Zuma in the US; SA social fabric continues to fray

As I assume the US media covered, President Zuma was in Washington DC for the summit on nuclear security, at which South Africa was proudly singled out and praised by President Obama for being the first country to abandon a nuclear weapons programme. According to allAfrica.com, "South Africa gave up its pursuit of nuclear weapons in 1993 making it the first and only country to start abandoning a weapons programme voluntarily." Zuma also met with President Obama as part of the trip. Although the picture only appeared on page 5. I find it interesting to see the difference between the image chosen for publication here (above) and those published in other sources, such as below (from IOL) where JZ looks oddly deferential to a stern-looking Obama. IOL reports that the meeting "covered a number of bilateral issues, including strengthening co-operation on areas like agriculture and HIV and Aids. They also discussed the promotion of African peace and security within the ambit of the African Union and United Nations." (Ambit means "sphere or scope"; I had to look it up.) One has to wonder what was going through Obama's mind about some of the issues they didn't talk about (lifestyle audits, polygamy, etc.).

In other news, questions of race relations are still in the forefront of the public conversation, as are growing concerns that the World Cup may not be the economic boon and boost for the country that its promoters have been promising. An editorial in today's paper (Cape Times) encouraged South Africans to skip the games and instead to donate an equivalent amount to education or other needs. Coincidentally, the front page story this morning was of pupils going on a rampage in Malmesbury (a town about 45 minute north of Cape Town) to protest their over-crowded school. As legitimate as their concerns are (over 60 pupils in some classes), there is something disconcerting about students resorting to torching portables to make their point and about the incident escalating to police shooting kids with rubber bullets. In the melee, a "criminal element" apparently exploited the chaos to rob and vandalize some shops owned by "foreigners" and to beat the shopkeepers. In a related story, municipal workers all over the country went on strike Monday in response to a lack of progress in on-going labor negotiations. The images of the march were celebratory for the solidarity and resolve that they showed, but they were also menacing for the anger some workers expressed and for the vandalism engaged in by some of the protesters, particularly the gleeful overturning of rubbish bins onto the streets and the damaging of other municipal property (see Cape Town strike video here). According to the Cape Town mayor's office, for every three rand spent on upgrading municipal infrastructure, two more rand are spent protecting and repairing it due to rampant vandalism and theft. A lot of resources are being devoted to containing these festering problems in the run-up to the World Cup. Whether or not those efforts can be sustained or victorious in the long-term is an open question.

My advice: come to the World Cup if you can, but all bets are off for what happens in its wake.