Radiac's South African Adventure, Part 13

• 29th October 2004 at 12:52

African Adventure Parts: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13

Day Fourteen, Take Two - Friday 29th October

I have arrived back in England after an 8 hour flight to Dubai and a 7 hour flight to Gatwick, plus half an hour or so by car either end. Next time I don't think I'll be so convinced by an indirect flight, although the 2 hour break in the middle was good for some extra duty-free. Plus I got to sit next to two very interesting people this time - I was on the window seat both times, first I sat next to a South African who exported citrus fruit, and then I sat next to someone who worked on oil rigs. I had the misfortune of sitting behind someone on both flights who insisted on having their seat fully reclined from take-off to landing, although the oil rig worker took pity on me and sorted it out for me on the way back from Dubai...

All in all, I have had a wonderful two weeks. Having been there for such a short period of time and having seen so little of the country, I do wonder what right I have to draw any conclusions, but it has made such an impression on me and I have so many thoughts on it that I feel I should say something.

Even though South Africa is on the other side of the world to England, most of it has almost exactly the same culture as at home. This very probably has something to do with the fact that it used to be part of the British empire and so there are many links back to this country - it seemed that almost everyone I spoke to knew where Sevenoaks was, had relatives in Bath, or had worked in Tunbridge Wells. But it also somehow seemed very wrong.

I felt that South Africa is still very divided. Ten years on from the start of their democracy, there is no doubt that the country has changed; no longer are jobs and places separated by race by law, and equal opportunity laws ensure that everyone has the same chance, but in reality the country has simply shifted its separating line slightly, from skin colour to money. And since it was the whites who had the money ten years ago, they are mostly still the ones in power. It obviously isn't quite as divided as it was and there is no visible attempt to discriminate, but of all of the restaurants, petrol stations, car parks etc I went into, I was only served by 4 whites in the whole of my trip, and of those only one was working in a place with any non-white staff.

What makes it worse is that poverty is rife amongst the black population living in townships; unemployment before democracy was 10%, now it is about 40%, and the populations of these townships are exploding far faster than housing can be built - the waiting list for affordable (about £1600) government housing is apparently 25-30 years. With such poverty and no financial support from the state, the only source of money for many people is crime - as a result, the rich lock themselves away in gated communities, safe from the poor outside, and appear to live in constant fear of being mugged and attacked by the poor. The rich get richer, the poor stay poor.

And as a result of these various separations in South Africa, I can't help but feel that the native culture of South Africa has been damaged. This very probably happened back when the British invaded and tried to stamp it out, but I don't see it getting any better. Generalising dangerously, I have seen three groups of society in my two weeks - the rich, the poor and the tourist. The rich try to live like the west, the poor want to be like the rich, and in between the tourists walk around visiting museums and points of history, but very little of the current. All of this seems to leave very little space for the development of any culture other than that which has been imported, with anything non-west being labelled a curiosity and packaged up for the American tourists' cameras.

The history of South Africa is incredibly rich and varied, but as I drove through and watched, I couldn't help feeling that they are having difficulty deciding what they want to be in the future, and I wondered if the history of their future will end up reading similarly to that of the west, which would be a great shame. If this country can find a way to solve its problems of population and poverty, and most crucially if the people continue to learn to stop fearing each other and continue to learn to embrace each others cultures, then this will certainly be one of the richest countries in the world.

I've had a fantastic couple of weeks. I've seen things I've never seen before, I've learnt about things that I had no idea about, and despite all of the warnings, I wasn't mugged once. South Africa is beautiful, lively, interesting and full of things to do - if you ever find yourself with a free couple of weeks and money to spare, there's no better place to go.

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