Memoir Reading Blog #8

After finally arriving in Johannesburg, South Africa, Scott and Krystyne find that it is very different from the Africa that they know. South Africa is crime-ridden and has a very strong materialist culture., which further isolates the different classes who live there. Scott and Krystyne are introduced to John Battersby, the editor of the Sunday Independent newspaper. John offers to put up Scott and Krystyne for a few days, and they readily accept. They also meet Katrina, the Norwegian daughter of John's wife's best friend. She and her friend Elizabeth are also staying with John on a visit to South Africa. Somehow, Scott is persuaded to take Katrina and Elizabeth along on their trip, much to John's relief, and the four set off for Durban. They continue onwards to Cape Town, where Scott and Krystyne separate from the Norwegian girls, and then fly up to Alexander Bay in Namibia. Alexander Bay has one of the highest concentrations of diamonds in the world, which have been the source of some of the worst human behaviour in the history of the world. Scott quotes John Reader, who explains the treatment of diamond company labourers,

"The Boers and later the British South Africans needed labour to operate the mines and black male Africans were not only deprived of their land and separated from their families but were indentured into slavery. They were forced into heavily guarded compounds that held as many as thirty thousand workers, paid as little as ten shillings a week, and supervised by a brutal police force operating under the Diamond Trade Act of 1882, passed in order to facilitate the mine operators' needs..."

Alexander Bay is literally a private state within a state, controlled by the De Beers diamond company. So protective are they of their land that they have armed guards and patrol boats guarding the coastline with orders to shoot tresspasers on sight. Passing this grim reminder of corporate exploitation, Scott and Krystyne contiue to the city of Windhoek, where they intend to spend a few days in the Kalahari desert.

The difference between the East African and South African cultures are astounding. In Eastern Africa the government, though corrupt, is still composed of black Africans, and all citizens in theory have a say in a democratic process. In South Africa, however, apartheid was enforced legally until the early 1990s, but the lingering resentment and hate left over will probably never dissapear. As a result, South Africa is a crime-ridden and materialist culture, as I've already stated earlier, with the class gap still just as large as it was under apartheid. A special focus must be made by aid organizations and other nations to help restore South Africa into a nation where equal rights and priveledges may be attained by anyone. But first, racial prejudice has to be dealt with in an understanding and reasonable way.