Bonding with South Africa

India got it’s independence in 1947 followed by a bloodbath due to Partition, leading to the cutting away of the Muslim majority areas which formed Pakistan. South Africa moved gradually from self-rule to becoming an independent republic in 1963 (when it’s constitution was amended to replace the queen as head of the state with an elected president) and then after a bitter battle on the issue of apartheid to a constitution with universal franchise for all its citizens. In spite of a bitter fight between the white-dominated government and the majority blacks, conciliation and harmony prevailed and the constitution gave equality to both and there was no demand for separation of the two communities.

The difference in the political histories of India and South Africa arose because the ‘whites’ who came from Holland and other countries of Europe in the 17th and 18th centuries preferred to settle down in South Africa as farmers and many of them got married with the local inhabitants. So the ‘whites’ and the ‘coloured’ including the Indians who came in as indentured labourers became as much a part of the indigenous population as the local blacks. None of them demanded partition. The English only came to administer South Africa for strategic reasons as the Cape was the only route to go to India and the East. They had no other interest and were happy to grant self- rule to the ‘whites’ unlike India where self-rule and Independence was granted reluctantly.

As historical legacies, both the nations got a well developed infrastructure. In South Africa, because of the discovery of diamonds and later gold, roads and railways developed. Connections to the port towns were a must for the export of the two commodities. In India infrastructure was also well developed- but for strategic reasons-for ferrying troops and for the convenience of the administrators. Today the roads and highway network is a delight to see in South Africa. We cannot say the same for India.

Power generation in South Africa is enough to give round the clock supply to most towns. Pretoria, the administrative capital of South Africa, has no power cuts. This capital city, like Washington, has tap water which is safe for drinking, and boasts of being amongst the three cities with the best quality of drinking tap water in the world. Can we say the same for Delhi?

However in certain crucial areas India has done better than South Africa. The unemployment in South Africa is 25 per cent, in India it is 10.8. The reason is that South Africa is not attracting foreign investment because of uncertain policies. The South African government is targeting a creation of five million jobs by 2020. This is possible only if the country achieves a 40 per cent growth in the next decade. The bottleneck is high wages. The government finds it easier to create employment in the public sector than in the private sector. Government employment is growing four times faster than the total employment. While total employment in South Africa grew by 5 per cent in the last decade, jobs in the public sector grew by 22 per cent. This is not so in India, which has been successful in keeping government jobs under control. To promote employment amongst the blacks, the South African government has enacted the Black Economic Empowerment Act. Any firm or company, if it wants to work for the government has to be Black Economic Empowerment (BEE) compliant, which means a certain percentage of appointments have to be from the blacks. This is similar to the nature of reservations made for the SC/STs and backward classes by the government.

The gap between the rich and the poor in South Africa is growing. It has the highest level of inequality among G20 countries. This is perhaps the reason for the high rate of crime in the country and a persistent feeling of insecurity among the affluent sections. All houses in Pretoria belonging to the rich have electric fencing. Security agencies are doing roaring business. Visitors from abroad are requested to hide their purses and close car windows to avoid smash and grab incidents.

However, South Africa has been successful in preserving its flora and fauna. Home to some of the largest biodiversity regions in the world, the

country has maintained its greenery and boasts of having some of the best botanical gardens. Tourists rush to see its animal wealth, especially the Kruger Park, famous for the big five. The private sector also maintains natural preserves that are commercially successful ventures. On this regard, India’s tourism industry has a lot to learn from South Africa.

The industrial sector has not developed to its potential. The export of diamonds and gold has remained stagnant, while mining still remains an important activity, specially coal. South Africa has been successfully converting coal into fuel and thus meeting, partially, its demand for fuel. Diesel is more costly than petrol because diesel is less subsidised and government does not find it necessary to bow to the agricultural lobby as in India.

South Africa however has a well-developed defence industry and exports defence equipment, including India. The industry developed during the apartheid years when the world boycotted South Africa and the country had to develop its own indigenous expertise.

South Africa has a large population of poor people. It has launched several anti-poverty programmes, including provision of houses to the poor as well as direct subsidy per child to poor families. The infirm and the aged are well looked after with reasonable old age pensions distributed under the supervision of the elders of the village. There are no complaints of corruption at the village level (unlike India). India has its own successful programmes like the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme and both the countries can learn from each others experiences, like India has placed great emphasis on education and people find this as the most effective means of rising above poverty. The Black Diamonds, as the young black university intellectuals are called, have earned the respect of the whites. On the other hand those who get jobs because of the Black Economic Empowerment Act are not so highly respected.

India and South Africa have common problems and can achieve a lot if they work together. It is a positive step that both the countries are part of BRICS, an international political forum of emerging economies, comprising Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa.

(Views expressed in the column are the author’s own)

Yogendra Narain was chief secretary of UP and secretary to the Union government.

E-mail: yognarain@gmail.com