Inequality and Safety in South Africa

Well…it’s not all safaris and wine-soaked lobster lunches on the beach…

The stark juxtaposition of wealth and poverty in South Africa is more than a little unsettling, for two reasons. 

First, because particularly because the wealthy parts of the country seems so familiar.  Decrepit shantytowns, far bleaker than anything in the US, right near upscale shopping centers and fancy beach homes that could be in California.  And while it’s true that some townships are modernizing, they have a long way to go.  For example, the wealthiest parts of Soweto looked a lot to me like the poorest parts of an American city. 

Second, because of the glaring racial inequality.  Evidence of racial integration abounds, and I personally saw no sign of any kind of discrimination; but it’s just as clear that whites are, on average, so much better off than blacks.  It’s amazing to me that the country has done so well in two decades of democracy, given the history of acrimony, and the economic legacy of segregation that clearly persists.

Safety.  South Africa has become a lot less dangerous in the past 20 years, but there are reminders everywhere that you’d better watch yourself.  Most unsetting to me were the high, electrified walls and “armed response” signs outside of every single house in the nicer (mostly white) parts of Johannesburg, a city which otherwise reminded me of Atlanta, with its rolling hills, its green neighborhoods and its sprawl.  The streets of Melville, the upscale neighborhood where we stayed, were scary, particularly after dark – no one on the streets, no houses visible behind the walls.  The lack of pedestrians in this car-centric city was particularly unsettling.  I’ve heard Jozi compared to “a combination of Atlanta, and prison” before, and that seemed very apt.  Rio, very much a pedestrian city, struck me as much safer (perhaps unfairly) because we never saw any empty streets.