We can make SA work

SOUTH Africa will be okay.

I’m not Clem Sunter, Moeletsi Mbeki or Siener van Rensburg, but very much an average citizen who has had the privilege of being exposed to many facets of life in South Africa – the most recent of these at the Ford Ranger Odyssey Boot Camp in a little Karoo town called Prince Albert last weekend.

Joe and Janine Soap had to send in a picture showing themselves in front of a Ford Ranger, with a short biography. A panel selected 40 out of almost 12 000 submissions to participate in three-and-a-half days of gruelling, sleep-deprived training that included off-road driving, recovery and vehicle knowledge.

After the boot camp, 20 were selected to go to the final in Namibia. There they will participate in a tough 12-day drive through some of the most beautiful and desolate parts of Namibia. The winner will receive a Ford Ranger doublecab bakkie and fuel for a year.

The 40 included contestants from Mozambique, Nigeria, Ivory Coast and Angola, although most were from within our borders.

To say that contestants were put outside their comfort zones is to put it mildly. Should you think I’m talking as a journalist brought in from a warm hotel room to observe and sip wine and eat Karoo lamb every night, think again.

We were part and parcel of the group. We slept in two-man tents, stood guard, ran 10km before a freezing dawn, walked 3km to and from camp every morning and evening, drove along the beautiful passes in the area and, like the 40, had a bib with a number. No names.

So as number 44, don’t worry, the kids will be all right.

I’ve done what they did and much more many, many years ago in the same region, but dressed in ar my browns; we didn’t have a choice, these guys did.

As working media we’re a cynical bunch concerned every day with murder, mayhem, disaster, tragedy and constant political bungling and lowlights, so to be accepted as part of a group ranging in age from 22 to 42 was a rare opportunity to be in the belly of the beast as it were.

Farmers, lawyers, teachers, car salesmen, quantity surveyors, NGO staff and a slew of other professions were thrown together and told to make it work.

A true cross-section of South Africans and sub-Saharans.

Race wasn’t an issue, religion wasn’t an issue, where you lived wasn’t an issue, income wasn’t an issue. Making it work was, meeting the deadline was, supporting each other in difficult times was, understanding the Ranger and its capabilities was, and learning about the area and each other was.

I was struck by everyone’s positive attitude and general demeanour, their go-to (not gung-ho) attitude and savvy.

These are people who understand the modern world we live in, they have families and some have children, they have fears, hopes, aspirations and to a man – and woman – are true South Africans (and Africans).

This is not the South Africa of xenophobia, Nkandla, crime and corruption. This is the South Africa we aspire to, the dream that Nelson Mandela had, people who get up every day to tackle the day’s challenges head-on and people who want to make a difference and, most important, make the place they live in work.

If you doubt the future, don’t. If these are the qualities that make up a nation, the next generation is in good hands.

So excuse me as I tuck my exhausted head and sore feet under my duvet and sleep soundly for the first time in four days, knowing that we will be okay.