputation of the ANC party was really undermined. All because of political corruption in South Africa & Zuma. Given there are still loyalist politicians who do support the former President who is corrupt.
Although I am not realty interested in South African politics, what I see in Cyril Ramaphosa is the big improvement politically & that he is doing way better than Zuma (even he did served as deputy President & I understand that he couldn’t stand the leadership of Zuma which led him to run for the ANC party leadership election which he won in 2017 & became the President of South Africa). So yeah, SA politics is so messy.
As for EFF (Economic Freedom Fighters) & Julius Malema? Give me a break. That guy (Malema) is very polarising political figure in South Africa. He likes to be at the centre of attention (attention seeking) & causing controversies after controversies & simply being a trouble maker. Example: Openly threatening an African politician in the Pan African Parliament (maybe AU Parliament). That tells me that he (Julius Malema) is not really serious & that there is no chance in hell for him to possibly the president of South Africa in the future. news24.com Otherwise, it could become miserable & ending up, becoming like neighbouring country. Zimbabwe.
Here in the West, I see polarising political figures who are mostly far right and right wing). From Nigel Farage to Marine Le Pen, Geert Wilders to Donald Trump. Well in South Africa, it’s Julius Malema who is politically on the left (far left. Not normal socialist left or centre left). So I have no time for him (Malema).
Conclusion: South Africa is the beautiful and awesome country. The country that won Rugby World Cups three times in 1995, 2007 & recently in 2019. It is unfortunately being plagued by it’s own challenges and it is big one. I hope and pray that the rainbow nation do find ways to really overcome the challenges & hopeful remain being attractive place to live, work and study. It is start by improving the economy of South Africa and to put the nation in stable leadership. Last thing everyone needs is to see the country becoming another Zimbabwe which I hope and pray that it is not the case & it better not be so.
Plus, this is not what Nelson Mandela had visioned. What he (Madiba) vision is the country having prosperity. Not just from years of apartheid. Also addressing the challenges & finding ways to deal with it & overcome it. Unfortunately, Nelson Mandela’s successors (including Jacob Zuma) didn’t do enough work to solve problems economically, politically, financially and socially in Mzansi (Xhosa name for South Africa).
I hope and pray for the next 10 or 20 years, South Africa will be in better position than at the present time at this moment. At least South Africa is really in better place than under apartheid. I hope for the best for the Rainbow Nation. I really do. It is that I cannot bear to see all of bad things that have happened & keeping on happening to South Africa. That’s how I am lucky & grateful that I live in the UK (as you know that I am British by birth)!& that I didn’t spend my life in SA.
And that is why life is not easy in South Africa. It is hard. Hard life.
“It’s the hard knock life”. 🇿🇦
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