Posted on 05/14/2011 7:52:15 AM PDT by MinorityRepublican
Seventeen years ago today, black South Africans lined up to cast their first votes as full citizens in a new South Africa.
And tomorrow, when South Africans celebrate “National Freedom Day,” South Africans will take stock of what 17 years of freedom have gotten them.
It’s always a question of emphasis and temperament. On one hand, freedom has increased the ability of South Africans of any race or religion to choose where they want to live; given them more control over their career and education choices; and ended the racial restrictions of the apartheid government. Yet for some South Africans, this has been a zero-sum game, where increased economic or political opportunities for black South Africans means fewer of those same opportunities for the white minority.
Today’s South Africa is generally more prosperous, as the end of sanctions and the expansion of South African businesses into Africa and abroad has tripled the South African economy from a $111 billion in 1990 to $354 billion in 2010, according to the International Monetary Fund. Some white South Africans may look fondly upon the “good old days” before the arrival of black majority rule, but the truth is that South Africa’s white apartheid government was stone-cold broke when it handed over power to the African National Congress in 1994.
With South African holding municipal elections on May 18, this tug-of-war between optimism and pessimism has become a matter of daily headline news, and small opposition parties like the Democratic Alliance are hoping to make inroads among black voters frustrated waiting for the ANC to delivery on its promises.
For many South Africans, those promises have been honored.
(Excerpt) Read more at csmonitor.com ...
On April 27, 1994, a long line of people line up towards a polling station in the black township of Soweto outside of Johannesburg in the nation's first all-race elections. Tomorrow, when South Africans celebrate 'National Freedom Day,' they will take stock of what 17 years of freedom have gotten them.
This has nothing to do with the inherit nature of the population, but to do with cutting off doing business with S. Africa.
Oh, that.
“For many South Africans, those promises have been honored. Drive into some of South Africa’s larger and more established townships, such as Alexandra and Soweto, and you’ll see proper paved roads, newly remodeled middle-class homes, condominium complexes, and even shopping malls.”
In 1980 Soweto had a VW-Audi dealership far nicer than any car dealership in Nairobi.
Soweto had lots of “middle class” housing. The average home in Soweto was nicer than the place we rented in Nairobi.
Soweto residents said that the traffic jam from all of the folks driving out of Soweto (on smooth, wide paved streets) on the way to work in Johannesburg every morning was a mess. Too many cars.
90% of Soweto residents had electricity. All had either refrigerators or iceboxes. Soweto had its own ice plant. Nairobi did not.
During the day in Jo’burg whites, Africans, Asians & “colored” all worked together, shopped together and dined together. It was like being in Atlanta, only more modern.
Apartheid needed to go. But the things I’ve just mentioned are things I either saw personally or were told to me by the African residents of Soweto with whom we were visiting.
Oh, and Mrs BN was astounded to see a line of people. Lines (”queues”) in Kenya were almost non-existent. When she asked what it was for, our hosts said, “Oh, that’s the old age pensioners getting their monthly checks.”
There is anecdotal evidence that a small but growing number of white South Africans are emigrating. Among other problems, crime has skyrocketed in S. Africa with the end of apartheid. Private security is one area of business which is doing quite well in post-apartheid South Africa The general social and business climate is causing many to decide whether they would be better off somewhere else. This is an unspoken, “politically incorrect” thing to talk about, but, some are voting with their feet and leaving the country.
And in unrelated news SA land grab from White Farmers has them leaving for other parts of Africa that is welcoming them with open arms. Where have we heard that before?
http://farmlandgrab.org/post/view/18538
” With one-third of South Africa’s white-owned farmland to be transferred to black owners by 2014, many white South African landowners are keen to find new territory, though most want to keep their home farms as well, says Hall “
Amazing. So in Africa, a race is expected to rule since it's the majority.
In America, this is considered racist and evil, and so minorities are routinely put into positions of power (such as the Presidency) to rule over the racial majority.
So MR...can you answer me why South Africa (and all other African nations) are run as racist tyrannocracies?
Wait...aren’t we supposed to call ‘black’ South Africans...’African-Americans’?!?
Wait...aren’t we supposed to call ‘black’ South Africans...’African-Americans’?!?
Since they are below the equator, I think the proper term is "American-Africans".
We sold our home back in 2004 to a young white South African couple who had recently emigrated to the US. The husband was a very sharp high-level accounting analyst working in the insurance industy. The wife was a software programmer whose Boer family had counted something like 18 generations in Africa. Neither one of them had been able to find any work at all for years in SA because of their “color problem”. They were both hired in a heartbeat by major corporate employers upon their arrival in Boston.
The moral to this story? No race holds a monopoly on either virtue or vice.
Good point.
Charlize Theron, African-American. (born and raised in South Africa, naturalized US citizen 2007.)
Its no secret, emmigration is pervasive and growing .
According to a report by the South African Institute on Race Relations, some 800,000 out of a total white population of 4 million have left since 1995 .
With more than 50 killings a day, South Africa has one of the highest per capita murder rates in the world. The same goes for rape ; ranking the country alongside conflict zones such as Sierra Leone, Colombia and Afghanistan. According to a UN study of 60 nations , South Africa was ranked first for rapes per capita. One in three of the 4,000 women questioned said they had been raped in the past year. More than 25 per cent of South African men questioned in June 2009 admitted to rape; of those, nearly half said they had raped more than one person.
They are also first in hijackings and second in murders. You are nuts if you are white and dont live in a gated community . You are also nuts if you are young and you dont try to get the hell out of there.
My favorite African-American is Charlize Theron.
Touche!
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