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South African exceptionalism is both good and really bad – now is the time to make the bad stuff exceptionally good

Michael Kahn
By Michael Kahn
9 Jul 2024
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Exceptional times call for exceptional people and exceptional solutions. Not the dictatorships that fester in the minds of former presidents; not the patronage networks that destroy hope for the many even as the few bling along.

This is the eighth in a series of columns on “What 10 words best describe our South Africa?” Today’s word is Exceptionalism. Read the first seven parts of the series here, here, here, here, here, here and here.

South African exceptionalism goes back to the first records of this rock at the southern tip of Africa. Its skies, seas, sands, flora and fauna intrigued First Peoples and visitors alike.

Following British conquest, astronomer John Herschel with telescope journeyed to Cape Town to study her night sky; Charles Darwin then stopped by and took note of her biodiversity and geology. Around that time eugenics founder Samuel Merton patiently waited in Philadelphia to receive the bounty that his local skull brokers collected from deceased Khoisan persons. All so unique, all so fascinating, as was the mapping of the vast mineralisation of the country.

And so to the two wars between the Dutch settlers and the Crown, a maelstrom that launched a certain Jan Smuts on to the national and international stages. Smuts developed the idea of “South Africanism”, whose recognition of exceptionalism would heal the rift between Boer and Briton and enable the divine mission of keeping black people in their place. South Africanism marshalled the natural sciences, noting the country’s geographic advantage that included a natural laboratory of human beings.

Geographic advantage


Five decades on, the idea of a southern geographic advantage made its way into the 1996 White Paper on Science and Technology and then received codification in the 2007 Astronomy Geographic Advantage Act. Plenty of exceptionalism here.  

Lest we forget, post-1948 apartheid was also exceptional, informed by everything from misreading the Bible to eugenics and Mein Kampf. The right-wing National Party victory was also exceptional among post-war democracies, ushering in one-party rule to 1994.

Then there is former president Thabo Mbeki’s prosaic speech “I am an African” that also draws on exceptionalism. One might add Mbeki’s other exceptionalisms on HIV/Aids, but enough of that.

The Cabinet of the Government of National Unity has been sworn in, unique in its diversity, and facing exceptional challenges. Ah, the challenges – moving from one-party rule to a coalition; extreme inequality coupled with the highest average wage level among emerging economies; an underperforming school and technical college system alongside universities that produce some of the world’s most highly cited papers; rampant criminality; astronomical unemployment; brain-shrinking childhood stunting; deep-seated anger and despair; winning the Rugby World Cup; and nearly winning the cricket world T-20.

Cometh the hour, cometh the men and women.

Read more in Daily Maverick: Beware of GNUphoria sacrificing accountability on the alter of government unity

Writing two decades ago, German political scientist Roland Czada mused that South Africa is unexceptional in any single constitutional, political or socioeconomic sense. What makes her exceptional is the mix of African, European, Asian, and North American elements. No country for old sissies, this.

Exceptional times call for exceptional people and exceptional solutions. Not the dictatorships that fester in the minds of former presidents; not the patronage networks that destroy hope for the many even as the few bling along.

A World Bank economist once let slip that excessive red tape might have to be reduced through tolerating an acceptable level of bribery, say a 5% cut. One might go so far as to say that such corruption is the lube for successful public-private intercourse.

Exceptional levels of bribery


But we in Msanzi have exceptional levels of bribery, with the mythical Mr Ten Percent now accompanied by a drove of accomplices each with a palm to be filled so that the actual cost to the taxpayer is more than doubled. The result is insufficient use of capital and inadequate maintenance.

Does the new Cabinet and clutch of deputy ministers meet the test of being exceptional and up to the job of taking the country on an upward trajectory? One exceptionality is its size – up from 30 to 32 ministers and no fewer than 43 deputies. The recycled ministers are a known commodity; some are competent; many are ideologically blinkered. With so many deputies who needs directors-general? The newcomers with their own biases face their first 100 days in office under the most intense scrutiny. 

This is the time for exceptionalism to gain traction. The pronouncements of the new ministers are encouraging, but let’s ditch another exceptionalism. Not paralysis by analysis, but adulation of our exceptional “best in the world” Constitution that has been violated so elegantly and selectively for so long. Our Fourth Estate (a major publishing house excepted) has performed exceptionally well. Thank you, journos and media hacks, one and all.

Which brings your writer to a wish list of exceptional actions.

Focus on teacher quality


Yes, eliminate pit latrines at schools, but focus on teacher quality, now. Worry about AI, but reduce the exceptionally high cost of broadband, now. Lament the exceptionally top-heavy police and defence force, but rather polygraph the top layers, now. Sort out the issuance of skilled employment visas, now. And to stimulate employment take a leaf from Mozambique’s book and stratify sectoral wage agreements by firm size. Figure out what exceptions increase the cost of doing business, and what exceptions limit economic participation.

There is of course one exceptionalism that begs correction, namely the language status of our First Peoples. Their language is only celebrated on the national coats of arms in the Xam motto ! ke e: /xarra //ke that resembles a URL to the past.  

Get on with it, Minister Gayton Mackenzie. DM

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