I recently had the privilege to travel to Scotland, Austria and Germany and while this post is not directly health related the connection to good governance and government on which effective healthcare delivery depends is clear.
In Scotland my wife and I visited my daughter, son-in-law and two grandsons on the croft in the Scottish Highlands that they purchased shortly after their arrival in Scotland over three years ago. In the last 18 months the family have constructed a barn on the property without outside assistance, something that they would have been unlikely to undertake in South Africa. Crofts which are a feature of the Scottish Highlands established in the 1800’s are the equivalent of what would be termed “small holdings” in South Africa. These were small plots on which in the past tenant farmers eked out a living as subsistence farmers. I also was able to spend time with my son who lives in Aberdeen having emigrated from South Africa at the same time. It is sad how many South Africans have deemed it necessary to leave the country of their birth and sad for me as a father and grandfather to have to visit family in a foreign land.
Thereafter my wife and I travelled to Austria and Germany visiting Vienna, Frankfurt and Munich experiencing the different cultures of the two countries as well as celebrating the Springbok World Cup rugby victories with other South Africans, most of them expats, in Sports Bars in both Vienna and Munich. By chance we were in Vienna on Austria’s National Day, 26th October, which celebrates the country’s declaration of neutrality and regained independence in 1955 following the Second World War and witnessed large crowds expressing an outpouring of national pride.
Our experiences highlighted the good and the bad of South Africa compared with the three countries that we visited. In the Scottish Highlands we were startled to meet a lone woman walking along a deserted forest path unconcerned about her safety, which my daughter assured me was the norm. Burglar bars, alarms and high walls were conspicuous by their absence wherever we went. During our time in the countries mentioned we forgot about the challenges posed by “load shedding” or power outages as everywhere we went the supply of electricity was constant and unquestioned. We traveled on trains that were punctual, clean and comfortable even when very crowded leaving the Allianz Arena in Munich having been privileged to watch FC Bayern Munich play in a Bundesliga match in front of a capacity 75000 crowd. Our experience also stressed the weakness of the South African currency. On a trip funded by the South African rand, the cost of accommodation, meals and travel was not inconsiderable highlighting the fact that in my lifetime the currency has been reduced from parity with the dollar and pound to multiples of around 20.
Airports in Germany were impressive in their construction but in particular the automation of the check in processes which remove the need to stand in queues. Boarding passes, baggage tags and bagged drops are all handled seamlessly by the passengers for those who know the system. For those who did not, which included my wife and I, there were helpful staff to facilitate the process. Unfortunately the security checks while necessary remain as daunting as before although in general the staff at Scottish and German airports were courteous and efficient. However, a compliment is due to Cape Town International Airport as the boarding process here on our departure was more efficient than that experienced on our return to Cape Town from Munich.
We were however surprised in both Austria and Germany to witness a number of apparently homeless people sleeping rough and begging in public places. Talking to a friendly social worker on a train in Frankfurt we learned that social assistance is available but that both substance abuse and an influx of people particularly from Eastern Europe has posed challenges to the social services in a country like Germany. A feature of the cities that we visited was the prominent graffiti defacing buildings and many public places, while some had definite artistic merit most appeared to be motivated by a desire to leave a mark apparently of anti-establishment protest. It was also notable that much of what could be termed menial labour appeared to be undertaken by people from countries other than Austria or Germany, mostly from countries in Eastern Europe and the Middle East. This was not the case in the areas of Scotland that we visited which by virtue of its geography is more remote and further removed from regular travel routes.
What was impressive was the reconstruction of Munich after the Second World War when most of German and to lesser extent Austrian cities were destroyed by Allied bombing. I have referred to this in previous posts, but in cities such as Frankfurt and Munich where damage was almost total, the manner in which buildings have been rebuilt to original plans reflecting their prior appearance or where this was not deemed either necessary or appropriate where the city layout has been remodelled is astounding. This is an example that should spur South Africans on to understand what a forward looking philosophy and hard work can achieve. An interesting fact is that in a city such as Munich, only 20% of the population is able to afford to own the property in which they live while the balance of the population reside in rental properties. Possibly a lesson for South Africans migrating to the cities of this country.
Returning home after nearly a month, one is left thinking about the comparisons between what we experience daily as South Africans and that experienced by the citizens of the countries that we visited. Without doubt South Africa has a climate and physical environment that is equal if not better than that of the countries that we visited. The harshness of the European winter was brought home to us during our last few days in Germany as did the stay with my family in the Highlands of Scotland. The long cold dark nights and short often grey days of a Northern Hemisphere winter are an experience alien to most South Africans. But climate and environment are insufficient to compensate for the consequences of inadequacies of governance and government experienced by the majority of South Africans on a daily basis.
Accepting the benefits that the then colonial powers derived from Africa and the negative consequences of the apartheid years, my visit highlighted how much better things could be in the South Africa of today. Germany is haunted by its dark past, which we experienced when visiting the Dachau Concentration Camp Memorial Site outside Munich and the catastrophic damage that resulted from defeat after six years of war. However, the fact that the country has risen from the post war ruins in less than 80 years and the unification of East and West Germany less than 40 years ago to be a thriving modern democracy benefiting a majority of its citizens should be a lesson to those in power in this country. I am not suggesting that German society, or that of the other countries that we visited, are without fault but that does not detract from the fact that despite our dark apartheid past the citizens of South Africa deserve better.
My take away from my recent travel experiences is that what is needed is a South Africa that adopts a forward looking approach understanding that the challenges are massive but that without commitment and hard work success is not possible. Populist political posturing will not achieve this goal but rather plans and actions which take into account what is rational, affordable and achievable and not what is not.
