I didn’t say that. I wouldn’t say that about any of the countries Eric and I have visited because even when we’ve had a bad experience somewhere, we focus on the good people and positive encounters that come our way. It’s easy for us to do that; we can raise anchor at any time and sail away. But when you have to live in a place that dismays and disheartens you, where the infrastructure is crumbling, where crime, violence and corruption are rampant, the government is useless, and you have no hope—no matter how hard you work—that things will ever be better, what do you say?
“South Africa sucks,” said the young black man who was one of our Uber drivers, and he expelled that sentiment with such a mixture of hopelessness and disgust that Eric and I were as a loss to reply. Since arriving in South Africa, we’ve listened to quite a few people of different colors, ages and backgrounds as they unburdened themselves on the dysfunction in their country. At this writing, the mood has become even worse due to an energy crisis in which rotating blackouts—euphemistically called “load shedding”—have leaped from 2-4 hours to 6-8 hours per day. Simultaneously, the government has granted Eskom, the national energy company responsible for this debacle, permission to raise its rates by 18.65%. Calls for a national shutdown to protest this outrage erupted immediately, but nothing has yet materialized.
I’m therefore turning over this blog post to the South Africans who, over the past few months, have shared their views with us. Their emotions and opinions were so forceful that I recorded them as soon as possible after each conversation occurred to preserve their voices and integrity. I’ve condensed them here for readability and added brief IDs and comments in brackets for context. Here’s what they had to say:
Uber Driver #1, East London [young black male] – “See all these potholes in the road? This is how the government fails the people. We have to pay taxes or go to jail, but we get nothing, no services in return. Everywhere we have crime, poverty and drugs, and it started with colonialism. But now blacks are as much or more segregationist than whites and won’t associate with anyone outside their own group. They won’t help a neighbor or even a family member if it means that person will get ahead of them. Let’s say someone asks you: ‘Do you know a good plumber?’ Even if there is a plumber living right next door, even if your brother is a plumber, you won’t recommend him because he might get ahead of you. There are not enough opportunities. People wake up in the morning with no job to go to, nothing to do, no impulse to work, so they rob, mug, do drugs. This mentality is dragging down the whole country, and the leaders do nothing to change it. For South Africans, America is the ‘star child,’ a vision of paradise, and we copy everything they do, but we get it wrong. Probably any South African, if you offered them a visa to the United States, would jump at it, although for me, being black, I would worry that I would be discriminated against or shot by a cop. I am sorry for going on like this, but my partner and I talk about this every night. The whole world is a mess, and we think it’s a good thing we don’t have children.”
Uber Driver #2, East London [young black male] – “You’re going to the big mall? That’s okay. But don’t go here unless you want to get stabbed and robbed.” [He pointed toward what appeared to be an abandoned underground parking garage with a mishmash of stalls spilling out onto the street; all the vendors and shoppers were black.] “And never go here.” [He pointed toward a deserted, overgrown area partially enclosed by a wall.] “That used to be the zoo, but it is derelict, and if you go walking in there you will be robbed. Once a lion got loose and got into town, and when they caught it, they put it back in the same cage it had just escaped from. That is how stupid they were. You know about the war in Ukraine? Well, those are brave people, and it makes me angry that South Africa sides with Russia and won’t join America and other countries in condemning Russia for the invasion. Russia tried to do the same thing in Cuba in the 1960s, you know about that?” [We said we lived through the Cuban Missile Crisis, and though he obviously hadn’t, he replayed it for us in some detail. We had to wonder how many twenty-something Americans are as familiar with that segment of US history.]
