Return to South Africa

I’ll be here for three more weeks, so expect some incredible photos of Cape Town and the Bush as well as what it’s like in Johannesburg these days. It’s been raining since we arrive Monday night.

I was last in South Africa in 2016. Since my first visit in 2002, I’d seen the country decline, with more crime and poverty, more internal and inter-ethnic hatred and violence, and even greater corruption and incompetence by the government.

The problem is not the people of South Africa, who get along far better and with far more positive interactions than people elsewhere would suspect.

South Africa is a Multi-Ethnic and Multi Racial

South Africa has a population of almost 65 million. 80% are Black Africans.

Black South Africans can be members of any of several African tribal groups; eleven are officially recognized. The two largest, Zulus and Xhosas, are each at about 22%.. Both groups came from elsewhere in Africa, with the Xhosa arriving first, starting around the 15th or 16th centuries, moving from north of the country. . The original indigenous peoples, the Son and the Koh, suffered great losses during these invasions, and today, exist in very small numbers in South Africa, but may be found in neighboring nations. In addition to tribes besides Zulu and Xhosa, there are millions of documented and undocumented immigrants from Mozambique, Nigeria, and other African nations; for the most part, Black South African resent the intrusion of others seeking extremely-hard-to-find…