Mood has suddenly changed in the country
SUDDENLY South Africa is in turmoil. A couple of weeks ago there was a tremendous amount of hope after President Cyril Ramaphosa ousted Zuma, yet suddenly everything has changed.
Land invasions are taking place and being planned. Julius Malema immediately calls for a vote to expropriate land without compensation – and Ramaphosa’s new ANC administration overwhelmingly sides with the EFF in the vote, much to the dismay of landowners.
Just as suddenly hate speech explodes on social media – Malema performs unabated chants and sings songs to kill the farmer and white people.
University sports fields are invaded, disintegrating into full-scale racial fist fights. Mandela’s reconciliation and goodwill message to South Africa and the world rapidly fades as it is forgotten (he’s even labelled a puppet), and a new day breaks of fear and animosity.
Insults and home invasion threats appear all over Facebook. News and discussions throughout the world broadcast this startling news, some accompanied by horrific stories of home invasions, terror and murder, reshared on social media.
Suddenly we are no longer the admired country with an exemplary constitution – now under threat – that set an example to the rest of the world, as the rainbow nation appears to follow the typical African model of decline and disaster.
It’s only with progress and development that job opportunities will be created and the country will prosper. A stable nation without any fear of ambiguity will attract investments.
As India, a major player and ally in our Brics group forges partnerships with the US, while Britain this week hosts French President Macron, we seem hell-bent on alienating Africa’s biggest hope from any meaningful association with the developed world, Mugabe-style.
All this negative political rhetoric will only force people to apply for immigration opportunities (Australia too happy to “steal” our farmers). The government needs to realise that we have lost well over a million of our richest and most educated people to the advantage of certain other countries.
The VAT alone that the South African government has lost with this mass emigration of quality citizens – amounting to hundreds of billions of rand – would probably have alleviated and solved many of today’s economic and social problems.
Suddenly hope has been replaced by fear. Agi Orfanos Blouberg