Rays of light in gloom of broken SA

● Condensed-milk potato salad, beaded stethoscopes and stories of strangers paying one’s bill have swept up hundreds of thousands of South Africans in a tsunami of positivity and hope.

People have reaffirmed their patriotism in a social media group in the face of violent crime, grime, corruption and despair.

The Facebook page #ImStaying — conceived by Cape Town property entrepreneur Jarette Petzer and launched on September 7 — has more than a half a million members.

The huge response has prompted the question why people are so drawn to the platform and what it says about society.

The group has not escaped criticism, with some labelling it elitist and representing a minority.

Petzer told the Sunday Times there was no one incident that prompted him to post a video about why he loved the country, and he was surprised when it went viral. It was the motivation for creating the group. “The group is a place that offers a different narrative, one of hope and one of peace, where we can all share in each other’s cultures.

“All of the thousands of stories are giving us hope, compassion, perspective and understanding,” he said.

Petzer acknowledged that some felt the group was “too positive”. Those critics, he said, had been blocked.

There were plans for branded merchandise, funding platforms and events, he said.

Psychologist Ingrid Artus attributed the group’s success to South Africans suffering from a “unique brand of bad news or disaster fatigue”.

“We are regularly bombarded with negative stories. These stories are not merely about one focal area of concern, but they cover multiple domains that intimately affect the lives of ordinary people, including crime, the poor economy, unemployment, the impact of corruption, poor service delivery and disruptions to social cohesion.”

Artus said the psychological impact of uncertainty, fear and helplessness “can be quite severe”.

“Humans are social beings, and as such we also need to know that we don’t stand alone in the struggles of life. It is for these reasons that people gravitate towards positive social network groups. They generate a sense of agency, hope and are like medicine for the battered soul.”

Another psychologist, Claire Newton, believes South Africans “will be drawn to other people who are positive about the country”.

“The group may well be the reaction to the negativity we as South Africans are constantly exposed to, especially by those who have decided to leave the country and are, sometimes unconsciously, seeking to justify their decision.”

Social media analyst Tonya Khoury’s analysis of the group showed that it “exploded and has started to cross to other platforms and is no longer confined to Facebook”.

“There has been some negativity around the group, many saying, particularly on Twitter, that the name #ImStaying is disingenuous as most people don’t have the ability to leave,” said Khoury.

“But if they had taken time to read the group they would see that it is not the elite or fortunate that occupy the group; it’s a bunch of Saffers without regard for race, creed or financial status.”

Brent Lindique, founder of the news site Good Things Guy, believes South Africans gravitate to platforms like this “because everything else seems to be a little broken, very negative or largely biased”.

“Groups like this … remind us it’s OK to be positive and upbeat,” said Lindique.

Cape Town blogger Brett Anderson, who is no longer part of #ImStaying, joined a new group where the “difficult, painful conversations” are held.

“There are many of us who realise that, with all of our hope and positivity for this country, which is huge, we absolutely have to have the difficult, uncomfortable, awkward, confusing and painful conversations if we are ever going to move towards effective action and change in SA.

“We are not against #ImStaying … but we have to keep calling out to them to join us and commit to doing the hard and immediate work,” he said.

Angel Jones of Homecoming Revolution, a recruitment agency that aims to bring back expatriates, said: “We can never underestimate the power of storytelling. [Stories] … can create a movement.”

All of the thousands of stories are giving us hope, compassion, perspective and understanding. We are connecting through storytelling and that is something I have never seen on such a scale before Jarette Petzer, above who started #ImStaying movement

Hundreds of thousands of South Africans seem to have rediscovered their zest for life in this troubled country through stories of compassion, kindness and hope in everyday life. The social media phenomenon #ImStaying, started by former Cape Town estate agent Jarette Petzer on Facebook, has garnered half-a-million members in less than a month. The hashtag is a response to gatvol locals packing for Perth. The concept of gees, or heightened feelings of patriotism and unity, was palpable when Nelson Mandela presented Springbok captain Francois Pienaar with rugby’s World Cup in 1995.

The feeling was reignited in 2010 during the Soccer World Cup. Now, despite gender violence, spiralling violent crime, a failing economy and state capture, South Africans seem to be riding a wave of positivity and hope.

Petzer says the stories shared offer hope, compassion, perspective and understanding. They connect a fractured society through storytelling and humanity. They range from requests for koeksister recipes to accounts of family members lost to crime.

Experts say South Africans are suffering from “disaster fatigue” and that social media offers inclusivity, hope and renewed faith in humanity.

Petzer’s campaign appears to have mobilised people into an effective movement.

Some experts have said that the success points to a vacuum of effective engagement by leadership in responding to citizens’ angst.

Cynics and critics, however, have questioned the group’s “elitism” and superficial dialogue. Spin-off groups say #ImStaying perpetuates deep-seated mistrust, bigotry and stereotypes, and that people posting rah-rah pictures of their domestic worker with their child does nothing for nation-building.

But Petzer, who this week announced plans to take the campaign to its next level — with branded merchandise and by hosting official events — is not fazed and is determined to forge ahead. Whether this campaign is sustainable remains to be seen, but for now it has spawned a dawn of hope and we’ll take that over whining any day.