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JOHANNESBURG, SOUTH AFRICA - Greetings to you all from the southernmost tip of Africa! With this being my first correspondence for this year, I would like to take the opportunity of wishing you a Happy New Year! We are now well into January 2005, and we find ourselves halfway through the "noughties", as it were. I would like to give you an objective view of where South Africa finds itself at this time in its history.
Gaynor Paynter & her sons Recently, I had the experience of going to bed near dawn -- the dark of the morning was visible between the cracks in my curtain. For the first time in many years, I heard the almost deafening cacophony of birds (the "early birds, " as I thought of them ) singing in our garden. Sleepily, I muttered to my husband "I hope they don't keep us awake".
"They won't", he said, "they'll lull you".
He was right, that is exactly what they did. My last waking moments of that morning consist of the melodic song of sparrows, doves, Indian Mynahs, loeries and the like in my ear. When I woke, later, the twittering had given way to a 30 degree summer morning, which -- in its turn -- became a thunderstorm in the afternoon, and, still later, a sultry summer evening to be en joyed with a glass of wine. Late at night, we are joined by our constant companions, mosquitoes, which seem to be stronger than any insect repellent these days!
Balmy summer days lead one into the other, punctuated every now and again by the flash floods which have claimed a number of lives in recent times -- with the tsunami, this is sufficient proof that Mother Nature is simply the strongest force of all.
A brief glance through the local newspapers gives one an overview of the nation in the eyes of the media. The first thing that you become aware of are the pictures of Nelson Mandela as he bids his son Makgatho goodbye. It was with courage that Nelson Mandela recently announced to the world that his son had died of an AIDS related illness -- showing us in one sentence that the stigma of AIDS has now irrevocably gone, and also that AIDS can touch anybody, no matter how great or how small you are.
Headline news tells us that there is corruption in government hospitals -- Chief Executive Officers got large increases while the lives of babies were put at risk because of a lack of funds to treat them.
In addition, we were informed that ten South Africans lost their lives in the tsunami which claimed the lives of over 150 000 in Thailand. [Ten lives seem] a drop in the ocean in comparison with the total number of deaths, but very significant to South Africans and a reminder of the sheer frailty of life! Our prayers are with tsunami victims and South Africans have sent aid in the form of volunteer helpers, setting up trust funds and sending money as relief. Small efforts in the face of this enormous disaster.
We are also told, blandly, that the death toll on South African roads over the Christmas holiday period is over 1200 -- more than during last year. In fact it is less, because there has been an increase in traffic volumes of over 6%. Small consolation, and this in spite of the high volume of traffic officers on the road over December, the high fines levied for speeding, the arresting of drunk drivers and the impounding of their vehicles.
On the economic side, the rand has fluctuated against the dollar, pound and Euro. Petrol prices have rocketed, only to be reduced again based on the rising and falling oil price.
Statisticians tell us that crime has decreased, particularly in Johannesburg's central business district (CBD), due in part to the implementation of closed circuit television cameras and the quick response of the emergency services to any problems picked up on these screens. However, we are told that, because criminals have now moved out of the CBD, the crime rate in the suburbs is higher. In accordance with this, over 100 arrests were made in Bedfordview, an upmarket suburb of Johannesburg, on one day over the Christmas period, for crimes including vehicle theft, traffic offences, rape, etc. Our police services continue to be a force to be reckoned with -- they have lately broken up a large child pornographic ring and have made drug busts with large monetary values attached. However, the legal side continues to present with loopholes, whereby prisoners escape or get off with negligible sentences or bail amounts. The overcrowding in prisons continues and supporting parties continue to bay for the re-implementation of the death penalty, although this does beggar the question of who would like to be the executioner!
Educators and learners returned to school this year, after a decrease in the number of matric[ulation] passes last year, and an increase in the number of matriculants who will be unable to find work this year.
On the sports front, England lead South Africa 2 - 1 in a series of five five day cricket matches, after South Africa lost a game today from an almost unbeatable position. Interest continues to grow in local golf and soccer.
Allegations of fraud in the government and in other sectors are rife, to the point that a local radio station recently broke a story regarding corruption in the recruitment field, the industry that I work in.
Of interest to me was the relaxing of the law which stated that liquor could not be sold on a Sunday. It has been decreed that licensed liquor retailers are now allowed to trade on a Sunday. This brings to mind the old joke: Jannie to Piet: Piet, we're so poor now we have to push our car to the bottle store!
Advertising campaigns remind us that we have won the 2010 Soccer World Cup and suggest to us that we should "love to be there", in other words take all precautions against STDs, etc.
This, in a nutshell, is our South Africa, the South Africa of January 2005, a South Africa of escalating prices and escalating stress.
Newspaper headlines on the first of January 2005 informed me that 2005 is going to be "the best year in 30 years". This means that 2005 should be the best year in my life, and I hope and pray that these sentiments be true, as I believe they will be.
Our new democracy becomes a teenager this year. This means it should start to find itself, to question things and not take things for granted and accept the things it is spoonfed. Here's to the independence of the democracy as it learns to stand on its own two feet this year! Although our teenager comes from a divided past in which its parents bickered and fought non-stop, we believe we have drummed commonsense, co-operation, tolerance and love into it, all the ingredients which should make it great in its adulthood.
I end with a sentiment I would like you all to consider: To start on the road to greatness, one must first change all one's own inadequacies. Your destiny is in your own control! So lessons for South Africa and any other emerging democracy is that its citizens, the ones to whom it is accountable, are the ones who are in control of its destiny.
God bless you all my friends, until we meet again.
© 2005, GENERATOR 21.
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