As I look at what is happening in the “greatest democracy of our time” I feel I am back in the teeth of Apartheid South Africa. I will be first to admit that we South Africans have a desperately long way to go before we are rid of the shackles and debilitating practises of the legacy regimes – ALL OF THEM – going back to colonial times.
We need the born free generation to rebuild South Africa as a meritocracy. We can but hope that, in the interim, they do not become contaminated with the disease of corruption, cronyism and nepotism – which has done more damage to Africa than Covid 19 ever will.
Despite my anger at the mismanagement of South Africa, to the detriment of the most vulnerable, I am still proud of the change we see. The biggest change that still overwhelms me is to see people of all groups sitting in restaurants, jazz clubs and other public and private spaces, interacting as friends and equals.
MLK had a vision of this on 28 August 1963 https://youtu.be/vP4iY1TtS3s?t=10 . Sam Cook picked up on this in 1964. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cEXhZ8PwM-Y
Who will own this vision now?
One person cannot change the world – But you can change the world for one person.