It surprises in the extraordinary economic success of so many African countries (these figures are pre-Coronavirus - so all bets are off in the immediate future). There are few countries in the world that can match these growth rates.
What shocks is South Africa. Twenty five years ago it was the economic heavyweight of Africa with a new and dynamic majority rule government. If you were going to bet on Africa, your chips would have been on South Africa with its minerals, infrastructure and business tradition and its charismatic president, Nelson Mandela.
Now? It’s second city is running out of water, there are daily blackouts and the state electricity provider is bankrupt, the corruption by an entrenched ANC is only matched by its incompetence and it suffers from inequality that is vertiginous. It needn’t have been like this.
Mandela must be turning in his grave.
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