Open Writing

Ten years into democracy, South Africa is a very different place than it was. We have a new government with new policies but the most profound change has been the easing of tension.

Before the elections - in fact since the 70’s - the stress was palpable. It hung in the air, it provoked life-changing decisions, it affected the way in which people interacted with each other.

Just before April 27, 1994 many South Africans began stockpiling supplies - some even bought generators and built bomb shelters beneath their homes. Grocery stores had huge gaps on the shelves as the canned goods and packaged foods were sold out, and hardware stores couldn’t supply paraffin and gas cylinders fast enough.

The international media had flocked to Johannesburg, the energy demands of all their equipment causing power outages that only added to the sense of foreboding.

What transpired was the biggest non-event ever witnessed by the entire world. I’ve often thought it must have been a huge disappointment to many newsrooms, because very soon afterwards several broadcasters closed down their South African bureaux.

The voting was, for the most part, peaceful; the spirit excited and munificent. On that day, at least, people smiled at each other when they met, feeling for the first time a communal sense of what it meant to be South African. Once the global bad boys, we are now proud of our nationality.

There were many who were threatened by the turn of events, who felt unsure of a black government. Here in Africa, we’ve seen such abuses of power; there wasn’t really a role model on the continent that we could embrace, a country where democracy had actually improved the lives of the average person.

Some felt that sheer numbers would dictate that with a black government in power, whites would be unwelcome in their country of birth. We keep looking over our shoulder at the goings-on to the north in Zimbabwe.

But South Africa is not Zimbabwe. Still, I’m not sure if the country would have united the way it did under any other man than Nelson Mandela. Even now in his retirement, his strong voice of justice and integrity is not silent, and he readily speaks out against the current regime on things he feels are wrong, i.e. the lack of progress on AIDS.

An image that no South African will forget was when the 1995 rugby World Cup final was being played out in Johannesburg between the South African Springboks and the heavily favoured All Blacks from New Zealand. Rugby is a sport traditionally enjoyed by whites, and especially amongst the Afrikaans people. Despite the overwhelming odds, South Africa won and our President embraced the sport-mad white community by entering the stadium wearing the Springbok Captain’s #6 jersey. The spectators went wild, the viewers were overwhelmed and it felt that the country had finally put racial discrimination aside and was truly united.

When South Africa hosted the Africa Cup of Nations in 1996, and our team “Bafana Bafana” scooped the cup, there was a sense that we were invincible. Ernie Els just kept winning golf tournaments and our cricket team was on a high. With the miracle of transition behind us, we felt that we were a nation of winners.

In this, the third term of what will likely be an ongoing ANC government, there are some grumbles. With a two-thirds majority, the ANC has the mandate to change the constitution if they wish, the extraordinary constitution of which we are all so proud, and is the most far reaching of any nation. That makes us nervous.

Some people feel that the ANC and the government are inter-changeable, and fear for our democracy. The glory days of the “Pale Male” have come to an end, and affirmative action is not only encouraged, but legislated. Big businesses have discovered that to stay in the game, they must apportion part of their enterprise to BEE - Black Economic Empowerment.

In its effort to redress the injustices of decades and centuries of inequity, employers are required to hire previously disadvantaged people, while BEE means that the pot is being split in a different way. All of the above can create situations that are threatening to those who once had it all.

My sense is that the pendulum had swung so far in one direction, it’s merely swung back just as far, before it will eventually settle in the middle.

While affirmative action is offensive to many, there is an upside. The children of those who have been pushed forward will have many more opportunities than previous generations. They will be able to stay in school longer, go to better schools, even carry on to university where they once had to drop out in the primary grades to help with family finances. Within one generation, the standard will have been raised so significantly that there may no longer be a need to alter the playing field.

There is a growing black middle class, and the black elite has become wealthier and more powerful. Those who were imprisoned on Robben Island - the freedom fighters - are given credit for their political prisoner status and access to positions of authority. Others who had fled South Africa to further the struggle from foreign countries have also been accepted home as conquering heroes.

For the average black person changes have been slow but sure. Initially, many were disappointed, proclaiming that life was better under apartheid, but how soon each of us forgets how fraught and restricted our lives once were, how the world cast us out, how black people were not allowed at the beach or on public transport.

Basic essentials have been provided, however, and one has to take one’s hat off to the ANC for building simple housing, and providing clean water and electricity to so many who had nothing before.

Social services, such as health care and education, had previously been of better quality in some parts of the country, depending on the demographic they were serving. Now, anyone is free to attend virtually any public school or go to any general hospital. The funds are allocated more evenly with the inevitable outcry that our services are declining. To some, I suppose they are. For others, they’re a lot better. The middle classes have always had options, though. There is private education and hospitalisation for those who can afford it.

Our biggest scourges are still AIDS and crime. There are parts of the country where one-third of the population either has full-blown AIDS or is HIV positive. Thabo Mbeki’s government has disappointed in its reaction to the pandemic, flirting with alternative theories and wasting time in rolling out retrovirals.

A high unemployment rate has been blamed for crime, and methods of committing crime have become ingenious. One wishes that similar thought could be used to positive ends. So we live behind high walls and burglar bars, yet for all that, I believe that there is far more good will in this country than bad.

We’ve been through a Truth and Reconciliation Commission that dredged up thousands of wounds from the past, wounds that hopefully have been opened up and have healed properly.

I am simply overwhelmed by the willingness to forgive in this country. Nelson Mandela set the tone with his government of national unity, and that generosity of spirit carries on.

There is something almost spiritual to be in a country that you know needs you, and while everyday people have packed their bags for the promise of a better life elsewhere, others are more committed than ever before.

This magical land includes both first and third world elements, and the combination of many cultures provides a unique richness, an excitement and vibrancy, that are so intrinsically South African. While most foreigners are aware of South Africa’s politics, most do not know of the untold natural beauty, the magnificent diversity of the country, the superb weather, not to mention the excellent wines!

We still refer to people in terms of their colour. It’s a hangover that will take a while to erase, but I see it disappearing amongst my youngest daughter and her friends. While they notice colour, it doesn’t have any further connotation than the amount of sun block required on a summer’s day.

And when our new national anthem, N’kosi Sikelele Afrika (God Bless Africa), incorporating four of the official languages, plays to sports stadia and assemblies, with goose bumps and glistening eyes I stand tall, remembering our peaceful revolution and what it took to get there, and I am so proud of my adopted country.