Excerpt from former New York Times Johannesburg correspondent Suzanne Daley’s review of Mark Gevisser’s book of the former South African President, “A Legacy of Liberation: Thabo Mbeki and the Future of the South African Dream”:
[Here is] the description of the funeral of Mbeki’s father in 2001. Govan Mbeki, who had been more activist than parent, insisted that he be buried in a dilapidated, litter-strewn local cemetery near Port Elizabeth. This produced, as Govan must clearly have understood it would, a painful tableau for his son, the president who had not succeeded in lifting most of his countrymen out of poverty. “There was something festive and celebratory in the air — not just that Govan Mbeki truly was a local hero in these neglected quarters, but that the carnival of power had come to town — and most onlookers cheered for the dignitaries they recognized,” Gevisser writes. “Some, however, made no bones about their feelings. ‘Look at your fancy cars!’ one woman yelled to a prominent black businessman as he alighted from his BMW.”
Yes, a lot still needs to be done to lift the majority of South Africans out of poverty. However, let’s not forget that in the past 15 years clean water and electricity have been made available to millions of people. Also a social security net of sorts has been started in the form of old age pensions to all. We ignore our very real achievements at our peril.