Page 17 - SA Chamber UK Newsletter April 2024

content and designing specialist safaris for southern and east African ‘product’, I can confirm
that South Africa offers amongst the finest accommodation and service to be found. Our

top-end architects and interior designers are designing and managing lodges and hotels
throughout the continent and beyond, and our restaurants frequently make the top 50 lists.

‘Beyond’ is also where multitudes of South African IT professionals, doctors, healthcare
professionals and teachers have moved and been well-received, given what is regarded by
many as reverse racism in the workplace, disguised by the well-intended principles of black
economic empowerment, or BEE.

None of these achievements, intended and unfortunate or otherwise, would have been
possible without the end of apartheid. And let us not forget, that we are world rugby
champions, with players of all shades wearing the green and gold.

The Finish Line

Whether or not their supporters will vote is a moot point. A paper put out after the 2019
elections by the Konrad Adenauer Stiftung − a German think-tank with deep experience
working with Africa civil society − suggests not.

“Less than half (49%) of all eligible South Africans cast a vote in 2019 ... the sharpest (decline)
since the 2004 elections … South Africa’s participation levels are now on par with other low
turnout countries in terms of its eligible participation.”

Voter turnout is widely acknowledged as a crucial indicator of the vitality and health of a
democracy. That the ruling party should have even one per cent of vote, as opposed to
the close on 50% pollsters are predicting, is deeply concerning, raising questions about

awareness and (absence of) values.

If the broader South African public is not sufficiently concerned to turn up and vote against a
government that has facilitated the countrywide collapse − bar most of the Western Cape −
of water reticulation, public health and electricity infrastructure, then it is indeed choosing to
live in increasingly challenging times.

Angus Begg is a:
§ Private guide
§ Contributor: Daily Maverick / Financial Mail / Travel Africa

§ Content Development and Advocacy Consultant: UNDP South Africa
§ Media Consultant: Gorongosa Restoration Project (2020)
§ Podcaster / Writer / Photographer

§ Producer: Carte Blanche TV (2005-14)
§ Category Winner: CNN 2006 Africa Journalist of the Year
§ Highly Commended: 2008 PICA Publishing Awards
§ Finalist: 2014 SA Premier Business Awards

§ Shortlisted: 2015 AITO International Travel Writer of the Year

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SA CHAMBER UK NEWSLETTER APRIL 2024