Africa's problems have roots in both history and in the current world affairs. Historically, splitting Africa into nations was a mistake, mainly because the borders did not take into account the borders between the existing tribes. If this had been the case, and if the borders had been loosely defined as they were before, the violent element of the problems in Africa would have been greatly diminished. The borders weren't a problem as long as the colonial powers were in control, however when control ended, and there was little effort to try to solve the diplomatic problems between the tribes because of the colonial powers, border wars were inevitable. There problems have today largely been solved, and military conflict is limited to minor areas. This is quite natural for Africa, and the main problem in this regard is now that the wars are not allowed to be fought out without UN intervention. The current war in Somalia has proven that it is possible for the African nations to solve the problems without the UN, in that Ethiopia is driving back the islamic forces in Somalia. Aside from this, which has unfortunately set Africa back 50 years, Africa is relatively peaceful, despite higher crimes rates. The crime rates them self can largely be attributed to the economy. Currently, the economy of Africa is not allowed to benefit from the potential it has, because of trade barriers in the EU and US. Aside from the South African wine production and some other agricultural production, there is little substantial export from Africa. The agriculture - at least the efficient one, export wise - in Africa is to a large extent run by white farmers. This isn't a problem as such - most of these have been born and raised in Africa, and are as much Africans as the black population (not to mention the fact that they employ black workers), but the potential is much greater, and some African governments are going after the white farmers for populist reasons. This is safe for them, because they know that they secure votes by getting rid of the white farmers, who are unpopular by the general population, but not by the people actually making a living working for them. Furthermore, since the farms are not continued after the farmers are gone, the export will decrease, thus increasing UN funding, which can be more easily re-directed for personal use by the governments. At the same time, the UN will try to provide food for those starving, thus limiting the populations pressure on the government. The trade barriers by the EU and US is also coupled by the foreign aid. The foreign aid is essentially a way of spending tax payers money to buy good from companies inside the EU and US, and deploy these in Africa. If both the trade barriers and foreign aid was abandoned entirely, prices on agricultural products would drop, because importing the good from Africa would provide large amounts of cheap agricultural products of good quality. This would boost the African population's desire to start businesses, which against would increase export. This way, Africa's future economic evolution would largely resemble China's, and along with falling crimes rates and increasing political stability, western industries would benefit greatly from building factories in Africa (especially the EU, which would have must shorter transport routes). The farmers in the US and EU would of course loose market shares, but they could largely make up for this by acting as advisers for the upcoming African farmers. This would largely take care of the health problem in Africa. The health problem is almost entirely due to a too rapid population growth, which in turn has been caused by the implementation of better nursing without teaching the African people about birth control methods. While birth rates in Europe and the US went down as more children survived (since it was no longer necessary to have many children to ensure the survival of some and birth control gave this possibility, and because housing costs increased, resulting in more women working), the birth rates in Africa has remained the same while the number of children surviving has increased as well. Without proper irrigation of the land, these children are now starving, which in turn allowed for more deceases to spread. Therefore, the best current solution to the African situation is to remove trade barriers, foreign aid and medical aid. This will of course result in millions of Africans, especially children, dying in the next decades, and it might even result in border wars, but it is the only long-term solution, which is also beneficiary to the rest of the world (and without it, an even greater number of Africans will die).
I spent a week in South Africa in 2005. Enjoyed it very much and was treated quite well. Unfortunately I did not have enough time to see all of the country or get even get marginal understandings of the different cultures.
The townships served a dormitorial purpose. The infrastructure was, and is, greater by several degrees of measurement than the infrastructure that purely black African nations managed to provide for their citizens. As for crime rate in South Africa, it is NOT confined to townships. I'd label that as a bullshit liberal myth. There is violent crime everywhere, including the leafy suburbia of northern Jo'burg. The father of a good friend of mine, for example, was hijacked when reversing out of his driveway. His driveway is situated in an upmarket suburb. One of the reasons crime gets to fester is because of the state of the South African Police Service, which can best be described as thoroughly corrupt.
Which parts of South Africa did you visit? Word of advice... don't even try visiting the townships. As a white guy, you will be hijacked and slotted before you can even regret entering the place.
