Reflections from South Africa

I have just returned from a two week trip from the Southern tip of Africa and thought I would share some of my observations. This is my first visit in six months and I was amazed at how the mind set and attitude of the people I interacted with has dramatically changed in that time. Since then we have seen Jacob Zuma take over the leadership of the ANC and Eskom start to invoke their load shedding arrangements, the Rand has also weakened considerably even against a globally defective dollar, something which I must say I never predicted. I was extremely impressed by the developments at OR Tambo airport, the extent of the new facilities and the friendliness of the the immigration staff - this is a 100% improvement over the last visit and I sincerely hope this continues as this is the first glimpse of a foreign tourist. Unfortunately this is where it ended. My trip to the car rental area was a minefield of illegal taxi drivers offering to take me to Sandton, surely what is needed is a regulated taxi rand where a visitor can queue up like most International cities and have metered and regulated trip into the city center, no such luck. The aggression and lack of courtesy afforded other drivers is very pronounced, ten minutes of driving and the tension starts to creep through your veins, making up one place in a three lane highway by changing lanes six times is par for the course, taxis come at you from all directions even the emergency lanes. My biggest shock was however the negativity of my friends (of all races) who have all been extremely bullish on the Rainbow Nation since 1994. Everyone has a story of a violent crime, a rape a murder of someone close to them. The talk around the dinner table is no longer of how good the way of life in South Africa is and how can you possibly take the London climate and has moved to where did I think the best areas of the UK are to move to or should they consider the US or Australia. Why the sudden change in perception, I think the realisation that the infrastructure is no longer holding up and that 2010 World Cup may possibly no longer happen has a lot to do with it. The fact that it is also no longer cheap to live in South Africa is starting to impact a number of peoples decisions on leaving too, people where amazed to find out that food, clothing, electricity, water are a lot cheaper in the UK even at 15 to 1. I guess only time will tell whether South Africa just becomes another African statistic - I sincerely hope not.