South Africa

[Russel]

Hi all

Ive always wondered what people from other countries think about South Africa. I.e. What you think about the government or the country in general?

[jac]

Hi Russel..from what I can gather its a great country thats been wasted by successive governments… as are so many countries. That stupid aparthide idea they had really alienated them . Having said that America had it and Britain started the whole sorry idea. Of course its swung completly the other way now with that mugabee gangster not wanting to let history lie.. why do countries recognise that man as a leader BTW:confused::mad:.. Good job I didnt go into politics eh!!!.. Id spend all day with a red dot on my suit:D. I would be interested to hear from your angle Russel as being on the inside …
John

[Does’ Leap]

Russel:

I think I might have mentioned in a different post that I spent a month hitchhiking around South Africa in 1990. During that month, I never spent a night in a hostel or outside (other than some mountaineering I was doing in the Drakensburg mountains). Folks who picked me up invited me to stay in their homes and fed me, every day without exception! The hospitality and friendliness was uncanny. South Africa is also one of the most beautiful countries I have visited. You have mountains, wildlife, beautiful coastline etc.

The downside while I was there was apartheid. I had been living in Zimbabwe for 5 months before I went to SA. I spoke passable Shona and was used to living and interacting with the “black” population. When I got to SA, black South Africans were very stand-offish presumably b/c of apartheid. Many of the whites would try to convince me why apartheid was useful/important – hard to swallow. Then there were the societal divisions not only between black and white but between the English and Afrikaners.

Overall my sense of your country at the time was conflicted. On a personal level the people were the most friendly I have ever encountered, but this was against the backdrop of lots of strife. I don’t know enough about today’s South Africa to give an opinion.

George

[Russel]

I dont know what to think at the moment. Government is trying to pass a bill that makes it compulsort to give 10% of your land to your workers. So of course this is causing farmers to fire workers left right and centre.

Also white farmers are viewed as the “enemy” and there is constant propaganda about us slaughtering our workers and other rubbish. Julias Malema is also singing an anti apartheid song “dubula ibhulu” which means shoot the farmer.

In general farmers have very good relationships with their workers and theres no problem but every now and then a white person kills a black person and he id imediately transformed into this racist boer farmer.

We have actually found that zim black people are much more pleasant than SA ones and many farmers would hire a zimbabean any day.

On the government side of things, the country has improved a lot since Jacob Zuma took office. Potholes in roads are being fixed, trash is being picked up and corrupt officials are being sacked constantly.

I just hope they dont start evicting farmers like in zim…

George, where did you hike in sa? What area?

[OldKat]

@Russel 24804 wrote:

I dont know what to think at the moment. Government is trying to pass a bill that makes it compulsort to give 10% of your land to your workers. So of course this is causing farmers to fire workers left right and centre.

Also white farmers are viewed as the “enemy” and there is constant propaganda about us slaughtering our workers and other rubbish. Julias Malema is also singing an anti apartheid song “dubula ibhulu” which means shoot the farmer.

In general farmers have very good relationships with their workers and theres no problem but every now and then a white person kills a black person and he id imediately transformed into this racist boer farmer.

We have actually found that zim black people are much more pleasant than SA ones and many farmers would hire a zimbabean any day.

On the government side of things, the country has improved a lot since Jacob Zuma took office. Potholes in roads are being fixed, trash is being picked up and corrupt officials are being sacked constantly.

I just hope they dont start evicting farmers like in zim…

George, where did you hike in sa? What area?

I think I told you once that I had a friend from SA. When I questioned where he was from it turned out that he was born in Rhodesia, which I think is now Zimbabwe. He said they lost their ranch when the government confiscated it and re-ditributed it the local tribes people. They moved to SA and started over, but he got concerned that the same thing was going to happen again so he moved here. Not sure if I ever mentioned that to you or not.

Overall it seems your country has its share of problems, but I’m not sure they are any more insurmountable than ours are here in the US. I am hoping to go with him to SA to visit some time, but we never can get our schedules coordinated. I have heard that it is a beautiful place and I really want to see the Bonsmara cattle up in the part of the country where he is from. I still think they would be ideally suited for the Southern tier of US states.

Best of luck to you in whatever happens.

[Author]

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