South Africans should rejoice and be proud 2010-02-18
MY wife and I are annual British visitors to the Boland who have visited every year since 1990 with the exception of 2009.
We stay for eight weeks and, put simply, love and admire your country almost as much as we love Great Britain.
I was a diplomat by profession specialising in commercial and economic diplomacy and as such look with a trained eye.
What I see in the Western Cape should be for you a source of pride and satisfaction.
I write this on the 20th anniversary commemoration of Mr Mandela’s walk to freedom. Because of his enlightened attitude and that of President FW de Klerk both of whom showed courage and common sense above and beyond what is granted to most politicians, you enjoy a country which leads Africa and enjoys the admiration and envy of may other nations.
Because of them you are not the basket case which lies to the north.
I have heard a number of expressions of pessimism from some in your country. In my judgement they are wrong. All around, after a lapse of two years, I see dramatic change: new factories, new office buildings, many more houses, signs of affluence everywhere I look.
The shops are full of people of all colours with trolleys full of goodies because they have the money to spend. Your kids, of whatever race, have all the techi gizmos that my granddaughters have in the UK.
I have seen the new stadium in Cape Town which is world class, designed and built by South Africans.
Yes, there are still insufficient houses, jobs, and a need for improved schools, but believe me, things are so much better than they were, or might have been.
The positives outweigh the negatives by miles.
Come on Team South Africa, be proud, and rejoice in what has been achieved and what with team work is still to come. John Brown (CMG