Uber driver #3, East London [young black male] – [He had been very slow to pick us up due to unusually heavy traffic congestion caused by load shedding. When this happens, all the traffic lights go out—think about that for a minute—and drivers have to take turns edging through busy intersections at a snail’s pace. Our driver was silent for a moment, as if trying to restrain himself. Then he spoke.] “South Africa sucks. The load shedding is supposed to last only two hours a day, but it is much worse than Eskom claims, sometimes 9 hours. I bet the people who run Eskom don’t have load shedding. The president of South Africa has shares in Eskom, and I bet he doesn’t have load shedding at his house.” [Here he had to swerve to avoid a ramshackle car darting past us.] “That is a taxi. The taxis here are terrible, they can use any old car, there is no maintenance required so they can belch smoke that pollutes the atmosphere, they drive badly and stop anywhere in the road they feel like it. When a car no longer works, they just abandon it and walk away, leaving it for junk. The government does nothing, and they encourage misinformation because they use it to cover up their own mistakes and corruption. But it is also the people’s fault because they are lazy and just accept whatever they are told and want to believe. They do not read or do research. Do you have load shedding in America? You don’t?” [He was not the only person to ask us this question and react in surprise at our answer.]
Phone store clerks, East London [young white male, young white female] – [The clerks addressed our phone issue, then, easily identifying us as vulnerable tourists—old white people with backpacks—they showered us with safety advice.] “Never go anywhere alone or without asking a local if it’s safe. Don’t go anywhere at night, don’t wear jewelry, don’t linger at an ATM, don’t carry a lot of cash and only one credit card. Keep your car door locked and your windows rolled up. On the street, walk away from anyone who tries to approach you pretending they need directions. They are looking to get close and pick your pocket. Check behind you to make sure no one’s following you either. If you pay cash at a store, put your change away quickly, don’t stand there with your wallet open. Beware of well-dressed people, they are sometimes the worst. We have seen robberies right outside the store, and two months ago we got held up. I [the young woman] had a gun pointed at my face. I was terrified because your life means nothing to them. They will shoot you and not think twice. We were lucky all this robber did was clean out the store.” [Many other people and much of the tourist literature issued similar warnings. Ironically, the people at the yacht club had assured us this store was safe to go to. The young woman offered to give us her phone number in case we got in trouble and needed help; we declined with thanks.]
Tour guide, Port Elizabeth [young black male] – [This occasion was a minibus tour of historical sites with 7 other tourists, black and white.] “We used to walk guests through the city to see these sites, but many places got vandalized during Covid because people were frustrated, and now these areas aren’t safe or nice to walk through. Uber is okay, but never take a taxi because they operate like gangs, each with their own territory, and if one driver takes a fare into another gang’s territory, there could be armed fights. When buildings or bridges in Port Elizabeth are rundown or broken, they may not get fixed for years. It’s a shame because we have many old, attractive buildings. When the ANC [African National Congress, Nelson Mandela’s party] is in power, nothing happens because of fighting among themselves. The other main party, the DA [Democratic Alliance], is white. They won the mayorship here two months ago, and everyone is talking about how things are finally getting done.” [At the lighthouse, a major landmark, he commented on a metal sculpture on the grounds.] “I’m surprised this hasn’t been vandalized and torn apart yet because people steal metal wherever they can find it and sell it to scrapyards for money. This is what happened to our train system. People ripped up the tracks and sold the metal, and now we have no trains. Don’t go into that neighborhood across from the lighthouse. That is where the foreigners live, including many Nigerians who are as bad here as they are when operating out of Nigeria, dealing drugs and running scams. You can go to the Nelson Mandela Art Museum but don’t go into the park next door. Many homeless people live there, and they will not harm you, but they will come up and bother you, so it’s not a pleasant experience.” [At another stop, he gestured to a neighborhood of expensive apartments serviced by a shiny strip mall.] “There used to be a black community here called the South End, but during apartheid the people were removed by force and their homes were demolished by the whites who took the land. The blacks could claim money if they could show title papers, but black people aren’t good at keeping papers and many claims would have gone back to their grandfathers’ days. They say anyone can live in these apartments now, but very few black people can afford it.” [Our guide also provided a lot of history at our stops, but it was impossible for him or us to ignore the deterioration around us, and he addressed it forthrightly and without rancor.]
