Eish. We kinda knew that stuff like this was on its way. An article, entitled “Mandela’s Death Highlights How Messed Up South Africa Is Now” was recently published on Business Insider.

In it, the American author points out that the death of Nelson Mandela brings with it a sense of reflection, a sense of “what have we achieved” after his momentous appointment of as president in 1994.

She explains how the worlds sudden focus of attention on South Africa has already begun to “cast South Africa’s current leaders in an unflattering light.” Dave Smith, a journalist for the Guardian, echoed her sentiments:

Mandela looms like a one-man Mount Rushmore over his successors. Throwing their flaws into sharp relief.

The Economist, meanwhile, makes the bold claim that:

Misguided governance, low-quality education, skills shortages and massive unemployment levels of around 40% have made the black population of South Africa more disadvantaged today than when Nelson Mandela was still behind bars.

The article in the Business Insider goes on to lambaste the ANC, and provide a gloomy prediction for the future of the party, claiming that they can “no longer pretend to be a party, as he [Mandela] once put it, with a ‘noble cause’: It is simply the party of power.”

But the author delivers a final sucker-punch, when she goes on to draw comparisons between the ANC and the Chinese Communist Party:

The ANC now functions like the Chinese Communist Party: The most important political debates in South Africa take place within its ranks and at its congresses. Actual electoral contests matter much less.

The consequences of 20 years of mostly one-party rule are the same for South Africa as they are in China: ANC-owned companies enjoy privileged access to state contracts, ANC politicians have been involved in complex cases of corruption, businesses often succeed or fail because of their political contacts and not because of their merit.

Without real political competition, ANC politicians are not motivated to reform a state that still doles out patronage to black insiders, just as the apartheid state once reserved its jobs and contracts for whites.

To read the rest of her article, click here.

[Source : Business Insider]