It’s time we started to learn from other Africans

Trucks burn across South Africa, emphasising the vulnerability of the country’s transport system, which relies heavily on road freight because of the collapse of the railways.

Meanwhile, in other news: Angola and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) sign a R10 billion deal to rehabilitate the 1 700km rail line between copper-rich Kolwezi and the Angolan port of Lobito.

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That R10 billion would get you a few kilometres of relaid rail tracks and overhead cables, plus a small station or two in this country, but this deal is a sign that the rest of Africa is looking to the future while we, former continental number one, seem inordinately obsessed with the past.

Elsewhere on our continent, infrastructure projects – ranging from rail, to sea ports, to airports – are in full swing.

Our rail infrastructure has been almost destroyed by looters while the authorities looked on. Our roads are potholed. Our ports are slow and inefficient. Yet, our government acts as if nothing is wrong.

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The biggest economic disaster to afflict the country – Eskom – is regarded as a “challenge” with no acknowledgement that the ruling party and its looters caused it in the first place.

Perhaps it’s time we started to learn from other Africans.