Opinion Analysis by Johnny Achkar, Featured Writer

April 22nd, 2021

The 27th of April 1994 was a fateful day in the lives of many South Africans; it was a day when the first multi-ethnic elections were being held. South Africans had lived under the system of apartheid for nearly half a century. Apartheid, which means "apartness" in Afrikaans, the language of white settlers, was meant to divide the country along racial lines. Some predicted that the end of white minority rule in South Africa would lead to civil war. Despite this, the actualtransition of authority took place over four days that were surprisingly calm and cheerful. The election victory of the African National Congress party, led by the elder statesman Nelson Mandela captured imaginations worldwide. Many South Africans believed that the future of their beloved nation was bright and prosperous. Unfortunately, these wishes have yet to materialize properly. Today, President Ramaphosa and his ANC party face a populace that is profoundly dissatisfied with the state of South Africa's twenty-five year old democracy. During that same period in 1994, Rwanda was suffering from a four-year-old civil war, during which hundreds of thousands of people were slaughtered. Ethnic Hutus, who constituted a majority of the population, carried out a genocide against the Tutsi minority, who had long dominated the politics of the country. When Hutu extremists took power, they went on a 100-day long killing spree, urging people through radio stations and newspapers to "weed out the cockroaches" The war ended when future President Paul Kagame’s forces secured a military victory by capturing the capital Kigali. This only makes Rwanda remarkable rise today from the ashes of war truly outstanding.

One of the African National Congress's most heinous successes in its 25 years of post-apartheid South African rule has been to live up to the political image of what is wrong with post-colonial Africa; dishonest and greedy African leaders who wield influence by patronage. What is now regarded as "state capture", which is a form of corruption in which businesspersons and officials work together to sway a country's decision-making process in their favor, exemplifies the systematic corruption in post-apartheid South Africa. The repercussions of entrenched corruption are exemplified by regular power outages, which devastate the economy. Another case in point is the government's inability to keep the trainsgoing. The country’s main airliner has been hemorrhaging money since 2011 and continuously faces the risk of going bankrupt, especially after the impact of the Coronavirus pandemic. Democratic South Africa has grown into a full-fledged predatory state. According to the lobbying organization Corruption Watch, more than half of all South Africans believe corruption is worsening. They also claim that the government is struggling to tackle corruption. The use of public office and services to advance the private interests of ANC leaders and those related to them is one of the characteristics. It also requires a profoundly rooted tradition of invulnerability. Although that image has been somewhat dented by the fact that former President Zuma is facing corruption charges.

The ANC once embodied a political tradition of altruistic resistance to apartheid. However, developments after it took over the government in 1994 show that it has devolved into a corrupt machine. It seems that the group wants to follow in the footsteps of the late Mobutu Sese Seko, the former president of Zaire, which is now the Democratic Republic of the Congo. In a cynical manipulation of the post-apartheid reform agenda, state corruption has taken root with complete disregard for ethics and democratic norms. Large-scale corruption, for example, is often portrayed around the questionable rhetoric of black empowerment. The truth is that the black elite enrich themselves and their families by government contracts and other suspicious and immoral methods. Jacob Zuma, the former president of South Africa, is the poster child for this black kleptocracy. He and his associates, the Gupta family, seized power in the post-apartheid state solely for the purpose of influencing policy and controlling government institutions to their own benefit. The legitimate battle against corruption is being made similar to racism, while deceptive politics has become a defining characteristic of post-apartheid politics. It is a form of politics marked by a lack of ethics, morality, and logic, and it has no place in a democratic society. 

Employees pack groceries in paper bags in Rwanda’s capital shopping centers' checkout lines. Since non-biodegradable polythene bags were outlawed in 2008, shop owners discovered that keeping plastic on hand put them in danger of going to prison. The prohibition is part of an environmental movement that has won Rwanda the distinction of being Africa's cleanest country. "Umuganda," a mandatory day of community service held on the last Saturday of the month, is another standout program. Rwanda is often quoted as a model country when it comes to environmental and economic change, twenty years after a genocide that killed an estimated 800,000 people. Rwanda's government has also introduced major healthcare reforms. Faced with a healthcare system that, like that of many African countries, is highly concentrated in urban areas, Rwanda's Ministry of Health has recently pushed for the establishment of district hospitals for the country's rural people, who make up about 80% of the population. Rwanda is also known for its national health insurance plan, which covers nearly all Rwandans. The success of Rwanda's healthcare system is primarily attributed to foreign assistance, which covers half of the expense of the country's national health insurance program.

The Rwandan government developed Vision 2020 in the year 2000, a long-term development plan with the primary goal of transforming Rwanda into a middle-income country by 2020, focused on a thriving private sector. Since then, Rwanda's economy has grown at an annual rate of 7%, earning the country a reputation as one of Africa's fastest-growing economies. To attract foreign direct investment and sustain steady economic growth for nearly two decades, the government invested time and money in soft and hard infrastructure. The government formed key institutions to assist it in achieving its Vision 2020 objectives. The Rwanda Development Board (RDB) was founded in 2009 to oversee business regulations, foreign investment, tourism promotion, environmental protection, and overall economic and development planning in Rwanda. The Rwandan government is entrusted with ensuring good governance, which involves accountability, openness, and efficiency in allocating limited resources to key sectors of the economy, according to Vision 2020. Rwanda was ranked third least corrupt country on the African continent in the 2017 Corruption Perception Index. The country is not only fostering a business-friendly climate, but it is also diversifying its economy away from agriculture and toward expanding services and an increasing manufacturing sector.

Rwanda's rapid growth has its detractors, who say that the government is oppressive and does not tolerate dissidents.  Reporters Without Borders labels President Kagame as a "predator" who attacks press freedom, citing the fact that 8 journalists have been killed or disappeared in the last two decades, 11 have been sentenced to long prison sentences, and 33 have been forced to leave Rwanda. Mr. Kagame is known as a talented military tactician, having received military training in Uganda, Tanzania, and the United States. He was a founding member of current Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni's rebel army in 1979, having been a refugee in neighboring Uganda since childhood. The Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF) rebel movement was then launched under his leadership. It seized power in Kigali in 1994 to put an end to the genocide. Nonetheless, after the civil war had ravaged Rwanda’s demographics, the country’s population of 5.5 million to 6 million people had a female-to-male ratio of 60 to 70 percent, President Kagame spearheaded his country’s effort to ensure equality between men and women. After the genocide, Rwanda was so demolished and broken, Kagame determined, that it could not be rebuilt solely by men's labor. As a result, the country's new constitution, enacted in 2003, mandated that women be given 30 percent of parliamentary seats. Women's education was also promoted.  Women would be named to positions of leadership, such as cabinet ministers and police chiefs.

In conclusion, the nations of South Africa and Rwanda have taken distinctly different paths since the end of colonialism and white minority rule on the continent.

Rwanda has decided to learn from the mistakes of its past and move forward towards a prosperous future, while the leaders of South Africa have spent decades neglecting their country as well as their compatriots. During former President Nelson Mandela’s inauguration speech, he stated "Never, never, and never again shall it be that this beautiful land will again experience the oppression of one by another and suffer the indignity of being the skunk of the world". This, I am afraid, is the current state in which the people of South Africa find themselves.