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The decline and fall of South Africa When the elections of 27 April 1994 took place and Nelson Mandela was elected as the first President of a non-racial, democratic and free South Africa there was hope in the hearts of virtually every South African, even those living in foreign lands. The atmosphere in South Africa was one of exhilaration, joy and relief that the animosity of the past had been curbed. It would take time to dampen it entirely, to a point of relative normality. Nelson Mandela was a man who was prepared to do that, and could.
Although I did not support the ANC (regrettably, I voted for the PAC as the most viable opposition party; and thankfully, for the DA to preside over the Western Province), it was a party that, at that time, was filled with many passionate and competent senior leaders who had the future of South Africa, the building of a rainbow nation and good governance under our imperfect, but adequate, Constitution, as their collective national priorities. Those were heady and ambitious times. They were also achievable, if pursued progressively, tenaciously and patiently within our financial means and being constantly aware that successful transformation cannot take place in months or years. It takes more time than that. Yet, in the space of almost a quarter century (an entire generation), unemployment has soared, more South Africans live on our streets and beg for handouts at city intersections, squatter camps have grown, crime has ballooned out of control, corruption by government officials seems to have become compulsory, physical altercations in parliament have become commonplace and millions of our people still live in tin shacks. This is not progress. This is hell. So, where did we go wrong? The short answer is, we tried to run before we could walk. We decided to punch above our weight. This was also a fault attributable to the Mandela administration. Instead of focusing on our domestic needs, we strayed too far into the international arena and failed to learn from history. Our foreign policy took centre-stage as we focused on human rights (US President, Jimmy Carter had done the same, with disastrous consequences), multilateralism and regional interests instead of national interests. No doubt, Thabo Mbeki (an avid internationalist), who was one of two Deputy Presidents under President Mandela, had a key role in these misguided policies. From the early years of our new democracy we began to open new embassies and consulates abroad as we extended our pursuit of diplomatic acceptance and new relationships in the international arena. There are certainly advantages to pursuing new diplomatic relationships, but it’s not necessary to invest in physical diplomatic infrastructure in so many countries. Why on Earth do we need an embassy in Haiti? South Africa has diplomatic missions in 126 countries (only the United States has more missions abroad) at a yearly cost of about ZAR 3.2 billion ($244 million) to keep them going. How many low cost houses could we build for even a small chunk of that? A small country like Singapore has a few missions abroad and uses roving ambassadors based in Singapore to pursue diplomatic contact in other countries. Are we incapable of borrowing good cost-effective ideas from successful countries like Singapore? Apparently, yes. We prefer to emulate losers like Cuba. Under President Thabo Mbeki we joined every imaginable multilateral organisation and focused heavily on the goals of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) and the African Union (AU). Mbeki seemed to spend more time out of South Africa then in the country taking care of business at home. We even made it a foreign policy goal to reform the United Nations and make it more representative. We also foolishly believed we could prevent the Second Gulf War when it was obvious to most observers, including me, that America’s ultimate actions were unstoppable. Our country took money from foreign governments to fund the ANC’s election goals and the South African Communist Party (SACP) set about pursuing its own foreign relations with communist parties abroad, often to the detriment of South Africa’s national interests. Now we have the corrupt and stupid Jacob Zuma presiding over our country. A man who seems to believe the treasury is his personal bank account and the military services are his personal security guards. He places the interests of his cronies, the Gupta family, above the interests of our country and seems to believe the South African people exist to serve him and the ANC. Actually, Mister President, you are there to serve us. And, while on the subject of service delivery, where is it? Now, the latest step downward, as South Africa regresses toward the dictatorship of Zuma’s ANC, is the unhappy possibility that his arrogant and incompetent former wife may become South Africa’s next President. Despite her supposed medical background, Nkosazana-Dlamini Zuma was a disastrous Minister of Health, an expensive, incompetent and out of her depth Foreign Minister who once let a convicted sexual predator off the hook (the husband of our current Foreign Minister), and a deservedly loathed and directionless head of the African Union. Apparently our President couldn’t stand her as a wife, but now he wants to foist this useless addle-brained bully on the people of South Africa. Under the leadership of Jacob Zuma, South African bonds have been relegated to “junk status” by the world’s premier rating agencies. This is no mean feat. It obviously required sustained thought about his personal enrichment and his reliance on the Guptas to be able to destroy our country economically in such a relatively short period of time. His appointment of a malleable sycophant as Minister of Finance was certainly a master stroke in his apparent plan to ensure the death and burial of our once hopeful democracy. I have no doubt his former wife will continue his legacy should she attain the lofty, and apparently profitable, heights of presidential power and privilege. What a pity there is no Hippocratic Oath (I particularly like the part that reads: “I will abstain from all intentional wrong-doing and harm”) for Presidents. It would then be so much safer for the rest of us. Duke Kent-Brown p.s. Get a free sample of my new book "Hail To The Chief". Click here >>> My next book "Diplomatic Notes - Memoirs of a Diplomat" is launching soon. Web: www.Duke-Kent-Brown.tk Source: Gareth van Onselen, Sunday Times, http://www.timeslive.co.za/sundaytimes/stnews/2015/11/15/SAs-spends-R3.2-billion-a-year-on-diplomatic-missions (accessed 23 April 2017)
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