South Africa's Best Kept Secret
Meeting yet another group of impressive young South Africans has lead me to a deep realization about our country: the post apartheid generation, now in their early twenties, possesses all the beneficial historical conscience that the end of apartheid created but also possesses less of the harmful baggage that hindered the generations before it.
With all the talk of a failing education system and the seeming disintegration of youth engagement in our society, you could be forgiven for thinking that the next generation is not ready to take the reins of our country and steer it in the right direction when our turn comes. Well, I come bearing good news – in my generation, we have young South Africans that are more exciting than any generation that has ever come before them and we’re about to come of age.
This generation of young South Africans are her best-kept secret. Armed with a strong sense of social justice borne out of the transition from apartheid, trained with world class resources and access to globally competitive education and enhanced by the advent of the information boom, this generation is as potent as a young generation can get. Dancing eloquently around questions of whether proportional representation is superior to the first-past-the–post electoral system, or whether the Chilean or the Zambian experience is a better analogue for South Africa’s nationalization debate, we are poised to make an indelible mark on South African society in the decades to come.
It is only a matter of time before this generation asserts itself on South African discourse. It is my firm belief that in the next ten to fifteen years, the slump that has characterized youth engagement in South African society will be reinvigorated by the upcoming generation. I suddenly realized this while on a camp with yet another group of amazing young South Africans set to intern in Washington D.C. this year on the South African Washington Internship Programme. The message is clear: we’re young, we’re committed and we’re here!
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Sizwe. What nobody tells you about SAWIP is that it has a way of revealing the very best about our beloved country, almost always serving as a reminder that we need not cry the beloved country for it is and will continue to be in good hands. The advent of democracy in South Africa has indeed added to it a dynamic that very few can understand, and even less (myself included) can articulate. There is a sense of hope that hangs above the nation like a cloud that cannot be swept away by even the strongest winds of discontent. It is this hope that one sees reflected in the eyes, the smiles and conversation of young South Africans no matte where they are in the world, but especially when they are outside the country. It's a sense of hope that one can miss because it is an everyday part of South Africa.
The real challenge for those young South Africans who have gotten the best of both South Africas, the compassion for fellow human beings and the world-class education that institutions such as UCT offer, is to ensure that we more equally spread the benefits of this new South Africa. The hope that hangs over our country has an ugly side, the poor in country live on in their dire conditions believing that a better tomorrow is coming. We must bring that tomorrow to them. We must ensure that their hope is not in vein, and that our beloved country need never be cried for.
Enjoy the DC experience. It is one of the very best life has to offer. If you get a chance I suggest you go hand out with Vivek at Penny's house and spend some time with Ramzy as well. If you are lucky you might even catch Nura. That family is the best of America my man. The amount of love and goodwill in their hearts is unsurpassed.
Thanks all!
Michael: I am certainly getting those opportunities!
Thulani: You know this, will continue in the "revolutionary" manner we have commenced from... the DC experience is like no other!
Viv: You know this!
Appreciate the feedback
Hello Sizwe. I hope you get lots of opportunities to thrash out some of the burning question and
issues you raise with the SAWIP group as well as the Irish and your American hosts.