Perhaps more so than any other African country, South Africa is a fascinating place. It’s history intersects with nearly every other nation in the world yet has it’s own unique and often terrible story to tell.
Here’s the quick South Africa history lesson: The San (Bushmen) people were the original inhabitants here, and possible Earth’s earliest humans. Fastforwarding to the Age of Exploration, Portugal first laid claim to the Cape with such infamous explorers as Dias and de Gama being among the first Westerners to see South Africa. Eventually, the Dutch colonized South Africa when Jan Van Riebeek settled here around 1650 in the Cape Town area. After intermittent skirmishes with the British (usually referred to as the Anglo-Boer Wars), the Dutch dominated South Africa and formed what’s known as the Afrikaaner culture. With the discovery of gold and diamonds here, the Afrikaaners displaced and enslaved many black South Africans. Eventually, in the mid-1940s, the Nationalist Party rose to power promising a system of apartheid that would codify racial segregation between whites, blacks, Indians, and coloureds (an acceptable local term for those of mixed racial heritage). Most in the West are vaguely familiar with the horrors of apartheid that extended for nearly 50 years until the great Madiba (the way South Africans fondly refer to Nelson Mandela) rose to power after his lonely 27 years in prison. Now, South Africa is working hard to escape the shadow of apartheid and move forward with new leaders now that Mandela is 90.
So far, the new leadership has had mixed success at best. Current president Thabo Mbeki is plagued by charges of corruption and indisputably poor leadership. Clearly, it’s been hard to follow in the footsteps of Mandela, but Mbeki has been a near-disaster for South Africa. Worse yet, his heir apparent is the current African National Congress (ANC - the political party Mandela led) president Jacob Zuma who has at various times been prosecuted for rape, fraud, and corruption. With this forthcoming election to happen sometime next year, politics is at the forefront of many South African’s minds. Everyone I’ve talked with so far, including blacks, whites, and Indians, are not excited about a possible President Zuma.
In it’s years of power since the retirement of Mandela, the ANC has struggled to achieve the promises it made. Poverty and unemployment are almost as endemic as HIV/AIDS. With 43% unemployment, it’s not hard to understand the recent xenophobic attacks against Zimbabweans and Somalians in the country as these foreigners come here to take jobs at lower pay. President Mbeki, though, has welcomed them with open arms because these African countries did the same for the ANC when it was forced into underground exile during the height of apartheid.
However, South Africa has harkened back to it’s post-apartheid rallying call of reconciliation to calm the xenophobic outbreak. Reconciliation is a marvelous testament to the human spirit. Inspired by Dr. King and Ghandi, Mandela realized that a generation of South Africans, his generation of South Africans, would have to stand still and not seek revenge against their former persecutors. Championed by other leaders like Bishop Desmond Tutu, reconciliation brought whites and blacks together in the post-apartheid era to cast light into the shadows of apartheid, but offer a spirit of forgiveness and a commitment to move forward past the terrible history of apartheid. This concept seems almost inconceivable, but it is truly a powerful force in South Africa.
Today, I saw the power of reconciliation firsthand on our visit to Robben Island, the prison where Mandela and other political prisoners were held for three decades. Once we got to the island, we were escorted on a bus ride by a former leader of the PAC (the Pan-African Congress, a rival party to the ANC with similar anti-apartheid goals). This Indian man not only recalled his encounters with anti-apartheid leaders like Madiba and Robert Sobukwe, but also intertwined the stories of his passengers countries into the struggle to end apartheid , showing each of us how our nations played a key part in ending the curse in South Africa. Later, we toured the political prison with a former member of the MK, the armed militia unit of the ANC that tried to end apartheid through sabotage. This prisoner was stuck in Robben Island for 7 years under extremely harsh conditions, including torture. However, he vows he would treat his former torturers as friends if he’s meet them today. I don’t know how to properly emphasize how remarkable this is.
Today, I saw that the Rainbow Nation of South Africa will succeed more and more as it continues to grow. Most realize it will never have leaders the caliber of Mandela, but not every president is Lincoln or Roosevelt either. However, South Africa deserves better leadership, and I hope that it’s current crop of leaders will realize that an either step aside or step up to be those better leaders.
In 2010, the soccer World Cup comes to South Africa. The country will use this as a chance to shine on the world stage, much like Beijing is doing in the Olympics right now. I truly hope and prayer that the world will see the South Africa I’ve seen. It’s a country with vast resources, the foremost among these being it’s amazing land and it’s more amazing people. However, without more done to tackle extreme poverty, helping the working poor, and continuing the fight against HIV/AIDS, the glitz and glamour of the World Cup will only hide the truth behind the Rainbow Nation.
Just a programming note before I bid farewell...Leah and I head home on Wednesday. We are looking forward to our over 40 hours in airports and on airplanes. Nothing like spending a work week in transit. Hopefully before then we'll both find time to right again. If not, I promise we'll both post some sort of post-trip synthesis after we get home.
Cheers,
Zac
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