Umhlali farmer Andrew Reynolds writes: I love South Africa, and I love living here.
It is after all the only home I know. I have been accused of being foolishly optimistic about our country, but recently this has been eroded by anxiety and a sense of dread for our future.
The wholesale looting of VBS Bank, seemingly endless commissions of inquiry into fraud and corruption, the dreadful Jacob Zuma maladministration, naked hatred between race groups, politicians encouraging racial hatred and racist propaganda toward Indians and whites, worsening poverty despite years of democracy, and policies of economic redistribution of wealth rather than that of wealth creation, have left me doubting.
There’s the ANCYL’s self-imposed law demanding contractors hire only local personnel, despite there being nothing in the constitution to this effect. We have the taxi industry who are a law unto themselves and who have ways and means of dealing with anyone in opposition, sometimes burning busses, cutting train power lines and blocking roads to further their own interests.
Not to mention the quaint practice of protestors stoning passing motorists or burning schools, clinics and libraries when the councillors they repeatedly vote for don’t deliver on their promises.
Talk about skewed logic. Back at the ranch, the tax-paid law enforcement authorities seemingly turn a blind eye, leaving me feeling incredibly vulnerable to the law of the jungle.
How terribly sad this is for the majority of law abiding citizens.
Don’t despair I tell myself, this is just a passing phase. But I know it’s not. Then, as I stepped out onto the sands of my favourite beach I was swept away by the beauty of the ocean, the rolling green hills behind me, and later the red, pink and orange hues of the setting African sun.
I reflected on the amazing friendships which have been shaped and tested and grown over many years and that familiar old feeling of foolish optimism came sweeping over me again.
How I long for this country with her majestic landscapes and rainbow people to succeed.
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