On 27th of April was the public holiday “Freedom Day” commemorating the first free and open elections, which finally and peacefully ended the Apartheid regime back in 1994. Unfortunately and to my surprise, there were not any celebrations officially organized in Stellenbosch, rather business as usual. Even at the Tourist Information Center, folks didn’t hear of any event nearby. There were however, students of all colors joining for a Picnic, celebrating. I now learned, that the last official celebrations were in 2014, commemorating the 20 year anniversary — and that it is not usual in a small town to celebrate that occasion; compare that to “Tag der Wiedervereinigung” which similarly gets little attention.
But could it be, that people are somewhat reluctant to celebrate?
When reading in the many online forums, one sure gets the impression, that tensions are growing for real — of course one has to note that online forums tend to drag out the worst esp. provided there’s anonymity. Nevertheless, who could blame frustration on all sides: as the economy is sluggishly gaining ground again at 1.3% [1], after a long decline of the Rand (since Q3/2015 down ~10%) [2] and an overall unemployment of ~25% (out of a population of ~55 Mio) [3, 4, 5]…
It certainly does not help watching the Videos of the farce in Parliament [6]. “Kindergarden” is the nicest of adjectives, waste of tax-payer’s money fits better, corruption seems widespread at the top [7] (Do any search for “Gupta Zuma” or “Zupta”)…
Still, there are decent voices and forces, bringing this to light and justice (as was done about a week ago by the highest court, ruling on Zuma’s spending of tax-payer’s money on his “Fire Pool” and Chicken farm).
Now, I’ve been asked more than one time, whether “it is safe”? And yes, I do feel safe. Of course, I am talking & walking in the cocoon of Stellenbosch; which like other small University towns (like Constance 🙂 ) is certainly different than “the real world”. Some call it even “Little Europe” (see below [8]; but this is only true with regard to the beautiful houses, I might add). But I’ve been to Cape Town (yeah, of course during the day only, but not only the touristic routes). I felt safe.
Is poverty visible? Certainly so! And that includes all folks; is the likelihood of a white person become impoverished lower than that of others: probably so, but again (even though this being unscientific, limited and personal observation), I have had white ragged beggars asking for donations as well as seeing a black person drive a Porsche Cayenne.
Does this wealth distribution resemble the overall population distribution (80% blacks, 8% Coloured, 8% White, ~2% Indian/Asian)? Of course not.
But hey, this needs to change and it does change! There certainly are affluent Blacks shopping at Eikestad Mall and quite a diverse group of students on Campus, Stellenbosch University I am told has been opening up over the years (albeit slowly, and there being way to go). There’s couples of mixed relations (as the StatsSA calls them) among students and older mixed couples walking their kids at the Mall. And there is prospect of business developing (shops opening, lots of construction, investment etc.). There’s a very good speech at the Stellenbosch University’s Conference [8] — that makes one think!
There’s a diversity of 11 official(!) languages, English unites them. And just today, I have been at a Rugby game of young boys — of all races, with a black coach shouting encouragement — in Afrikaans.
That’s why it’s called Rainbow Nation.
Rugby at Van der Stel Rugby Club
[1] http://www.statssa.gov.za/?page_id=595
[2] https://www.oanda.com/lang/de/currency/historical-rates/
[3] http://www.statssa.gov.za/?page_id=593
[4] http://www.statssa.gov.za/?page_id=737&id=1
[5] http://www.statssa.gov.za/?page_id=964
[6] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KnHIKr7kOUM or even worse https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ass4zt_BSA (published on the the 22nd of April)
[7] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5RVW7laNJHI (published 22nd of April about corruption regarding “VFS Global” Visa Issueing practices).
[8] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ErnjVbvVKGM and now I find https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JqaZVH7cUJo (published Jan. 2016, very good speech with standing ovations (starting at 30min) — Lovelyn Nwadeyi’s comparing to Germany’s troubled history, too… Although she should not forget, that Germany 20yrs after Nazi-Germany was very much struggling with history (“Unter den Talaren — Muff von 1000 Jahren”) that started the Student uprisal and, to shorten a long story, in consequence the terror of the RAF.