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As a rather recent ex-expat returning to Joburg, it has been easy to see the city through a fog of nostalgia. The taxi’s make driving exciting, the red dust remarkably African. The city absolutely thrums. Load shedding, I told friends, was a sort of enforced meditation period. Everything about Jozi was charming and familiar. Now that the fog is clearing a few months down the line, however, I’m shaking my fist in traffic with the best of them.
It’s been a while since I visited the Cape. When I did on a recent trip down south for Biznews, there were some rather stark similarities to my home in Ireland- bar the weather. The air is crisp, the pace is relaxed and driving doesn’t resemble a headless racetrack- everything works, too. Despite my in-bred Gauteng pride, the fairer province deserves due credit. This stunningly written letter to friends by Colin Byrne underlines the very obvious differences between Johannesburg and the Cape and why, on some level, the W-Cape trumps our Highveld, hands down. – Caitlin Hogg
By Colin Byrne*
Hi folks,
As I have told you I have moved to Stellenbosch for a few months, and thought I should share with you some of my observations here, and in particular how good governance structures make a difference in society. The collective we participate in is our society, and the collective consciousness of the society, creates the experience of being.
Of course the beauty of the mountains and the oceans makes a difference, but there are other thing around that do make a difference.
On my first day on the site I am working on, I was quite startled to see one of the black construction workers wearing a blue DA T-shirt. This is allowed here, whereas in JHB construction firms don’t allow political regalia on their sites, and low and behold a few hours later, I see another black construction worker wearing a DA T-shirt, so I go chat to him and he recounts how his life has changed in the 5 years since he has moved to the W-Cape from the E-Cape. One of the things he said made an impression on me. He said, “Since I came here, I have hope. When I lived in (can’t remember the name of the small village he lived in) there was no hope. So I left and came here with my family, and it was hard at first, but I found that the people here cared, and soon there was help. The DA found me and provided assistance for me and my family, and that is why I support the DA.”
I was really moved and a little “choked up” by this. I had been under the impression that migrants from the E-Cape were a ploy to get more ANC voters in the W-Cape, as the old NP used to do. Many are actually moving because, as this man said, “there is no hope”. Many are moving out of desperation, and this man’s testimony brought this into perspective.
As I travelled around in the W-Cape, mainly in the Cape Peninsular, one thing is startling different. It is amazingly clean. I wondered how the DA administration does it. Then one night I was invited to dinner by our site manager, and had a long dinner with lots of wine and conversation. It is very relaxed here in the W-Cape. Nobody seems to be in a hurry. We left quite late and as I drove down the streets of Stellenbosch there were men driving cleaning vehicles and people sweeping the streets. I thought that this tradition had died a long time ago. I could hardly believe my eyes. They clean the streets at night. Not only do they clean the streets but they provide employment for those that do.
Another startling difference is the behaviour of the traffic authorities here. We all experience outages, but here in Stellenbosch in peak periods, you have traffic police directing traffic at all major intersections. I can’t remember when last I saw a traffic officer directing traffic in Gauteng. Another thing is, I went through a few speed traps, I pass one every day to work, but the traffic officers are totally visible and apparent, and you have to be either blind or stupid to get caught, and I have seen a few of those too. I asked some people here about this, and told them about the corrupt soliciting for bribes that goes on in Gauteng, and everyone has told me, “Don’t dare do that here as you will immediately be arrested for trying to bribe an officer.”
All the infrastructure works in the W-Cape. Roads are clean. Road markings and signage are clear and where they are supposed to be.
I lived in Cape Town before I “trekked” to JHB in 2006, and there is another difference I have noticed. The economy in the W-Cape is growing and thriving. Here in Stellenbosch artisans are charging “top dollar rates” because there is so much economic activity going on. Locals tell me that they have never had it so good, and they don’t understand why. The W-Cape has always been this “sleepy village” where people aspired to retire to.
Another remarkable thing is that foreigners are investing in the W-Cape rather than in an “economically and infra-structurally” unfriendly Gauteng. It is not only wealthy foreigners and businesses, but also wealthy South Africans, “gatvol” of the maladministration in the north. I am a sub-contractor to a medium-sized construction firm (mainly Afrikaans), based in Gauteng, that has now ventured into the Cape because they see their economic future in the W-Cape, and there are many others. Helen Zille’s, and the DA team’s, hard work and vision has come alive in the W-Cape, and it is palpably visible.
We suffer here from the same malady of outages here that you do, with a few noticeable differences. Our outages here are for a shorter duration (2 hours at most), but more frequent and mainly during working hours, AND the outages are to schedule, so you don’t have to second guess, when your electricity is working or not, and you can plan around that. The DA government here has also been pro-active in this regard, contracting with private companies, that can supply the W-Cape with wind-driven and solar energy, no longer relying on an ANC infested Eskom. This forethought will yield great dividends in the future. Kudos to the DA.
I think the major difference that I have noticed in the W-Cape is that the attitude of people here is quite different from what I experienced here before I left Cape Town in 2006. People seem to be more aware. I know this has changed planetary-wise, but I am meeting so many people whose priorities have changed. There is not so much moaning and groaning. There is an air of optimism, of self and co-operative dependence, because they can depend on, and rely on, the governance structures in the province.
The only criticism I have of the DA here is, and it is a minor one, is that they are not communicating more effectively about the effects good governance can make on the lives of everyday people. Perhaps they should pay more attention to that, because I can see it, some major changes here in the W-Cape. But that is the happy conundrum the DA find themselves in because of all the hard work that they have done here.
I wish you all well, and look forward to the happy work we can do to changing this country.
*Colin Byrne is a semi-retired, independent project manager for a painting contracting company, managing a large, painting project in Stellenbosch. He recently re-located to the Western Cape.
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