Notes From South Africa - 2016

The first thing that you notice arriving in?Capetown?is all of the homeless folks in front of the hotel. They're just… there, all the time for everyone to see. It seems to be a rotating bunch (I've seen a guy with a dingy red parka show up every other day or so, but not always), but they're always?there.?

This is what you see every morning in?Capetown?on the corner of?Heerengraght?and Hertzog; between a memorial to South African soldiers in all the wars of the 20th Century, and a couple of hundred yards away, giant statues commemorating the Dutch founders. (Donated by Cecil Rhodes his frigging self, no less).?

As a foreigner, this would strike me as pretty hallowed ground; a miniature park in the center of?Capetown?(as one of my South African friends called it, "The Mother City") dedicated to its highest ideals.?On the one hand, it's an area that professes reverence for the past and the near present. And yet, there are no police moving these homeless guys along to a shelter, no outreach providers making sure they get a meal or a bath, nothing.?

Please don't get me wrong -?Capetown?is beautiful. Total strangers have been polite and helpful, colleagues have been open, generous and cooperative – South Africans are really astonishing. The town center houses older buildings competing with newer ones, and everywhere are ubiquitous construction cranes, making things that I can only assume will become someone else's vision of what the commercial center should look like.?

There's a bunch of investment coming this country's way following the demolition of the old order. And it is all overshadowed by some of the most amazing scenery I've ever been privileged to behold.?

The word "overshadowed" isn't an exaggeration - the entirety of?Capetown?is dominated by the Table Rock, a 1,084 meter massif overlooking the old harbor; it demands attention, even from ignorant foreigners like me. Table Rock is at turns, beautiful, severe and intimidating. A couple of people I contacted said that the estimate for hiking up the mountain was 2 hours. I'll believe it when someone comes down alive after that walk, and tells me with their own lips without being shipped to the hospital afterwards. Trust me - it's steep.?

But what I found most important in my brief time there, is that the city itself is hollow.?

After 5PM, there isn't a soul to be found, except for the homeless folks looking for a place to settle for the night. Over one weekend, I walked down Walter Sisulu Avenue to get to the Victoria and Albert Waterfront for lunch. I saw hundreds of yards of deserted spaces, where tumbling trash and dust permeated the atmosphere with a?post-apocalyptic vibe. The local population got a lot more numerous the closer I got to the V&A area, but the contrast between the haves and have nots here in center of the city became ever more pronounced.?

The nasty underbelly isn't too far away to touch. To the west of?Capetown?is South African wine country, and I invested a few bucks in an all day tour with a charming young couple from Los Angeles. We visited three different cellars, with three very distinctive styles of wine (all good, by the way, with the French houses topping the list), and capping the day was a delicious lunch overlooking the Franschhoek Valley. Being driven around by a pretty knowledgeable guide, and thus being able to enjoy the magnificent scenery whilst being half smashed on good red grape juice is pretty cool.?

It was cool, that is, until we dropped the youngsters off at their hotel in Stellenbosch, and suddenly found out that their backpack had been stolen, along with their very expensive digital camera, and a few odds and ends.

Oh, and the driver's bag? The local South African guy?not?from Los Angeles who couldn't afford the loss??His?bag got taken too.?

The LA couple? They'll be able to make up the shortfall pretty quickly - they'll be missing their photos from the first half of their trip (they had been in?Capetown?a week longer than I had), but they both still had their passports and credit cards, so I'm figuring they'll be pretty chill in a few weeks. That Driver Guy? Not so much… he lost a journal that his wife had given him as a present, plus some documents with his bank info.?

I can totally understand (but do not condone) the denizens of a developing nation wanting to stick it to the Overlords of the First World or the New World… but why go out of your way to mess with your own? A quick unzip of our guide's bag would have revealed that he was most certainly NOT part of the oppressor race in this transaction, and yet he got shafted, big time. So, then the question arises in my mind:??

Hey, guys? Why screw around with your own countrymen??

Here's some news for you: the Revolution is over, and you need to behave yourselves and act like you're part of a functioning society. If you're looking for foreign investment, or even domestic wealth redistribution, you must collectively look like you will be responsible stewards of that largess. Or, at least try as hard as possible to not look like assholes.?

Otherwise? You're screwed. Contrary to popular belief, the Captains of Industry who make those big bets on developing countries aren't gamblers (for the most part). They're investors, which means they are constantly looking for return. Any loss is viewed with skepticism - and if they think that a?potential bleed on that investment is unacceptable, they won't place the bet at all. And when that happens, you won't even know when they have cut you out of the deal.?

Maybe the next time you leave the homeless guys on their own in the center of one of your capitals, or start stealing from your fellow citizens or your guests... just maybe think about a time in the near future when the rest of the world - who, not so very long ago, desperately wanted you all to succeed, and applauded your efforts to become a free nation, and boycotted and spoke out on your behalf???

Keep that in mind when all those people from within and without, who befriended you in your struggle, suddenly turn their backs on you when you start to act like jerks, and tell you to go peddle your fish.?