Architect from Michigan, USA revisits his  hometown of Cape Town and reflects on disturbing urban landscapes and its people still saddled with racism – but now in reverse 

Read it if you can stomach it.  First it happened to Rhodesia, now it happening to South Africa.  Because SA was larger, richer and had a larger population of Whites it has taken longer.   But the end result will be the same.

Besides the non-existence of South African Airways, which was one of the finest airline companies in the world, the postal service is almost nonexistent. I know of someone who received her birthday card five months after the date. The postal workers rifle through the mail opening up letters and parcels and help themselves to whatever they can find. Most post offices in urban areas have closed permanently due to “unprofitability and crime” A number of post office properties were foreclosed upon and are up for auction due to not being able to pay their rent or mortgages. Large numbers of postal workers were let go. No funds are available so there is no solution in sight. Private courier services have to be used albeit at a steep price.

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A large number of South Africa’s farmers are Afrikaners who unbeknownst to the outside world have been brutally murdered, their wives tortured and raped; their children shot. The government fails to offer any protection to its white farmers and there was a popular EFP (Economic Freedom Party) song, called “Kill the Boer” that the Equality Court ruled “does not constitute hate speech”. People are free to continue singing it and during a debate in Parliament about the farm attacks and the plight of white farmers, an ANC Member of Parliament felt immune to shout:

“Bury them alive.”

The government’s solution for the White farmer  is to be found in  its policy of “Land Reform”. The ANC has vowed to expropriate white-owned land without compensation and redistribute that land to blacks who are not experienced in agriculture nor have the desire to farm.

As Rowan Philp in the Mail & Guardian (19 April 2013) wrote

“South Africa has been robbed of its best and brightest. For a number of years there has been a steady brain drain of leaders in technology, science, medicine and education. The loss of these people has had a negative impact on the economy. An impressive number of South Africans have risen to the top of their fields in other countries.”

Few if ever will return.

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Besides no airlines, no postal service and no trains, there is a dwindling electricity supply. They have rolling blackouts, euphemistically called “load shedding” which can last as much as 10 hours per day in Cape Town. Johannesburg is worse. People survive by always keeping their thermos flasks filled with hot water, using small gas camping stoves and using rechargeable lanterns for light and a healthy supply of batteries and candles at all times. Food rots in refrigerators so one needs to purchase small amounts of groceries just for a day. Few people can afford to have a generator, let alone the exorbitant cost of diesel fuel. Without electricity there is no viable economy. Retail stores, restaurants, businesses and factories cannot operate. The employees are idle and cannot do their job. As a result they are unable to earn a livelihood. The lack of electricity is a complex topic. In a nutshell, a history of huge financial losses, mismanagement, sabotage and corruption is evident. A judicial commission found that former President Jacob Zuma had orchestrated attempts to raid the coffers of the power company, Eskom. He denies this of course. Little maintenance has been done and with a large increase in the population (mostly emigres from other African countries) they have not kept up with the need to build additional power plants. The lack of electric power has had far reaching effects: Sewage treatment plants, with their pumps shut off; raw sewage overflows and spills into the ocean killing fish and posing very serious health issues.

Socialism combined with Racism.    The same seeds of decay and stupidity are being planted here in the US.

Except there will be no place for us to flee to.