What’s so good about living in South Africa?

(2006-08-15)

As I sit down to write I’m enjoying 30 degrees outside, bright sunshine and a glass of chilled Cape Chardonnay. That’s always a good start. They make me think of some of the things that South Africans miss so much when they move to another country. I know I certainly missed a great deal during the years when I was travelling around the world. Travelling is good though, because it helps one appreciate how wonderful little South Africanisms are, like persistent sunshine, braais and the smell of afternoon thunderstorms. Eish, it’s so lekker!

Of course there are also challenges that make South Africans consider leaving, like relatively high crime rates and the potential impact of HIV/AIDS. But while these certainly are real challenges that must be overcome, we mustn’t forget that a tremendous amount of work is being done by South Africans everywhere to address them. Such challenges also give us real issues to sink our teeth into, and we South Africans love sinking our teeth into problem solving. That’s probably why South African business people are so well regarded around the world.

South Africans love solving problems. We are, after all, the inventors of the Kreepy Krawly, the cat’s eyes on the roads of the world, and, of course, one of the world’s most innovative constitutions. We get energised by challenges and we spend much time debating them. Without even realising it, we consider a hundred different ways to make a difference for our fellow countrymen. It’s this that prompted Chief Rabbi Warren Goldstein to say once “Our lives are full of significance here. It may not always be Pleasantville, but it’s always meaningful.” And when the Homecoming Revolution recently did a survey of South Africans around the world, they found that 61% wanted to “give something back” to the country.

In the depths of our souls we know that we are in a brilliant position to show the world a new, better way of doing things. That’s why Oprah, one of our country’s greatest fans, said when she was here last year, “I have such a deep affection for South Africa because of the spirit of the people. I connect with the strength of their spirit. I feel bonded to the land. It is the land that most stimulates and inspires me. It’s like no place I’ve ever been.”

One of the reasons we are so innovative is that we are so diverse as a nation, and our diversity really is a fountain of creativity. Who else could come up with “Madam and Eve”? It’s partly this creativity that has enabled us to produce so many national icons, including four Nobel Peace Prize winners (two of whom lived on the same street – Nelson Mandela and Desmond Tutu), and countless others like Miriam Makeba, the first South African to win a Grammy award and more famous internationally than she was ever allowed to be in her own country, and Oscar- and Golden Globe-winning actress Charlize Theron. Another was Mahatma Gandhi, who said that although he was born in India, he was made in South Africa.

And this fascinating history of ours is helping to attract more and more tourists every year, along with our astonishing array of things to see and do. We have landscapes ranging from the Kalahari to the Drakensberg to the Garden Route. We have the most intensely populated floral kingdom in the world and a knockout selection of wildlife, from whales and Great White sharks to lions, leopards and over 900 species of birds. And those shopping malls! Not many people are aware that one of the biggest reasons foreign visitors come here is to shop.

These visitors are busy spreading the word about just how cool our country is. Imagine how many people are going to be sharing stories about our fundamental coolness after the 2010 Football World Cup.

It seems that we’ve also reached a tipping point in our own realisation of just how much we have going for us. In a recent Gallup International poll on attitudes about the future, South Africans turned out to be the 8th most optimistic people in the world at the end of 2005. It was this that prompted President Mbeki to suggest that we have entered our “Age of Hope” in his 2006 State of the Nation address. It’s also great news for the economy and for our chances of reaching that 6% growth rate we’d all like to achieve, because the more we believe in our future the more foreign investors will believe in it, much like Barclays and Vodafone have already shown they do.

Our economy, which has over the last six years experienced the longest uninterrupted period of growth since the early 1960s, is like a sprinter that has just burst from the starting blocks. Property prices, according to The Economist’s international property survey, have grown faster in the past seven years than any other country in the world. While property price increases in more established areas is levelling out, FNB’s Property Barometer has found that there is major growth potential in the newer townships. This, along with the best year of new car sales ever in 2005, excellent retail figures and resultant job growth, is being driven by factors like low interest rates, investment in infrastructure and a rapidly growing middle class. These are essential factors that will ensure that we can expect some excellent sprinting from our athletic economy over the next few years at least.

I think the most resilient thing about being a South African is actually bigger than all of this though. It’s something that exists in our hearts and minds. Maybe Roland Schoeman put it best when he turned down a million dollar offer to swim for Qatar, saying “While I am significantly poorer today than I could have been, I feel tremendously blessed that it is Nkosi Sikel’iAfrika that will be played if I win a gold medal. It is of tremendous importance to me that I am part of the vibrant, challenging, frustrating, beautiful and above all hopeful country I call home.”

Personally, I think that the greatest thing about living in South Africa is that it is home – in a way that nowhere else in the world I’ve been could ever be home – and home is where my heart is.

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