The View from South Africa

2009-08-05T10:42:00.004-04:00

A week ago, I met with Mott grantees in the Durban office of the Democracy Development Programme, a nongovernmental organization (NGO) led by Rama Naidu, a passionate social justice leader.

Before our group workshop, Rama and I talked about the South African workers who are striking for bigger pay increases. Their demand for more money follows media reports of higher-than-expected inflation rates and news that the country has entered its first recession in 17 years.

But the striking employees are not alone. Residents are also taking to the streets and pressuring the government to secure basic services for the poor, such as electricity and housing.

Rama says if the demonstrations are to be successful, NGOs like his should support the protests but they can’t lead them. Instead, thousands of affected people need to awaken from their slumber, in much the same way they did to actively oppose the old apartheid system in the 1970s, ‘80s and ‘90s.

“The moment you take away the energy from the people being involved in their issues, then you dilute the impact of your work,” he said.

Rama talked about tensions between Durban city officials and “hawkers,” local people who sell items informally on city property. Their location was identified as the site for a new mall, which prompted a recent meeting on the topic that was attended by more than 600 people, including the deputy mayor. Although the city saw the illegal selling space as a public eyesore, it provided employment for hundreds of people, Rama says.

“It was the first chance for people to be acknowledged, to be listened to. I think that was most important,” he said.

“They were respected and given the chance to speak, and the city was not talking from a position of power so the power dynamic was more balanced.”

Rama’s reflective words spoke volumes to me.

Before traveling back to South Africa I had heard several troubling stories about the decline of democracy in the country where, only 15 years previously, millions of people had stood in voting lines for hours to choose the nation’s first black president in a post-apartheid political system.

But, like all teenagers, it seems the country is experiencing normal growing pains as it moves from adolescence to maturity. To use the words of Gandhi’s great-granddaughter, these are tangible signs of “democracy in action” in the new South Africa.

2009-08-04T14:26:00.002-04:00

Last week I returned stateside, but I’ve continued to follow the street protests that were gaining momentum as I left. While I was trying to sleep during the 15-plus hours of air travel from Jo’Burg to Atlanta, Ga., striking service delivery workers were marching in cities throughout the country, including the streets of Jo’Burg, Durban and Cape Town.

I had just visited these three major cities to conduct communication workshops for Mott grantees. While in Durban, the leaders of many nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) discussed the protests before and after our workshop. They said the South Africa government officially states there were about 10,000 public protests in 2008, but NGO leaders put the number closer to 30,000. Most people predict there will be even more protests this year. The big number might surprise some or even disturb others, but it is a positive sign for at least one Mott grantee.

“Isn’t that democracy in action?” asked Ashish Ramgobin (pictured at right), executive director of Participative Development Initiative. She is the great-granddaughter of Mahatma Gandhi. (See previous post about her mother.)

Her rhetorical question made me smile. It reminded me that we all see life from our own perspective. For Ashish, life is viewed through the lens of legacy – a long and rich legacy of public participation leadership. In a word? Democracy.

2009-08-03T12:53:00.003-04:00

As a former journalist – and a Mott Communications Officer – I’ve been blessed to interview many famous people, including presidents, prime ministers and high-ranking government officials. I’ve also met movie stars, sports celebrities and other so-called important people, but my recent meeting in Durban was a notch above the rest.

During informal introductions at a Mott-sponsored workshop, I kept my enthusiasm in check and resisted the urge to lunge across the conference table. There she was. In the flesh. I had waited so long for this moment and all I wanted to do was to reach out and hug my hero, Ela Gandhi.

So, when the first break was announced, I raced toward her. We squeezed. We laughed. And we both asked people to shoot a few photos to mark our face-to-face meeting.

I know that Ela puts her shirt on the same way as you and me – one arm at a time. Still, it’s a rare joy when I get to chat with someone who embodies the spirit of peace and hope for my generation and my children’s too.

I’ve been told that “Natal,” as in Kwa-Zulu Natal, means “Christmas” in Portuguese. Sounds right to me ‘cause I received a precious present while in the province.

2009-08-03T12:51:00.002-04:00

I must admit that the highlight of my time in South Africa came in Durban, a beautiful coastal city that abuts the Indian Ocean. (It felt sinful to stroll the stellar downtown beaches and relax in the subtropical climate, especially when I learned that it had snowed near Cape Town only hours after my departure from that city!)

