Stop talking down the country, for the sake of us all

‘The surest way to corrupt a youth,” wrote the German philosopher, Friedrich Nietzsche, “is to instruct him to hold in higher esteem those who think alike than those who think differently.”

He was correct. For nothing is as lethargic and suffocating as an environment which cultivates a herd mentality. Equally concerning is pretence at critical reflection whose torchbearers merely parrot what are in fact self-fulfilling prophecies.

And so, it sounded more of a self-fulfilling prophecy than a critical appraisal when, on November 20, Democratic Alliance (DA) member of parliament and party spokesperson on tourism, Manny de Freitas, issued a statement in which he said that the country’s 21 million tourist target by 2030 as announced by President Cyril Ramaphosa in this year’s State of the Nation address (Sona) was “a pipe dream”.

This followed a SA Tourism (SAT) presentation to parliament’s portfolio committee on tourism in which the agency revised tourist inflows downwards to 16.5 million for the period, four-and-half million less than the Sona projection.

Reads the statement: “While 16.5 million is not a cause for concern, the reality is that President Ramaphosa cannot expect South Africa to welcome high numbers of tourists to our shores when our economy is floundering, crime is on the rise and our aviation industry is being held to ransom by industrial action on the part of unions.”

But it is in part because we seek to build the economy that we endeavour to attract tourists into the country, isn’t it?

And surely, no country has ever stopped its tourism promotion drive because it has a crime problem. As for industrial action, De Freitas should have specifically referred to the recent SAA strike rather than give an impression of an aviation industry-wide stoppage.

Evidently, De Freitas’ statement was hardly about tourism. It was instead an exercise in the typical shadow boxing of a politician than a considered engagement of a statesperson in search of solutions to a national and not a party-political problem.

In the end, what was dressed as concern for the country ended up being an excursion in talking down the country which meandered into a condescending lecture – “you don’t know what you’re talking about” type of thing – on each and every conceivable problem. It was a narrative intended to validate a predetermined negative political outlook about the country and a prayer for its fulfilment, which can hardly pass a test for authentic criticism.

Time and again, this column has sought to point out the counter-productive effects of the easy resort to party-political and factional laagers to the search for solutions to national problems and challenges.

Even as economic indicators increasingly point to the need for an intuitive brace command, there are some who still speak and act as though solutions will be found from the finger-pointing akin to that of a kindergarten playground.

The idea of unity of purpose does not mean that people must agree on everything under the sun – something which is hardly achievable even in the family, society’s basic unit. Especially in times of enormous social and economic crisis such as South Africa faces today, unity of purpose presupposes that people, more so leaders, recognise, first and foremost, that they are in a crisis and consciously embark on specific causes of action to extricate themselves from the quagmire.

The line “None but ourselves can free our minds…” in Bob Marley’s Redemption Song should suggest the obvious: our future depends on our daily commissions and omissions.

The tendency to talk the country down at every turn in the belief that this constitutes or somehow serves the noble exercise of freedom of speech and criticism does us no favours.

It does not inspire confidence that the actors possess sufficient appreciation and consensus on the dos and don’ts of responsible political engagement which legitimately demands accountability from those vested with responsibility for public affairs and the actors’ own obligation for accountability to society.

Similarly, and perhaps most importantly, it does not inspire confidence about the country to outsiders such as the tourists and investors that we need to inject resources into the economy.

Put yourself in their shoes. You would neither visit nor invest money in a country whose nationals do not have confidence in it and are ready to exaggerate its problems at every given opportunity possible.

That, unfortunately, is human nature; the appraisal of a family member about another fetches a higher premium than that of a stranger.

So, there is a sense in which none but ourselves are, and have been, for a long time, our own worst enemies with respect to cultivating a self and international image which exudes sufficient positivity.

We require internalisation of an aphorism that has inspired the wisdom, humility and capacity for problem-solving skills throughout the ages. “A dzimana ula malombe, mukosi aya phalalana” – belligerents do not invite each other to a feast but they come to one another’s rescue in times of crisis. They thus appreciate that there is something more to life than their petty squabbles.

At this point, as at any other time, we all need to assume the role of ambassadors for our country, at home and abroad, understanding that every country experiences one problem or the other.

One is of course not suggesting that we gloss over our problems, which are many. But our appraisal of the problems must advisedly avoid exaggeration and the temptation for party-political and factional considerations, difficult as this might be.

With respect to tourism, increasing visa waivers for a number of countries around the world will hopefully help to increase the inflow of tourists into the country.

The police, our hospitality industry and the rest of us as citizens acting as ambassadors can – in fact must – surely do more to improve our country’s standing and image as a preferred tourist destination.

It would do us no harm, to the contrary a great deal of good, were politicians, the commentariat and the persuasive industry as a whole to place a moratorium on bashing the country.

Mukoni Ratshitanga.

• Ratshitanga is a consultant, social and political commentator (mukoni@interlinked.co.za)

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