The problem with South Africa

It’s been almost  seven years since I left my country – South Africa.

I returned there two years ago, to visit my parents and family. What I found was a lot of development. The food prices went up...people seemed a little fatter in the streets than the time I left. But all in all, things seemed ok…apart from two racial incidents. 

For the uninformed (which is 99% of the world), South Africa is a country in the South of Africa. Yes, a stupid name to give to a country - South Africa (I know). How many people have asked me the question, ‘Which country in SOUTH AFRICA?’...

LSBH!!! (Loud Scream and Banging my Head)

But you know what? There’s a reason for this ignorance, and that is what this article is going to be about. I’m not going to talk about the violence and AIDS in my country. That’s another issue. It’s a big issue, and one that should be written about more often, but that’s not what I’m going to put under your nose today.

Often when I tell people that I’m from South Africa, they don’t believe me. They think I’m joking. Once they realize that I’m telling the truth, they assume that I must have been raised by black parents, or that my parents lived in SA for a little while. 

‘No, my parents were born in South Africa, and so were their parents, and their parents and so on and so on..’

‘But I would think everyone in South Africa are little black men’.

That is a common response.

So, coming from the rainbow nation, I know what an absurd image that is to have of my country of birth. Why would people have such an image? South Africa is an amazing country. It’s a very developed country - and it is multi-racial.

Well, there’s a reason for it. It is politics – or a kind of politics. Since 1994, when the ANC took over the country they have been employing a strategy of accumulating pity from the outside world.  This wasn’t the image of the country before 1994. Rarely would you find an image of a white person when South Africa is being promoted in the world today. Even inside the country. 

Just google the word, ‘South Africa’, and go to images. It is animals and black dance groups. dressed in scantly loin cloths. That’s it. The same goes for when the world cup was hosted in 2010. It’s all animals and black dance acts. So, naturally, people think South Africa is like this. We are all little black men, living amoung the animals - dancing in the jungle

Why try to make the world think you are poor, and suffering? The answer is easy. Just look at any beggar in the street – look at his facial expression. Yes, its pity and poverty…it’s a begger’s mindset. Its the South African government's idea of pity politics.

‘I don’t want to work sir, please give me some money or food’

So, that’s the problem with South Africa’s image in the world.

 Just tell someone, ‘ Italy’. What image comes to mind? 

‘Ahhh…Rome..Venice..romance!’

America…Hollywood, greatest country in the world!

South Africa…poverty, black people dancing, animals

It’s a pity. I love my country, and all the people inside of it. All the smiley faces of such a friendly country with its vast opportunities. In the end, people will never know about this.

All they will remember is ‘li- li- li- li- li- li- li!’