Every so often a piece such as this one appears. The argument is familiar: After (x number of years) since the end of Apartheid South Africa still (has not achieved its full potential/is failing its people/is a monumental disappointment to the ideals “we” once fought for). I am always mystified by these arguments. What sort of sheltered fool thought that the Apartheid legacy would be an easy one to overcome? What wide-eyed innocent believed that the transition to multi-racial democracy was going to be a panacea? Who ever argued that transition would be seamless? Furthermore, what leaders have ever claimed that things in South Africa are perfectly fine? Certainly not President Jacob Zuma. Or Deputy President Kgalema Motlanthe.
It seems to me that it’s one thing to continue to call for improvement in South Africa, across the continent, and around the world. But a sense of historical perspective seems in order. It has been sixteen years since the end of Apartheid. Look at virtually every nation in the history of the world. How many of them were dreamscapes less than two decades after independence? I’d surmise very few of them. And no one claims that South Africa does not have a long way to go. This is not to dismiss criticism or deep analysis. But it is to argue that there is an element of strawman-bashing to these arguments against a case no one is actually making.
