Estimated reading time: 4 minutes
Welcome to South Africa in 2022, we hope you enjoy your stay. Providing you with an update on the country, from a “war-torn” South Africa.
Despite continued, developing challenges brought on by what can only be described as inexperienced greed from a political sector—corrupt and focused on everything but the people’s best interests, South Africans continue to be resilient.
There is an old saying, that “necessity is the mother of all inventions”. You could not find a better example of this sentence in motion, than right here on the Southern tip of Africa.
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Inadaquelty run by friends of friends, State-Owned Enterprises have pushed communities to find alternatives to their government-created problems. One entity, Eskom, which has been supplying power since 1923, cannot do the basic job in 2022 of generating, housing and selling its stock, electricity. This is not because they do not know how, but rather, thanks to deliberate sabotage and poor HR. But this is merely scratching the tip of the pillaged iceberg.
Infrastructure and the general justice system have become absurd. Potholes and dilapidated road conditions are simply here to stay, as infrastructure management appears to allude municipalities with only long-winded statements given when questioned. Public medical facilities have moved from the deplorable column into the “how is this legal” section. Government departments are littered with incompetence and a detachment from the people they are paid to serve. Simple tasks like renewing a thing like a driver’s license become a three-day event in your larger cities. This is not discussing the endless topic of failed economical progress.
Yet, the government speaks of pipe dreams like building new cities, I guess, forgetting the glaring problems. For goodness sake, KwaZulu-Natal was looted, billions lost, and businesses ruined, but no one is behind bars a year later?!
Despite all the challenges, what do South Africans do, we moan and complain, but when the chips are down and my goodness, are they constantly down, we find solutions to these unlimited issues. South Africans, filled with anger and uncertainty do the most South African thing—we make jokes about it all. In the face of political anarchy, blinding challenges and a completely unsure tomorrow we bring out that comedic side that shines a light in the darkness. (Excuse the pun Eskom).
Remember, and this is something most around the globe cannot relate to. Every South African rich or on the poverty line, wakes up and goes to bed with multiple-layered fears. If it is not our world-leading rape rate or our borderline communistic political sector, then it is the thought of “will you wake up to no water again”. Or, “how will you avoid crime, protect your family or defend your neighbourhood when the next unrest comes”.
As you lay there thinking, you wonder what the next trip to the grocery store will cost or will there be a future for you in the next few years? Yet, you get up in the morning, baring no criminal activity occurred during the evening, get ready and continue pursuing your goals.
With all of this raining down on us, to say we are unique and extraordinary is an understatement. Where else in the world can you walk into a store filled with Zulu and English people, owned by a Portuguese man, who is married to a Chinese woman, while Afrikaans music plays in the background? Nowhere, only in South Africa. We are so beautifully unique, yet are under extreme pressure and just need to realise the scope of it all.
We are a functional dysfunctioning country, with a horrid connection to our fellow countrymen. But that is fixable. We are just filled with fear, but ironically it is our fear that shows we still care about tomorrow. This rough living has created a new South African—robust and gritty, having to say goodbye to silly ideas and childish ways.
There are those who have got lost in the blinding madness of this all. But, remember, we are now at a breaking point and I guess the good thing about being so low as a country, is that up is the only direction left for us.
Therefore, if you chose to visit South Africa, know that you are dealing with a complex country on the verge of either an astonishing collapse or one hell of a comeback story. But you need to remember, the people are the story and the reason to visit, not our problems.
Share your favourite South African moment in the comment section below?
A well written, truthful article. You nailed it. Well done.
Thank you for your kind comment and feedback. You are awesome!