I attended an event yesterday that was celebratory in nature. It was celebrating 300 young South Africans, hosted by Mail&Guardian.
It started off well enough until the keynote speaker stood up to talk.
Prince Mashele stood up and looked relatively unassuming. Little did we know we were in for a shock. His talk was well timed, well delivered and was perfectly placed for the right target market sitting in front of him.
This was his overbearing message:
Where were you and what did you do when South Africa began to degenerate?
So I ask you this question: Where were you and what did you do when South Africa began to degenerate?
I know where I am and what I’m doing. How about you?
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June 10th, 2009 at 11:19 am
I was in New York when the ANC came to power. That should answer the question where I was when SA started to degenerate.
I’m happy to see that you know where you are; I’m sure it was a great intellectual challenge.
June 10th, 2009 at 12:25 pm
Hey Nic, not sure I understand. Is it ‘degenerate’ or ‘regenerate’. And the question ‘Where were you and what did you _____(?) when South Africa…’.
Perhaps just needed to hear the talk to get the full impact. Know if it’s available online anywhere?
June 10th, 2009 at 4:13 pm
Degenerate ? Er how exactly is a country that experienced a record economic expansion in the past 8 years degenerating ? How s a country that has decreased violent crime 44% this decade degenerating ? How is a country that makes the fourth ighest new millionares in the world degenerating ? The more than a million houses delivered ? All the infrastructure , malls , high rises , hotels etc etc being build like never before ? The electricity given to millions ? The water ? Anyone been to the transkei lately ? Degenerating ??? You must be joking !!!
Sounds a lot more like regeration to me. Don’t let he scaremongering media with their bitter racist sensationalistic agenda fool you people. This country despite the world wide current economic slowdown has been kicking some serious ass.
June 10th, 2009 at 7:04 pm
At the risk of sounding stupid: my understanding is that the author is not alleging degeneration, but rather providing an interesting question to those who only complain (or flee), to reflect upon. Whether degeneration is fact or fiction does not matter to the question; what matters is the choice of either being part of the problem or of the solution. The poignant consequence is that if everyone answered “New York”, degeneration would have been certain, whereas if everyone answered “What degeneration? We’re building a nation!”, we’d have the best country in this world. (Please don’t even point out the empty country consequence of a literal interpretation of “New York”.)
June 10th, 2009 at 11:17 pm
Rikus has hit it head on. It’s not saying that SA has started to degenerate, but if it were to (as many people think it has), where will you be and what will you be doing? Will you be fleeing? Will you be fighting for what’s right? You make the decision and reflect on that.
June 12th, 2009 at 2:40 pm
The Mail & Guardian of June 12, 2009 carries a condensed version of the speech.
We are creating a private sub-state in this country where the haves have access to private healthcare, private schooling, private security etc whereas the poor are left to fend for themselves. The point is that the poor will not stand for this – they will take over society (through the election of populist leaders for example) in ways that leave the middle class kicking and screaming from the margins as if they are little children for help. The middle class ignore the plight of the poor at their peril.
“I say this not to spoil your day, but to point out your historical responsibility”
Prince Mashele urges us to engage with the plight of the poor rather to insulate ourselves from it.
He is right of course, which sadly does not make it an easier pill for me to swallow.
June 16th, 2009 at 10:44 am
As the gap between the rich and the poor continues to increase or remains at its current rate in SA most opportunistic social ills are likely to climb. This takes various forms, most likely poverty, crime, suicides, pandemics, moral degradation and so forth. Inevitably these will negatively affect the mechanisms of the rich to create more wealth as they always aspire to, these mechanism will stall as they derive most strength from the labour forces and the means of productions. We have just recently overtaken Brazil (country with the most social inequality compared to the rest of the world) when it comes to the gap between the rich and the poor. Only now we’re second last. We need to focus on social inequality as this may lead us to a state of lawlessness.
June 16th, 2009 at 5:05 pm
Some radio hosts picked up this psot for dicussion on their shows. WHile I agree with the ‘Where are you in building the nation’ consept have a bit of a struggle with the ‘degeneration’bit. DEveloping South Africa and Degenerating South Africa must be a racial and class thing? Where have we ‘degenerated’ form and where are we ‘degerating’ to?
June 23rd, 2009 at 6:33 pm
If I look at the article seems be saying in essence: It is inevitable that South Africa is going to degenerate unless we find a meaningful way to integrate the poor into the part of the society (“middle and upper class”) with access to quality healthcare (including basic nutrition), education and other essential services.
Now here is the question that I hope someone can provide a meaningful answer to:
If we accept that Government corruption and nepotism are factors that are accelerating this degeneration, what can the average South African do to either prevent (if you argue that the degeneration has not begun) or reverse (if you believe that the degeneration has already started) this degeneration?
Remember I am asking what the average person in S.A can do?
July 4th, 2012 at 11:10 am
Es war sicherlich interessant für mich, den Blog zu lesen. Danke dafür. Ich mag solche Themen und alles, was mit ihnen verbunden sind. Ich möchte bald mehr zu lesen.