Durban is known as the busiest port city on the African continent and the largest in the KwaZulu-Natal province. Shaka, the legendary Zulu king, called this place home. But it’s a current Durban leader, not a past one, who has a hold on my heart.

A few years ago, I started developing an online friendship with Ela Gandhi, executive director of Satyagraha, a Durban-based Mott grantee that publishes a newspaper by the same name. While I was in town, I finally got to meet her. (Yes, she is from that Gandhi family.)

Ela is the granddaughter of Mahatma Gandhi, world-respected leader who is widely known for leading peaceful protests in India during Great Britain’s colonial rule. But what is less well known is his South Africa connection. Gandhi pioneered a nonviolent resistance movement that protested discrimination against people of color in South Africa in the late 1890s. Yes, long before Mandela and Tutu there was Gandhi.

Although Ela has fond childhood memories of her grandfather and treasures her family’s historical heritage, she is a respected peace activist with credits of her own. She has received numerous national and international awards for her social justice work in South Africa and elsewhere. During the country’s apartheid era, she was banned from political activities and placed under house arrest for many years. She’s a modern-day freedom fighter and one of my heroes.

2009-07-24T10:03:00.005-04:00

I am participating in a three-day seminar in breathtaking Gordon's Bay, a city outside Cape Town where the mountains meet the ocean. It is co-hosted by two Mott grantees, Synergos and the Worldwide Initiatives for Grantmaker Support (WINGS). The approximate 30 attendees have come from the Middle East, Africa, and there's even one from the USA (That's me).

As is often the case for people from the States, I am the lone person in the room who speaks only one language. Most participants speak two or three languages and a few even speak four (My ever-so-slight understanding of Spanish does not count). As the men and women from Egypt, Jordan, Kenya, and South Africa share creative ways to address current challenges resulting from the global recession, my interest is piqued. For most of them, this is just one more societal struggle.

In the Middle East, the downturn is further hindered by governments that oppose a vibrant nonprofit sector and create tax laws that discourage giving, says Luma Hamdan, CEO of the Arab Foundations Forum (AFF) in Jordan. Dina Sherif, associate director of the John D. Gerhart Center for Philanthropy and Civic Engagement at the American University in Cairo, agrees.

The recession hasn't affected institutions in the Middle East as much as those in Europe or the States, but the future is uncertain, says Luma, who is a Jordanian.

"People are becoming cautious in their giving because they think things will get worse," she said.

Her words stir a slew of side discussions.

Earlier, during breakfast in the conference center dining room, the representative of one grantmaking support organization also generated a bit of a buzz from his fellow South Africans. Chris Mkhize, CEO of the South Africa Community Foundation Association (SACOFA), casually mentioned that he grew up in the same village as the country's newest president, Jacob Zuma. Although he is seven years younger than the national leader, the two men's formative years were very similar while living in Nkandla in the KwaZulu Natal province, Chris says.

Of course, we all wanted to know more.

"It was a typical Zulu village," Chris said. "We didn't have electricity until the late 1980s or the early 1990s."

"Almost everybody there still speaks Zulu; there are some people who wouldn't understand English, but most would."

Chris then told us about Zuma's days as a freedom fighter in the anti-apartheid movement. While it has a bit of a James Bond-like quality to it today -- almost 30 years later -- it was quite real and dangerous, he said.

As the leader of the intelligence operations for the African National Congress (ANC), Zuma spent a lot of time living in exile. Although his fellow villagers rarely knew precisely where he was living during that period, they often got word that Zuma was moving in and out of many countries on the continent -- Angola, Lesotho, Mozambique, Swaziland, Tanzania and Zambia.

Water came to the village before Zuma did. But it came first to the government offices. Then the lone white farm owner. Finally to the people.

"Back then, they'd rather have electricity serve one farmer than a whole village," said Chris.

"If people only visit Cape Town or Durban, they will think our country is highly developed. But, in truth, it is still a country of sharp contradictions. Parallel to this cosmopolitan city are parts of the country that are the extreme opposite."

With perfect timing, as if to illustrate Chris' point, a man walked past the window and down the boardwalk wearing a pair of shorts and a light shirt. We all laughed because immediately across the dining room from us sat a woman in a fur-lined parka and woolen hat.

