Why I luv SA

Con permiso Viking but I took the liberty of posting your thoughts. It is another good piece of writing I might add and I echo your sentiments totally. South Africa is like nowhere on earth. Folks, please find Viking's blog over on our links list, The Thinking Man's Guide.

May 1st is known as the birthday of the Labour movement, and today is a national holiday in my adoptive home country of South Africa. It is also the birthday of my favourite blog, I luv SA (http://iluvsa.blogspot.com).

So, a big thank you to the guys and girls whose news, opinions and comments have helped my understanding of South African life, culture and sense of humour, in the last many months I have been following. The blog is truly an eye-opener, and is recommended reading for anyone interested in knowing how the rainbow nation is doing these days. Many of my illusions about South African life were shattered by the realities on the ground within months of my arrival in the country for the first time in 2006. I am now on my sixth visit to the country, and am happy to say that I am now here permanently.

A fellow blogger recently asked me why I would come to live in SA, when I was ‘better off’ in Europe. More than half, if not most of my friends and family were similarly concerned about my move to Africa, often citing Zimbabwe as an example of what happens to people ‘over there’. South Africa is not Zimbabwe, at least not yet, in spite of what many people think. Yes, I am better off in Europe, earning in an hour what I can in a day here. But wealth is relative, and in South Africa so much is free. Relative poverty is far more bearable when the sun is shining and the beach is ten minutes away.

The reality is, South African is like nowhere on earth. It is a place of spectacular scenery and unique experience. It is rich in history, and has a vibrant energy that is characteristic of so few other countries. Nothing can match surfing at Muizenburg beach on a Sunday morning in the shadow of the mountains, or the epic drive from Hout Bay into Camps Bay, watching the whales at Hermanus, or even sitting on a balcony at a Long Street bar, watching the traffic chaos below. So many foreigners arrive in Cape Town and never leave. Expats arrive from all over the world and their own countries immediately lose their appeal. It is something very few can explain. It is perhaps best described as “magnetic”.

On a less romantic level, South Africa is a good place to do business. Entrepreneurialism is alive and well in a way most Europeans countries are no longer. Everyone has a great business idea, and there exists in South Africa the drive and ability to make ideas work. The economy is strong, and the Rand getting stronger once again, perceived as it is to be backed up by the country’s mining industry. Tourist pounds, euros and dollars continue to flow into the country and the World Cup is about to arrive, bringing thousands to experience Africa for the first time.

On the down side, crime is high, and so are interest rates. Crime is often petty, sometimes brutal, but always a constant reminder that This Is Africa. Behind the sheen of modern South Africa lies a more desperate side, but curiously this does not deter nearly as many visitors and immigrants as you might expect. To the utter astonishment of many South Africans, foreigners continue to love the country in spite of its risks, and I honestly believe that nowhere on earth has the same effect. And I am one of these. Despite having been the victim of burglary, vandalism, petty theft and shady business practices (but thankfully nothing worse), I will take the risk to live in South Africa.