This may be offensive, and historically touchy, but I’ve always wanted to ask this question.

1. Why is it that Nigeria, a poor, oil-dependent, exclusively black African country has more Internet users than South Africa?

2. Why is it that I have the feeling that there are no Black South African Internet users?

3. Why is it that every South African blog is written by either an emigrant in the UK or someone who’s waiting for his or her green card?

I mean, yes, apartheid fucked up the majority of South Africans, and the country’s image is still mostly tied to Nelson Mandela (who, IMO, could be compared to Queen Elizabeth II or Emperor Akihito in that the media still watches his every move and that he has so many places and things named after him), but exactly how long does it take for a country to make a transition?

Or is the ANC just profiteering from its association with the end of apartheid in order to stay in power and, by doing so, screw up the country even more?

It’s got the highest rate of AIDS in the world, one of the most pronounced rich-poor gaps (one foot in the First World, the other foot in the Third), the highest national crime rate in the world, and a decaying political scene (as seen with Jacob Zuma).

And those who do leave South Africa aren’t intending to go back.

And yet, the world would rather listen to a geriatric banter on about Palestine or Iraq.

I like the guy, and South Africa is reputedly pretty, but what the fuck is going on?

I don’t really like Nigeria’s image (without oil, it would look hopeless), but I can give them props because they, mostly professionals, can criticize their own government and still have mad, half-deluded love for their country.

But South Africa? Only the people who have nothing else or nowhere else to go are staying and blindlessly following the ANC’s mandate, while those who have connections to the outside world are heading out of dodge.

So where does apartheid end and actual development begin?