Are you talking about little substantial from South Africa, or Africa in general? You are aware of the substantial mineral riches that South Africa has - over half of the worlds gold reserve, for example? Gold export is one of the biggest income earners in RSA, and without it, the trade balance would be in the negative. Not according to South Africa's current president... he refers to blacks as "Africans" and whites as "whites". :roll: It becomes ironic, then, to think that the Boer forefathers landed in what is now known as South Africa (Cape Town) before the Zulus and Xhosas (largest black tribes) arrived. The whole idea of "giving the whites a good kicking and taking over" is ingrained in many blacks, who fail to realize that doing so will mean that they will starve, and most probably, that when their children get sick, somebody will have sold all the hospital equipment on the black market to finance the purchase of their latest luxury car. The blacks can inherit or obtain a perfectly functioning (farm, nation, hospital, factory) and run it to the ground, ceasing production, in a limited matter of time. It happens time and time again. The problem is that personal enrichment is valued over the well being of the enterprise being run. Or outright laziness. AS FOR CRIME... Crime in South Africa (excluding Africa) has it's roots in many things, and while I give that poverty is one, there are a host of other, even more pressing issues. Rampant crime comes from other areas than squatter camps as well. Crime is rampant because it is so damn easy to get away with. Laws protect criminals, not the poor father who was trying to protect his family. Laws protect corrupt officials, not honest ones. I don't even know to begin. There are so many scandalous, shocking, and disgusting things to mention that happen daily. Crime like raping an infant. It occurs daily. Crime like a police officer pendling hard drugs, getting arrested, released early and promoted to superintendent (the Knysna case that was featured on Carte Blanche, a TV show). Crime like pointing a gun into the face of a schoolboy coming out of his yard, laying him down to the ground and tramping on his face. This happened to my host brother in Soweto. The police, on the other hand, are more interested in stopping uppity middle class types who sped in their cars so that they can extract a bribe. There are too many individuals in the SAPS which are fat (literally, as in out of shape and unable to sprint 50 yards) and incompetent, as in barely literate and exceedingly stupid. When somebody broke into our car here in Phalaborwa, we (host brother and father) first drove around in the Land Cruiser to try to find the culprit, which we unsurprisingly failed to do. The police turned up much later, the one officer, an overweight Bantu female, took several steps backwards and almost tripped onto the pavement when the Yorkshire terrier ran out to meet her. A Yorkshire terrier is to intimidating dogs what the Bob Semple is to good tank design. Writing a simple report took the best part of forty minutes. Ask any South African, they will have many such tales. How can you trust a police force that employs people who struggle with the countries lingua franca, are stupid, fat, and corrupt? Especially when these make up most of the force. I think one of the most telling signs of their quality of government is when my previous host brother told me he would prefer an Apartheid government to the current one. He is 17 years old.[/i]
Panzerman; I was in Jo'burg for the first and last day. Hunted in the High Veldt (sp?) near Standerton. Friend of mine is a licensed professional hunter and his business partner lives in Jo'burg. I did find find out very quickly about South Africa's crime problem. No incidents with me but lots of folks I talked to gave me plenty of stories. Also, all of the vehicles there are required to have a mechnically locking gadget on the shifter and steering wheel to deter auto theft. Karel (my friend's buddy) said you can not get insurance with it.
Johannesburg can be anything from very nice to not so very nice at all... I saw both sides of it. Glad I'm living on the good side of society now. The most important mechanical gadget guarding my host family and myself here is a .38 Special. The most important element in guarding us is never slipping up and keeping a good safety routine. And some guard dogs. It's spelled the Highveld . I'm living right smack bang in the middle of the Kruger National Park now, and getting my share of wildlife.
Wow, I'll bet that's a very interesting place to be. I'm hoping to go back on another hunting trip maybe next year or possibly 2008.
Panzerman The only problem is that this is centered moreor less exclusively in South Africa, and is an exhaustable ressource. In regards to the white farmers, I wasn't referring to South Africa - and besides, what he refers to them as isn't really relevant. They are Africans in the diplomatic sense. That is a very broad generalisation. It is often true where the take-over is done for the sheer reason of expelling white farmers, and where the farms are handed over to the president's (or rather dictator's) family, but there are many black Africans who run succesful businesses. My post above wasn't primarily focussed on South Africa, since there are somany African nations where the situation is far worse. Compared to countries such as Somalia, Liberia, Uganda and Zimbabwe, South Africa is a stable country.
A friend of mine mentioned something in relation to this a while back that was interesting. He raised the point that geography hasn't been kind to Africa. The main axis of the continent is North/South while Europe and Asia run East/West. What this means is that in Europe and Asia there are long climatic bands where the same kinds of crops with grow. Therefore it is easier for crop types and agricultural methods to cross the continents. Basically food production is the foundation of a stable culture. The more types of foods that are produced the harder it is for a sudden shock to knock out this foundation. Africa on the other hand runs through multiple climatic bands and the area in each band is relatively small. This means that each band has its own food sources with very little overlap. With little diversification the food production systems are more vulnerable. Also on a slightly separate note Africa has apparently less animals that can be domesticated. Again cutting down food sources.
That is true when referring to their relative size against the size of the continent, but in absolute figures, the areas are much larger.
Because: 1) Dictators in many African countries does not give their population any incentive to work and 2) foreign 'aid' and trade barriers makes it impossible for the African businesses to compete with the prices of European and American agricultures. And yes, I do have at least one example, but it would be illegal for me to say whom.
Panzerman; Just wanted to say that everything you have posted so far is exactly what I was told and saw while I was there. From what I understand, South Africa could become the same way as the others in a few years. One of the biggest problems is that the Blacks are 90% of the population but are not very well educated. However, now that aparthied is over they are taking over running the country but are not prepared to do so. Then there is the problems with tribalism and corruption.
Just sticking my oar in. Corruption I see myself here - our African students expect staff to happily break rules as favours. They can get quite upset (and sometimes even quite angry) when this fails to happen. Another thing to consider - Africa was not helped in the Post-Colonial phase by becoming one of the areas in which the Cold War was played out in a slightly hotter form. Resources - some parts of Africa are incredibly rich in resources - South Africa is a good example of this, and that richness was a primary cause of the European 'Race for Africa' back in the 19th Century. However, large parts of Africa have few or no worthwhile resources, as the European countries found out. Why do you think places like South Africa (and India, though 'tis not African) received more input than other colonies?
If you publicly say they're not ready for office(blacks), and if you say they should wait till they're better prepared , then you get labeled a racist.
I didn't say they should wait. But it's a fact that the blacks in South Africa and other African nations are not well educated and are not doing a good job of taking over governments and economies that were once run by whites. Remember, the whites ran the country and this allowed them to get the better educations while blacks were kept segregated. I have not read anything about Robert Mugabe (sp?) lately. Is he still around?
Unfortunately, yes IIRC he is changing the election laws to keep himself on as president indefinitely (shades of 1933)
