South Africa has never been great.

Recently, I have been seeing in social media and hearing people talking about how this country is declining and how bad and terrible things are getting. Believe it or not, it’s young black people saying this. I’m used to this rant coming from middle-class and rich white who have always had it good. Their comments have left me wondering because in my experience and knowledge of this country, my country, South Africa, has never, ever been great.

I started thinking back to instances in history past and recent that might create the illusion of greatness that my fellows might be referring to. Maybe it’s that month in 2010, when the world cup was on (it sure did feel good), or maybe it was when Bafana and the Bokke last won major tournaments. Maybe just maybe, it is the spirit of 94’, when the future held so much promise. These fleeting moments don’t make South Africa great, sure they felt great at the moment but as soon as it was over reality took over and the veil was lifted to reveal the sad reality that is South Africa. I thought that maybe this greatness maybe existed prior to 1652 before the white man landed on our shores and brought physical and psychological tools for enslavement.; but this would be a dream like the Africa-American’s fantasy about being king and queens before the slave trade shipped them to the Americas.

A quick search of the internet reveals some interesting facts that purport to make South Africa great, for example; the world's biggest hospital is the Chris Hani - Baragwanath Hospital in Soweto, but there is no mention of the dead babies, doctors getting raped and the usually terrible service. Another interesting fact: South Africa mines deeper than any other country in the world, up to depths of  2.5 miles at the Western Deep Levels Mine. The world's two largest platinum mines are located near Rustenburg but there is no mention of the slave labour that created all these great mines and how this industry was at the forefront of pushing for racist legislation that created apartheid and guaranteed them slave labour while destroying the black nuclear family.

Another fact: While only occupying 4% of Africa's landmass, South Africa boasts more than 50% of the cars, phones, automatic bank tellers and industrial facilities on the continent but they fail to mention that we live in a white controlled oligopoly that we exist under or the fact that black business entrepreneurship is virtually no-existent .  

Well, this is what I believe; a country is made great by the people that live in it. If the citizens believe that they are heard, that with hard work they can fulfil their dreams, people who feel and know they have a fair share of the pie and that access to opportunity is not linked to party allegiance, race or politics, a people who feel that they are equal in the eyes of the law and with each. Well none of these describe South Africa and I don’t think anyone believes that South Africa is this kind of country.

South Africa has the highest Gini coefficient in the world, making it the most unequal society on the planet, the worst part is that this inequality is divided along racial lines. This is the legacy, (dare I say it) of Apartheid. But we cannot just blame apartheid, the current minority control of the economy, the quasi-Apartheid in which we find ourselves in is due to a negotiated settlement (sunset clauses) in the early 90’s that keep the majority of people poor, unemployed and with limited opportunities to break out of the cycle; while for the majority of whites nothing has changed really. We have a ruling party that claims to speak for the poor yet does everything in its power to keep the poor, poor; while its members fight for space at the trough.

This country as I know it; has never been great. All that is happening now is just a continuance of the status-quo. People see fleeting moments as signs of greatness; for the majority of poor and disenfranchised, reality hits hard on a daily basis as they watch from the periphery unable to take part in the economy, opportunities or even in the fleeting moments. And in any society as unequal as ours, something must give, eventually the poor must fight back, we’ve seen service delivery protests, xenophobic attacks (which are actually Afrophobia). This struggle has not yet reached its climax when it becomes a class war that will engulf the establishment and the nouveau riche; who’ve already forgotten their roots. Unfortunately we have yet to see the best way (democratic way) to steer a country to greatness; and there is one simple solution yet a complicated one in the South African context- Voting; in order to keep politicians accountable to the people.  Until the people build the country they want to see from the ground up, it’ll never be great.