South Africa

We stopped in Durban, South Africa after 3 days at sea. Durban hosted last year’s Soccer World Cup and built themselves a fancy new stadium. The city has a large geographic footprint and stretches a long way from north to south. Its mild climate and excellent beaches attract many sun and surf lovers. Sugar cane is king here. The downtown is not large and a bit shabby. Growth has extended in all directions. The terrain is hilly and relatively lush. South Africa is struggling to recover after a tumultuous 30 years. The political leadership since the end of apartheid has been so-so and often seems motivated by revenge rather than reconciliation. The years of apartheid have yielded a substantial proportion of the population that is unequipped to compete in the modern world, and handicapped in their ability to make their democracy function. But this is a country very rich in resources. I guess we could say the same about Argentina or Burma or Indonesia. There’s a long list of countries that should be prosperous but can’t seem to keep themselves sufficiently organized to raise the standard of living. And South Africa is the richest country on this continent. Cape town is a very large port at the southwestern tip of the continent so it serves as the most important shipping center on the Atlantic. Its importance as a re-supply center and transshipping center have diminished since the opening of the Suez Canal in 1869. The original Cape Colony is perched on a rather small bit of land, backed up against a huge mountain that protects it from any incursions from the east, south or north. The downtown, proper, has a few new buildings and a fabulous waterfront shopping complex called Victoria & Alfred. (Not Albert!) The central zone containing The Company Gardens is a lovely park and borders the Parliament. The west side of town has a series of beach coves with apartments, some rather new, and closely packed, overlooking the sea, a la Nice. The east side of Table Mountain contains some vineyard estates. The climate is pleasant. It’s not clear which way South Africa is headed. The political leadership seems to have been captured by modern liberalism (with all its wealth-destroying slogans and practices), but still fueled and energized by their sense of moral righteousness derived from their victory over the policies of apartheid. Good leadership will go a long way in helping this gifted country confront tribalism and stark poverty. Let’s hope they get it. Allpictures were taken in Capetown.