Boat owners and marina staff, Port Elizabeth [combined voices of white males and females, mostly seniors] – “Don’t walk anywhere in town and wear your backpack in front, not in back, because people will come up behind you with a knife, slash it off, and stab you for good measure. Don’t think you are necessarily safe in a tour group either; they have been robbed before. When your tour stopped at Fort Frederick [a small British fort built in 1799] were people living there? No? The authorities must have cleared them out for Christmas then, but they’ll be back. Your guide is right about the taxis, they are a law unto themselves. But last year when there was violent looting in the malls, it was the taxi drivers who stopped it because the government wasn’t doing anything, and the taxis were losing fares. Our house was in the path of the burning and looting, so we came to the boat until it was over. We were lucky our house was bypassed, but we still feel safer on the boat than at home because of the security surrounding the port. When I was young, I was a farm worker, but it’s not safe to be a farmer anymore, especially if you’re white, because you are isolated and an easy target. You have to understand that apartheid began when we were children, and we were raised to be racist. We are trying to shed that. Now the problems the blacks are creating for themselves are making us look better.” [The last was said in a tone of wry, dark humor.]
Manager of a marine business, Cape Town [middle-aged white male; the business had about 25 employees in the office and shop, almost all black.] – “The ANC is totally corrupt and built on patronage. Our business used to receive tenders from the Navy to bid on projects, and because it is our military we gave them prices 25-30% below retail. Then the ANC passed a Black Economic Empowerment act that inserted their approved middlemen into the process. Now the process is no longer transparent and we can’t be sure who we’re dealing with, so we submit our bids with retail prices. Then the middlemen add their commission, and the result is that government ends up paying substantially above retail.” [The ANC touts the Black Economic Empowerment act as a form of affirmative action to bring more blacks into business. Critics of the act charge that it has enriched only the ANC elite and their cronies by awarding contracts improperly at inflated prices.] “The ANC also let the railroads fall apart. Many of our employees live in settlements outside Cape Town and they used to take a commuter train to work. South Africa had a very good train system, but the government didn’t maintain the equipment or stop looters from stealing the tracks, the cables, anything they could get. Now our employees have to take taxis or find other rides, and it costs them 4-5 times more. There is so much wrong here. South Africa is going down a black hole.” [Where trains still run, they often stop short due to equipment failures, forcing commuters to disembark and walk or find a taxi or minibus to get to work.]
For Eric and me, berthed in the center of the Cape Town waterfront, load shedding is not a big inconvenience; Corroboree’s solar panels and wind generator keep us powered when the power at the marina goes out. We also feel relatively safe exploring the waterfront, a vibrant place bursting with stores, restaurants, street performers, music, artwork, and people from every corner of the world. Spanking clean and patrolled by a small army of security guards, it feels almost like Disneyland, a fantasy place where not the slightest evil can encroach. Nevertheless, we take precautions and do not even wear our wedding rings. Cruiser friends here have been followed and approached by people who made them feel uncomfortable, and one tried to persuade them to detour down a side street, insisting the main street ahead was “closed.”
When we ask South Africans, “What is the root of the problems in South Africa?” the first answer is almost always, “Poverty.” When we ask why, with all the wind and sun in South Africa, the country doesn’t have enough power, energy experts don’t hesitate to fault the ANC for corruption, resistance to developing renewable energy sources, and restrictions on private energy providers. When we ask why the ANC, which has been in office since Mandela became the first democratically elected president in 1994, hasn’t been voted out, the consensus seems to be that despite their complaints, many black South Africans feel a loyalty to the party that ended apartheid. But voter turnout has also dropped in recent years, a possible sign that people are so discouraged they see no point in voting at all. Mandela, South Africans tell us, is turning in his grave.
Then it’s time for South Africans to do what Mandela and his fellow freedom fighters did. Stop talking and act. Demand accountability from your elected officials or vote them out. Hold that day of national protest and as many more days as it takes to start setting things straight. The current minimum hourly wage in South Africa is R23.19 (US$1.36). Load shedding, which began in 2007, exploded from 6 six days in 2018 to 157 days in 2022 and is expected to reach 200 days or more this year. No matter how perfect life seems here in Disneyland, your economy is in shambles, your people are suffering, and the longer you delay, the worse it’s going to get. You can’t let a country with such promise, so many talents and resources, go bust.
We can sail away. You can’t.
