What’s It Like To Live In South Africa

I was born and raised in Stellenbosch, a lovely town about 50km from Cape Town. I am currently studying at Stellenbosch University.

Growing up I was only aware of politics and the real world issues South Africa faces in a very vague way. South Africa is an incredibly beautiful country. One of my favourite things to do here is take a road trip to the Tsitsikamma forest and see the landscape change between so many different scenes and habitats as I drive. People (locals, tourists and expats) often name the natural beauty and diversity of South Africa as top reasons why they love living here. I always believed that every country has its problems, but that I love South Africa enough to bear them and work with them.

However, in recent years I have become disillusioned. I have seen it as my personal responsibility as a citizen to educate myself about the many issues we face today and this ruined much of my faith in the country. We had 35.3% unemployment in 2021, the real world consequences of which are

• an abundance of people with next to nothing to lose, and therefore more likely to commit crime,
• an overburdened working class whose taxes fund the social grants given to those without employment,
• a great social divide between rich and poor, leading to tensions and even hatred and violent crime towards those perceived to have more

Many expat sites claim the crime is manageable with good alarm systems and some vigilance, but you can’t just throw money at the problem and pretend it doesn’t exist. Even Stellenbosch, which used to be one of the safest towns when I was growing up, is no longer safe to walk alone in at night.

And how exactly can one have peace of mind enjoying comforts of wealth when your average fellow South African lives in abject poverty? When your government does next to nothing to improve economy, and is so corrupt that only roughly 60 of 824 water treatment facilities release clean water? When attempts at uplifting communities are hampered by further corruption? When electricity is monopolized by Eskom, who does such a poor job of managing their facilities that load shedding – switching off the electricity of different sections of the country for a fixed amount of hours – had to be introduced to allow them to cope with the demand?

We face so many problems and it is both selfish and ineffective to ignore them. We have some of the worst rape statistics of any country, and it is built into a culture that sees women as lesser, disempowers them and leaves them extremely vulnerable. If you haven’t experienced this then you are either very privileged or very blind to it. Public education is of extremely poor quality, failing to properly develop the minds of our children and failing to give them the academic tools they need to empower themselves. The same goes for public clinics and hospitals. Being able to afford private or semi private schooling and medical care is a privilege afforded to few, and although it enables you to pretend things are alright here, for most South Africans that is not the case.

The cost of living in South Africa is relatively cheap, but prices have been rising at an alarming rate. Fresh foods are readily available and we have a wonderful wine industry.

Electronics and data are enormously overpriced relative to everything else. VAT is low at 14% but personal taxes ramp up very quickly. Infrastructure is poor, with close to no public transport is available unless you count taxis, who drive very dangerously and habitually break every rule of the road. And that’s the thing. You have the luxurious Gautrein in Johannesburg but in the same breath most other railways (of which there are few) are in states of disrepair, inadequate and dangerous. Best to have a car. But because South Africa covers such a large geographical area, roads are also generally poorly maintained outside of cities, many of which aren’t even paved. Emergency services and police are badly managed, inefficient and largely ineffective in protecting the general populace from violent crimes and theft, often opting to proclaim an area as high risk rather than fixing the problem.

A few years back a friend was cycling outside of Stellenbosch when 3 men pushed him off his bicycle and stole his cellphone. He went directly to the police station and they wouldn’t even open a case. They just said ‘it happens’. Another friend has been mugged three times, each time at knife point. The last time he literally said no and walked away (idiot, for being so desensitized, but it worked). I went hiking up Lion’s Head in Cape Town over a sunset on a Thursday recently. Came back to a smashed car window and evidence of several other cars having met the same fate.

Government services in general are slow and disorganized, with the exception of our tax division. We do however have a booming IT industry and South Africans are very innovative.

Being the multicultural country that it is, there is religious freedom and tolerance. Most meats are halal, vegetarian and vegan options are largely available in bigger cities and banting (low carb high fat) is growing to be wonderfully accommodated and supported especially in Cape Town. Our laws are also quite progressive, South Africa having been one of the first countries to legalize same-sex marriage, in 2004. That being said, many traditional cultures are still unfortunately hostile towards the LGBT+ community.

Another unfortunate point is that racism is being kept very much alive. Though there is progress, political tensions and poverty make it far too easy to point fingers and turn to hate.

Despite this, though, South African people are generally warm and friendly, and depending on your finances there are many wonderful things to enjoy here. The climate is mild, with warm summers and abundant sunshine, and winter temperatures rarely reaching 0. If you have a well paying job, you can also escape many of the problems faced here (which is the case in most countries, honestly). But our problems aren’t getting less, they’re not being fixed and our country isn’t being maintained, and it’s getting harder and harder to turn a blind eye and pretend things are alright.

In short, South Africa is still a great holiday destination, but less great to live in.

– L Swanepoel