During the second half of our first week in Jo’burg, we left Soweto and ventured into downtown Jo’burg. It was just like any other large city- busy streets, tall buildings, and business people in suits no matter the heat. Jo’burg is the economic and financial capital of the country as was apparent by the number of bank buildings we passed over the span of a few blocks.
We had the opportunity to speak with a representative of the Democratic Alliance party and then immediately afterwards to talk to representatives of the ANC-the dominant party. The man from the DA said that one of the challenges to South African politics today is that the ANC is still seen as the liberation party, and has been in power since 1994. He suggested that because the party is blindly supported as benevolent liberators, the ANC is not pushed to improve its provision of services to the public because they don’t have an incentive to (ie. no real political competition). His point was validated when we visited the ANC offices and were treated to a detailed and glorious history of the past 100 years the party has been in power. However when we asked them about current political policies and challenges there was much hemming and hawing to be done. As I learned in my African politics class, liberation movement leaders often become presidents because they have the popular support, but it becomes easy for them to hold on to the power and hard for democratic transitions to occur fully. I met people who said that there was no doubt in their minds that the ANC would win the next election; it was just a matter of figuring out who the ANC would elect as their presidential candidate. To me, South Africa is not quite a true democracy yet because there is no real competition between parties and voters base their decisions on the past and party loyalty rather than on policy or on a charismatic leader.
This weekend I got the opportunity to stay with a black South African family with another girl from my program. We were supposed to be living in Soweto, in order to really soak in the culture that we had been studying for the past week. My family however, had moved from Soweto to the suburbs and lived about 45 minutes outside of Jo’burg. It was a family of 4: Mom, Dad, daughter aged 17, and son aged 9. The daughter was born in 1994 and her name is Nonkululeko, meaning freedom. It was interesting to talk to her and hear about her beliefs growing up in a world that never experienced apartheid. Much of her life was very similar to ours in the US- lot of homework and worry about applying to university, a cell phone addiction, getting excited about prom. One thing I felt that was different and admirable was the strong moral compass she and her friends all had. They were comfortable with their beliefs whether they were concerning religion, women’s rights, moral behavior, or sex. I think it takes most American teenagers much more time to figure out what they believe and who they think they are. On the other hand, South Africa is a pretty socially conservative society and perhaps it is easier to take a strong stance on issues, while in the US there is more flexibility in terms of what your culture tells you to think. We were treated to traditional foods such as “dumplings,” which was steamed bread, and “pap,” a thick mashed potato like dish made from maize-meal. We also had a braaii (BBQ) and some vegetable dishes. All in all, I was lucky to have the opportunity to live with a host family for the weekend, even though the circumstances were somewhat different than what I had expected.
Some final observations; now that we are reunited with the group. I am realizing how much I value alone time for reflection and rejuvenation. They say there are 2 types of people, those who draw energy from participating in large groups, and those who find themselves drained by a large, loud environment. I am learning that I fall into the second group. While I love connecting with my fellow travelers, after a whole day of learning/driving/eating together, I am ready for some alone time by the evening. Instead of feeling bad or anti-social about this, I’m taking the time for myself, knowing if I do, I will be able to be my best self around others the next day. That’s all for now, tomorrow we visit the US embassy in Pretoria and on Wednesday we fly to Namibia!
**Note: The internet crashed so I wrote this yesterday and posted this a day late. Look for a new post about Pretoria soon! And I fly to Namibia tomorrow J
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