Re: So, as you see , it's not only paternalistic whites, like me, who are concerned by the ANC's criteria for "merit" in the appointments made.
Indeed... Yours is actually a hackneyed story peddled by many nostalgists of colonialism. "Oh, when Whites were here, things were so much better! Come back!" is a lament one can hear in Kinshasa (Congo), Algiers (Algeria), Abidjan (Ivory Coast), etc. Although it rings a note of truth, it misses the larger truth that self-rule trumps technocratic efficiency --whatever the country, whatever the race. For instance, most Congolese would love to see their country endowed with modern, clean cities buzzing with commuters and businessmen on their way to work --like in the "good old days" under Belgian rule. They miss the lamppost-lit, pothole-free highways, the well-oiled Belgian-run colonial bureaucracy, etc, etc. Yet they prize even higher their hard-won independence and self-rule. Better a master in hell than a slave in heaven --just ask the Palestinians....
Gus |
