Dear Mzansi, embrace your pride in SA; you're doing a better job than the US

Daily Maverick

4 days ago

Dear South Africa,
I'm an American. A guest in your country for more than a decade. I love this country very much, and feel its experience has a lot to offer the modern world.
I was born in the Middle East to a Colombian and an American. I chose to become an American when I had to make a choice, then joined the Marine Corps to represent and defend its ideals — ideals I now find reflected more in South Africa than in the United States.
Please forgive me for allowing my pronouns to slip into 'we' as I increasingly define Mzansi as my home.
I see South Africa as a nation striving, imperfectly but sincerely, to become more inclusive, more accountable and more united. And I feel it's time someone said plainly: you're doing a better job than most, and certainly better than Americans at the moment.
In my country, a dishonest, divisive and dangerous narrative was used to implement policy. President Donald Trump's rhetoric around South Africa was a self-serving distortion of reality. He fed conspiracy theories, and inflamed ethno-nationalist sentiment at home and abroad.
My American pride is challenged with betrayal – not by our leaders who can justify their actions with rational self-interest, but by my fellow Americans.
I see a troubling acceptance of falsehoods used to justify narratives and personal gain. America is an institution, and institutions thrive on shared values, enabling us to build trust and debate nuanced issues with respect and honesty. Without integrity, what we say no longer matters.
We cannot communicate. Instead, we're reduced to shouting matches and entrenched division.
These falsehoods resonate, not because they're plausible and attractive to the agenda of a few, but because Americans have become willing to accept lies over truth.
It is perhaps the telltale sign of inevitable decline – reinforcing the historical evidence that great empires and nations survive and begin to fail within 250 years (the United States celebrates 249 this year).
When counterparties give up on the pursuit of truth with complete candour, communication becomes impossible, and relationships and the institutions that surround them inevitably slip further into decline. Americans are accepting falsehoods, and we will continue to lose global relevance with each passing day until this stops.
Americans must accept that President Trump isn't the cause of our institutional decay; it is us, ourselves.
South Africa, this is a mistake you must never make: do not allow politicians to weave even self-serving falsehoods into their narratives. Collectively, South Africans must channel empathy and communicate with transparent candour – especially when the truth is inconvenient and challenges the comfort of our own tribes.
White farm murders are no more part of a coordinated plot to wipe out white people than the collapse of the education system is part of a grand conspiracy to suppress black economic mobility. What we face is not malice; it is collective negligence. We must pool our strengths and live out the principle South Africans are famous for, and make a plan – together!
Similarly, communities of colour must also reject any shoots of entitlement and a victim mindset. The narrative that white South Africans are responsible for holding them back obscures the more urgent and fixable truth that invites collaboration across communities.
Corruption, incompetence and disengagement at the municipal level are what keep schools underperforming, police ineffective and infrastructure decaying. It is our own communities that allow illegal dumping to turn neighbourhoods into toxic environments, where children grow up surrounded by squalor and neglect.
I posit that those South African 'refugees' welcomed by Trump are suffering most from disconnection and isolation from the rest of South Africa. This is itself a systemic vestige of an apartheid past which produces echo chambers: insular spaces where fear, entitlement and victim mindsets go unchallenged.
But it doesn't have to be this way. In fact, I believe South Africa has a different path in front of it, and one to which the world should be paying attention.
I've noticed how South Africans pedestal things that come from 'overseas'. Whether it's policies, products or personalities, there's a subtle but persistent inferiority complex that creeps into conversations. South Africans should be proud of what they have. What you've built, despite extraordinary odds, is awesome, unique and worth continuing to fight for.
South Africa's multicultural realities should not be ignored. The formation of the Government of National Unity is an encouraging big step towards reconciliation, integration and cooperation. Yes, there's dysfunction. Yes, there's corruption. But there is also debate, accountability, civic participation and the pursuit of deeper understanding.
And that matters.
I see an opportunity to break these silos by building intentional, cross-cultural relationships by addressing shared threats: criminal syndicates, gender-based violence, plastic pollution, extortion, the obesity epidemic and, yes, even farm murders, which, like the violence on the Cape Flats and rural areas, keep communities living in fear.
By leveraging shared interests, we can move beyond self-pity and see ourselves as part of a broader society. Purposely aligning cross-cultural teams brings together perspectives and skills to holistically address inherently complex issues as united neighbours while developing deeper meaningful relationships.
I posit the most real opportunity to create cross-cultural task forces is to protect what matters most: our youth. After more than 30 years working with youth, I've seen how people quickly drop tribal lenses and start identifying as concerned citizens when we recognise this shared priority: society's children.
That means recognising that South Africa is a society of broken families that must be intentional about stepping in where families cannot. It means prioritising and nurturing safe early childhood development centres; demanding well-trained, excellent teachers; developing internship programmes in our companies that bring youth into professional networks beyond their families' reach; and offering access to clean and secure public spaces.
These should not be luxuries. They are the foundations of a just society that instils confidence and empowers youth.
By creating opportunities for youth to communicate across cultures, we pave the way for earnest communication. This sets the stage for the precise opposite of what faces the United States in its visible decline: a South Africa where a generation of young people can communicate with candour and with the skills necessary to collaborate to tackle complex issues.
We need them to participate in the obstacles of the moment and navigate the unseen challenges ahead.
Thank you for welcoming me as a guest into your country, your conversations, your communities. If the world is looking for leadership in this new century – not in military might or economic dominance, but in humility, complexity and moral clarity – I believe deeply multicultural South Africa has something powerful to offer … provided we leverage candour and kindness to ' maak 'n plan '.
Call to action
Protect things that matter. Defend the truth. Become a guardian of this country's future. Act in the name of all our children. Get involved with schools and youth programmes – especially if you're reading this, consider communities beyond your own.
Inclusively ensure all children have access to the things we know to be important, and along the way never forget a core concept of the institutions we all trust – ' ductus exemplo ': to lead by example.
We can only teach our youth to communicate with candour and integrity with people who are radically different from themselves … by doing it ourselves.