Rwanda sets the example, dictatorship or not

We had friends from Zimbabwe staying with us recently and the conversations about their country were depressing because the decline north of our border is accelerating and we had the sense that we were all looking into the crystal ball at South Africa’s future.

Electricity and water supplies only happen a few hours each day, garbage collections don’t happen because there is no fuel for the vehicles, there are no drugs in government hospitals, the main road to South Africa is pitted with potholes and there is no currency to speak of.

Our friends have, on more than one occasion, seen their life savings disappear through hyperinflation or because the government won’t allow them access to the little foreign currency they have managed to acquire.

When Robert Mugabe died, the country had long since stopped hoping things would be better under his successor, Emmerson Mnangagwa, the former security minister who took over power in a quiet coup in 2017.

When Mnangagwa arrived to pay his respects to the Mugabe family at the garish, oriental-looking mansion called “The Blue House” in the Harare suburb of Borrowdale, he arrived in a stretch Mercedes limousine.

Not even Cyril Ramaphosa has one of those.

That enclave of wealthy people and top Zanu-PF politicians has its own sewage plant and petrol station.

I saw a video of an Mnangagwa “blue-light brigade” convoy which contained 42 vehicles and made our equivalents look positively anorexic.

As I write, Mnangagwa is gallivanting around the world in a private jet, courtesy of a man who has made big bucks out of that suffering country.

And then I thought about Rwanda.

This year, the country which was ravaged by genocide in 1994 will have one of the fastest-growing economies in the world, never mind Africa.

There is not a single piece of litter in the capital, Kigali. Littering is a serious offence under President Paul Kagame’s government.

And there is Wi-Fi internet access in many Kigali buses.

Most other African major cities are rubbish dumps and buses seldom run on time, never mind have Wi-Fi ..

Doing business in Rwanda is easy: companies like Wilderness Safaris and Volkswagen have set up operations there with a minimum of red tape and a maximum of bureaucratic efficiency.

In SA, we have a much-vaunted “human rights culture”, which is an important safety net – but the compulsion to listen to everyone and offend no one means no one in authority issues the bitter medicine we need for things like crime, civil obedience and general government efficiency.

Kagame is a dictator, just like Mnangagwa.

The difference is that Rwanda’s leader genuinely wants to make his country better, whereas his Zimbabwean counterpart just wants power and the luxuries that come with it.

Many ANC leaders are in the Mnangagwa category and there is no Kagame on the horizon.

That’s a pity because Rwanda has shown how a country can prosper with an enlightened, patriotic dictator.

I could certainly trade a slice of freedom for reliable power supplies, efficient government and harsh punishments for the corrupt.

Brendan Seery

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