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South Africa is a deteriorating shithole. My mother was telling me that they want to move to guarded security estate because she is afraid she might be raped, a

by buyx 3y ago

South Africa is a deteriorating shithole. My mother was telling me that they want to move to guarded security estate because she is afraid she might be raped, and my father bludgeoned in their home. (NB: they’re not under threat because of their race, rather because that’s what criminals do). The police are dumb as rocks and totally lazy: look at the Boksburg tanker blast in December to see how they don’t GAF about doing their jobs.the public was standing around a burning gas tanker taking pictures for social media for hours before it exploded and killed dozens. The police only pitched after the explosion. There is no serious border control, and any mention of it is shut down as “xenophobic” by the media and business that want to flout labour regulations by hiring undocumented migrants from the rest of Africa, despite the obscene unemployment rate. The electricity situation has been discussed at length here previously, but it’s strangling the economy. Sure you can make money if you are skilled, but you can make better money using those skills in any number of other countries. The only thing that’s keeping many middle-class South Africans from emigrating is the cheap domestic help. They are happy to exploit the obscene inequality since it gives them cheap labour. They live in terror of washing their own clothes and cleaning their own toilets.

ashwagary 3y ago
>South Africa is a deteriorating shithole. A large % of white South Africans dislike the idea of the masses rising. The expectation that the transition should be comfortable is naive at best.
- buyx 3y ago
  What makes you think I’m white? In any case, apart from many Afrikaners, whites are increasingly irrelevant to the discussion about South Africa’s future-they’re dwindling as a percentage of the population because of aging, emigration, higher black birth rates and inward migration from other African counties. The country is, objectively, deteriorating.
  - ashwagary 3y ago
    >What makes you think I’m white? I didn't say you were. >whites are increasingly irrelevant to the discussion about South Africa’s future-they’re dwindling as a percentage Not true, the owners of the vast majority of SA land are still a tiny white minority. As long as this is the case, they are relevant. >The country is, objectively, deteriorating. The world's worst wealth inequality [0] will do that to a country until resolved. As I mentioned above, the transition will not be comfortable and anyone expecting it to be is wildly misinformed. [0] "South Africa is the most economically unequal country in the world, according to the World Bank. The difference between wealthy and poor in South Africa has been increasing steadily since the end of apartheid in 1994, and this inequality is closely linked to racial divisions in society." [0] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wealth_inequality_in_South_Africa https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wealth_inequality_in_South_A...
    - buyx 3y ago
      India and China have both managed to uplift their economies in the last 30 years without the “discomfort” of violent crime, increasing corruption, the collapse of state institutions and an inability to generate electricity. Of course reducing everyone to grinding poverty is one way of reducing inequality, but it’s hard to see what the utility of that would be. Blacks will, and do, bear the brunt of the deterioration anyway.
      - ashwagary 3y ago
        >India and China have both managed to uplift their economies in the last 30 years without the “discomfort” of violent crime, increasing corruption, the collapse of state institutions and an inability to generate electricity. India didn't start out with massive amounts of inequality and is still working at building while dealing with a poverty crisis. It isnt close to the finish line. China, the most successful at transitioning, had inequality comparable to South Africa at one point. That is precisely what Mao targeted when he came to power. Their effort, which involved redistribution of >90% of the land from tiny minority (<10%) ownership, stamping out corruption, and solving domestic production issues; could hardly be described as comfortable. Foreign powers worked overtime to sabotage the Chinese effort like they have and will continue to do in South Africa as it gets started on this path away from economic apartheid. The good news is, modern South Africa being a part of BRICS may be useful in reducing inequality more rapidly by employing wisdom gained by other members... but there will still be discomfort. The history surrounding this kind of scenario is very clear and not as rosey as your description. Luckily SA is not resource poor and its allies are some of the most capable nation builders on the planet.
  - wjaugustyn 3y ago
    The government is bad for sure. But has SA ever not had a shitty government? Maybe briefly between 1994 to 2008. But it’s pretty nice to build my business here. The government sure as shit won’t be building the country up. Businesses will, and it’s happening.
- wjaugustyn 3y ago
  Agreed. It’s been 30 years though.

by buyx 3y ago

ashwagary 3y ago

>South Africa is a deteriorating shithole. A large % of white South Africans dislike the idea of the masses rising. The expectation that the transition should be comfortable is naive at best.

buyx 3y ago
What makes you think I’m white? In any case, apart from many Afrikaners, whites are increasingly irrelevant to the discussion about South Africa’s future-they’re dwindling as a percentage of the population because of aging, emigration, higher black birth rates and inward migration from other African counties. The country is, objectively, deteriorating.
- ashwagary 3y ago
  >What makes you think I’m white? I didn't say you were. >whites are increasingly irrelevant to the discussion about South Africa’s future-they’re dwindling as a percentage Not true, the owners of the vast majority of SA land are still a tiny white minority. As long as this is the case, they are relevant. >The country is, objectively, deteriorating. The world's worst wealth inequality [0] will do that to a country until resolved. As I mentioned above, the transition will not be comfortable and anyone expecting it to be is wildly misinformed. [0] "South Africa is the most economically unequal country in the world, according to the World Bank. The difference between wealthy and poor in South Africa has been increasing steadily since the end of apartheid in 1994, and this inequality is closely linked to racial divisions in society." [0] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wealth_inequality_in_South_Africa https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wealth_inequality_in_South_A...
  - buyx 3y ago
    India and China have both managed to uplift their economies in the last 30 years without the “discomfort” of violent crime, increasing corruption, the collapse of state institutions and an inability to generate electricity. Of course reducing everyone to grinding poverty is one way of reducing inequality, but it’s hard to see what the utility of that would be. Blacks will, and do, bear the brunt of the deterioration anyway.
    - ashwagary 3y ago
      >India and China have both managed to uplift their economies in the last 30 years without the “discomfort” of violent crime, increasing corruption, the collapse of state institutions and an inability to generate electricity. India didn't start out with massive amounts of inequality and is still working at building while dealing with a poverty crisis. It isnt close to the finish line. China, the most successful at transitioning, had inequality comparable to South Africa at one point. That is precisely what Mao targeted when he came to power. Their effort, which involved redistribution of >90% of the land from tiny minority (<10%) ownership, stamping out corruption, and solving domestic production issues; could hardly be described as comfortable. Foreign powers worked overtime to sabotage the Chinese effort like they have and will continue to do in South Africa as it gets started on this path away from economic apartheid. The good news is, modern South Africa being a part of BRICS may be useful in reducing inequality more rapidly by employing wisdom gained by other members... but there will still be discomfort. The history surrounding this kind of scenario is very clear and not as rosey as your description. Luckily SA is not resource poor and its allies are some of the most capable nation builders on the planet.
- wjaugustyn 3y ago
  The government is bad for sure. But has SA ever not had a shitty government? Maybe briefly between 1994 to 2008. But it’s pretty nice to build my business here. The government sure as shit won’t be building the country up. Businesses will, and it’s happening.
wjaugustyn 3y ago
Agreed. It’s been 30 years though.