Apartheid, Corruption and Redemption

Corruption comes in many forms: ideas, practices, policies and personifications. South Africa is a conundrum of the first order, with a history of white European hegemony and current political realities infected by corruption and bankrupt ideology. As Wikepedia describes "in 20th-century political science, the concept of hegemony is central to cultural hegemony, a philosophic and sociologic explanation of how, by the manipulation of the societal value system, one social class dominates the other social classes of a society, with a world view justifying the status quo of bourgeois hegemony". What the Afrikaans perpetrated on the native Africans, immigrant Indians and so-called "coloreds" during Apartheid was horrific and seemingly unforgivable- people categorized as subhuman and treated with less respect and dignity than that of cattle. Unlike Rwanda, truth and reconciliation has been an uphill battle here, perhaps because Apartheid was carefully and fully realized for over fifty years and was institutionalized so completely into the culture, rather than the swift and unimaginable genocide of Rwanda of one tribe pitted against another with white supremacists pulling the strings in the background. In any case, the current rule of the ANC (African National Congress)seems a far cry from what Nelson Mandela desired. Corruption is recognized as problematic be you black or white, with short term pocket filling rationalized as deserved rather than investment in long term vision for a sustainable future. I don't suggest that I understand the complexities, only that deep complex evolution to an enlightened and equal future remains elusive. Nelson Mandela and Desmond Tutu played critical roles in the peaceful and mostly non-violent transition to a democratic society, but as they have entered their golden years, successors of their merit are sorely needed.

The irony here in Capetown is represented in the beautiful upscale suburbs juxtaposed against township slums with a population of over one million.

Education and healthcare seem to have taken a backseat to social welfare programs that offer short term benefit, but lack long term results. Redemption is somewhat recognizable in a rich diversity that appears to be working on the surface-black, white, Indian, Muslim, Christian, and on and on- a crazy quilt of interaction characterized by a willingness to talk about the present day issues--- but still looking for more....