Winter in South Africa -- the land of sharp contradictions!

2009-07-22T14:37:00.004-04:00

Around the globe, people admire South Africa's two larger-than-life heroes: Nobel Peace Prize Winner Archbishop Desmond Tutu and former President Nelson Mandela. The latter will no doubt go down in human history as a civil rights leader extraordinaire. He celebrated his 91st birthday last week while I was here on the continent, so it was quite moving to watch regional media reports of millions of people from dozens of African countries sharing their universal and genuine affection for him. It also was very wonderful to see that his personal sacrifices have not been forgotten, nor left unappreciated.

But what the rest of the world might not know is that this country grows incredible leaders. By participating in a workshop for Mott grantees in Jo'Burg today, I was privileged to talk with several local and regional leaders of nonprofit organizations.

Greg Erasmus, national coordinator of the National Alliance for the Development of Community Advice Offices (NADCAO), was one of them. Wow! This young professional oozes with energy. He was one of those early technical-savvy people who got in on the cell phone craze that continues to sweep this country. As a product development person for one of the largest cell phone companies in the country, he learned the industry from the inside out.

But instead of staying there, Greg did the reverse of what others are doing. He left the private sector to work in the nonprofit sector. Yup, he's using his gadget-guy thinking and technology skills to help bring NADCAO and its 200-plus Advice Offices into the 21st Century so that poor South Africans can get easier access to free legal information about their rights.

Advice Offices help people get access to social security and other local government services. They also address tenants' and employees' rights, and other legal matters.

"There are two kinds of community workers," Greg says. "One kind sits in the Advice Office by the phone and fax machine. The other kind is out in the field with a mobile phone."

But Greg's dream doesn't end with getting cell phones into the hands of community workers. He also wants to see Advice Office staff sharing information electronically with other offices instead of writing it all out by hand like they do now. Staff also need to be able to get a quick count on the number and types of cases they handle.

"It's not technology for technology's sake," Greg says. "It's what the technology enables you to do."

"These Advice Offices are the real gems of the country. They give people access to important information."

2009-07-21T12:10:00.004-04:00

Jo'Burg doesn't look or feel like the crime-infested city I read about in online newspapers. Still, almost a decade later, some things do look disturbingly the same. The sprawling informal housing settlements that I remembered were visible from the air during landing. Although adequate housing has been secured for hundreds of thousands of residents since my first visit, it hasn't met the need.

Nobody expected things to change overnight, says a woman in the hotel lobby. A man nearby echos her remarks. They agree that the country's biggest hurdles are poverty, HIV/AIDS and decent educational opportunities for all.

I talk to a few other people informally and catch the scent of something sweet. Spirits are being lifted, they say. Major decisions made thus far by newly-elected President Jacob Zuma, along with countrywide preparations for next year's World Cup, have stirred hope in the hearts of South Africans.

"The white flight -- those whites who left the country years ago because they were afraid of what would happen when blacks got power -- are now starting to come back home," said a middle-age black man.

He adds: "It's really true when I say that there's a lot of hope out there."

2009-07-21T12:08:00.010-04:00

I arrive in Johannesburg late in the afternoon -- a full nine years since my last visit to this land of rolling hills, scenic countrysides, and breathtaking beauty. Quite quickly, though, I notice some major changes, starting with the airport. After a massive make-over, it now can compete with any international airport in the world. From the shiny floors to the heaven-high ceilings, the place is decorated with the vibrant colors of the national flag. And there are huge banners everywhere, evidence that the country is preparing to host the 2010 World Cup.

Giant black and white soccer balls dot the highway at random intervals, creating an atmosphere of fun and anticipation. Just seeing the balls makes me smile.

My driver is as chatty as me. He says back in 2000 it would have been possible for him to work for a shuttle service, but most likely he would not have been working for a black business owner, especially not one who was barely 30 years old. Back then, only six years after the historic 1994 elections that catapulted Nelson Mandela to the presidency, blacks could only catch glimpses of the changes they had fought so furiously to realize.

As we drive through the city, I see that it is alive -- pulsating with people -- all outside enjoying a sunny winter afternoon. (Only a Michigander could mistakenly schedule a much-anticipated return visit to South Africa in the winter instead of any milder season!)