Am I the only one who gets sick of people (of all colours and creeds) who can't seem to stop complaining about life in South Africa? "The crime is out of control," "public transport is a joke," "money is being spent on all the wrong things," "the poverty level is ridiculous," the list goes on and on, without end. Well, clearly I'm not the only one sick of hearing it. On the other end of the spectrum, however, you have jackasses like these propogating South African hate, these are the blokes I'm getting sick of.

Running Away From South Africa

South Africa must have some of the most effective negative publicity of any developing country ever!

I challenge you to ask 6 friends, any 6 friends (particularly white ones), if they would leave South Africa, why they would leave South Africa and where they would go. I can almost guarantee that at least 4 of those friends would love to bugger off, their complaints would range from the crime in SA, to the horrible organisation of SA (public transport, etc), and they're chosen destinations would most probably be somewhere boring like the UK or Australia.

Dull as sin sods!

Not only do these destination choices hint at a sinful lack of imagination, they also lack any general sort of foresight or real thought and research.

Did you know (I ask in my annoyingly superior way, 'cos I know you don't) that britain has recently topped South Africa as the most violent country in the world? Woo hoo! In fact, South Africa is third on the list, with both Poms and Austrians seeming to have a greater thirst for blood than us.

South Africans want to move there because of this silly delusion that the country is safer than ours, that it's more well-run than ours (this, technically, is true) and because we somehow have it lodged in our little African brains that there is something insubstantially special about living in England.

This is not the case.

England is cold and grey (something SA citizens don't deal well with at all), it's full of ugly people, living ugly lives, speaking ugly English in an ugly accent (don't let the TV fool you, there is nothing attractive about cockney inflections).

South Africa is warm and sunny, not too hot, never too cold, it's inviting, and is filled to the brim with beautifully-formed ladies who, thanks to the aforementioned warmth, prance around in skimpy clothes much to the visual appeasement of South African men.

Also, people in the UK are notoriously unfriendly. We're used to hospitality and warmth from our neighbours (almost annoyingly so). This is not the case in that dank and dreary hole

As for Australia... Well, it's full of Australians. 'Nuff said.

South Africa's Crime Problem

This subject can be a tad touchy, since most of us have had crime affect our lives directly or indirectly, and it's never a pleasant experience.

My message however, to everyone constantly complaining about crime is: Get over it!


South Africa is hardly the only country in the world to experience crime, as pointed out above, we're not even the only country to have to contend with the crime rates we're used to experiencing here. Take a look at the numbers here. in case you're too lazy to check it out, here's a rundown:

South Africa is the 3rd most violent country in the world, behind Britain and Austria (amusing, considering neither of those places has the damaging reputation we "enjoy"). Our rate of violent crime is, 1609 incidents per 100 000 people. Not good. Britain's is 2034 incidents of violent crime for every 100 000 people!

The funny thing is that South Africa's crime rate has been steadily on the decrease over the last decade or so, while the crime rates of most of the rest of the world have been moving in the opposite direction. The rate of crime in South Africa is also hardly surprising when you take into consideration the size of the rural population here. Introducing the rural population into "modern", "civilised" lifestyles is not the sort of thing that one can do overnight. It's a problem that is being dealt with, but it takes time.

The South African Mindset

The problem with South Africans is how easily we buy into our own negative hype, clinging to it to validate our complaints through the "shock and awe" headlines of the mainstream media. We're turning into a culture of whiners; finding any excuse we can to feel sorry for our lot in life, making martyrs out of molehills.

We need to look at our country positively. Life here is not that bad. In fact, it's not bad at all. South African's have blessings that most of the rest of the world would kill for, and yet we focus all of our time and energy on the minor stuff, the inconveniences.

The Good in South Africa

Take a look around you and recognise some of the things South African's have to be happy about. Small things and big things.

• Pools. Compared to most other countries, more middle-class South Africans have their own home swimming pools than almost any other nation.
• Braais. A national pass time, I cannot emphasize enough the joy that the simple activity of a braai brings to us all.
• Sunny skies, yet not too hot. We're known as "sunny South Africa" but our climate is very moderate. Warm, bright, inviting, without being overwhelmingly hot.
• Beautiful country. Take a drive from Johannesburg to Knysna. Take the scenic route and pay attention to the countryside as you go. We live in a stunningly beautiful country. A country with a landscape as varied and dynamic as the people who inhabit it.
• A rich history and one that we can start becoming proud of. Apartheid was horrible and it drew negative publicity from around the world, but we're growing pasat that period, overcoming our past. Take a look at Australia and America and the way they treated (and still treat) their indigenous populations, what have they got to be proud of by comparison.
• A vibrant and growing entertainment industry. South African music is becoming more and more recognised around the world, our artists in some cases are absolutely incredible and bands like Freshly Ground and the Parlatones can easily match up to some of the best international bands in the world.
• Beautiful women and manly men. Need I say more?

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