SA has the goods to be a world-beater

Madiba Magic did not die with Mandela. We must acknowledge our perennial power, writes Victor Kgomoeswana.

Perhaps it was Bryan Habana equalling Jonah Lomu’s World Cup Rugby record in tries in the UK or the country hosting the SA International Renewable Energy Conference (Sairec); or was it the mayor of Joburg cycling to work as he led the EcoMobility World Festival 2015?

No, it must have been South Africa remaining in the top five African countries according to the Mo Ibrahim Index of African Governance; or maybe it was bumping into self-taught IT whizz-kid Litha Soyizwapi and having him proudly demonstrate how his Gaurider App works.

This young lad from the Eastern Cape, who built an App that makes the official Gautrain App seem clunky, proudly told me that his invention works offline, can estimate more than just departure and arrival times, and uses the drag-and-drop mode to help users access the high-speed train schedule better than any other I have seen.

It will soon be available on Android devices, so look out for it if you use the Gautrain. I have to tell you, this is a future giant of the knowledge economy; watch him.

Not even the downgrade of our economic growth prospects to below 1.5 percent by the IMF could spoil my mood this week: I felt the South African resilience in me restored, thanks to the many hints that ours is still a great country, and that we can make it work again, if we try.

It is easy, when watching the red berets disrupt Parliament or when reading about the rape of babies, to get despondent about South Africa. Or when looking at the unemployment rate and the failure of the education department to deliver books to Limpopo on time.

However, there was a confluence of many positive headlines this past week that showed me that – without burying my head in the sand about the problems we face – South Africa can be a world-beater.

Before dismissing Sairec 2015 as just another talk shop or scoffing her department for the 9.5GB nuclear deal with the Russians (or not), consider the several renewable energy projects announced by Minister of Energy Tina Joemat-Pettersson in the past eight months – more than at any other time in the history of South Africa.

Granted, she was finishing the work of her predecessors, but Joemat-Pettersson put on a great show in Cape Town this week. Give her credit for boldly making South Africa’s mark on the renewable energy world map.

Add to this the EcoMobility festival hosted by Parks Tau, the executive mayor of Joburg, which reminded us that Joburg traffic can be decongested if we all use public transport, and you realise that South Africa has all the right cards if we learn how to play them.

My life as a conference speaker and facilitator allows me access to some of the most interesting discussions and events every week, forcing me to look for reasons to believe in spite of the many depressing episodes. Then again, I have to ask us all to remember that it is these crises that could prod us to be positive.

Last week, I complained that Ster-Kinekor had removed Tell Me Sweet Something, a romcom by Akin Omotoso featuring Maps Maponyane and Nomzamo Mbatha. I added my voice to many others, including that of Omotoso himself and the National Film and Video Foundation (NFVF), decrying the failure by Ster-Kinekor to appreciate their patriotic duty to give good South African movies preferential exposure.

To his credit, Minister of Arts and Culture Nathi Mthethwa convened a meeting of film stakeholders this week to “thrash out issues of distribution, representation, marketing support and other pressing issues affecting film- makers”.

This meeting took place, but whether or not it will lead to any concrete action by Ster-Kinekor, in particular, remains to be seen. Still, it is when leaders act on the complaints of their people that there is a chance to take charge of our own destiny.

Which surprises me why we are still having marches about e-tolls in 2015. Which ears are so impervious to reason that an emotive matter such as this remains unresolved? President Jacob Zuma unimpressively said in Midrand that his government listens to criticism – except maybe on this stubborn controversy. But, I digress.

When Habana turned on his magic with the Springboks in the UK this week to secure a top spot in their group at the expense of the US Eagles, he erased the disillusionment that had engulfed us barely two weeks ago when Japan pipped us at the post to snatch a 34-32 victory.

Already, some were writing the obituary of the coach. We were quick to dismiss the chances of our national team advancing to the knock-out stages.

That dubious honour belongs to host country England, instead. Now the Brits know how we felt as the host nation to earn the distinction of falling in the group stages of a tournament, though ours was the Fifa World Cup in 2010.

South Africa remains the top investment destination, though to the unemployed economically marginalised majority that will mean nothing. Young bright minds, such as Litha Soyizwapi, abound in our country.

They are hungry for success, talented and raring to make a difference to their own fate in their lifetime. The world still takes our country seriously to let us host events such as Sairec and the EcoMobility festival, allowing us to maintain our global stature.

Our own undoing is equally those lapses in governance and corruption as it is in the unwillingness of the private sector to transform. It is in our inability to harness our talent or to hold our political leaders to account; or reluctance to support our own brands – like Tell Me Sweet Something.

Madiba Magic did not evaporate with the passing of Nelson Mandela. We must acknowledge our perennial power to turn our fortunes around.

This spirit was summed up by one of the EcoMobility billboards along the M1 North: “You are not stuck in traffic; you are traffic”.

This rang so true to those who still insisted on driving their own cars, especially to Sandton, finding themselves moving slower than they had expected the traffic to be during the Eco-Mobility Festival.

Let the positive events of this past week – including the cricket victory in India or soccer in Costa Rica – restore our faith in South Africa again, and teach us to stop quitting on ourselves so easily when life happens – as it always will.

* Kgomoeswana is author of Africa is Open for Business, anchor of CNBC Africa’s weekly show Africa Business News, and anchor of the daily show Power Hour on PowerFM. He writes in his personal capacity.

** The views expressed here are not necessarily those of Independent Media.

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