Two lengthy assessments published in London over the weekend presented the world with bad and good news for South Africa. The bad was a lengthy Financial Times‘ Big Read focusing on the Eskom disaster. The good, an even longer but this time upbeat view on an African continent that’s back in fashion among global investors.
The FT could hardly have been gloomier, projecting blackouts will worsen and “there is a real possibility that in national elections on May 8, many South Africans will vote in darkness.” It paints the picture of a deep hole created by corruption, incompetence and ballooning debt. And leaves readers wondering whether there is a way out.
On the other hand, promise of a third surge of foreign interest in the continent is the cover story and its Briefing focus in The Economist, which dedicated four pages including its main leader to what it calls The New Scramble For Africa.
The influential magazine concludes that unlike the colonial carve-up and Cold War sagas, this time “the winners could be Africans themselves.” SA leading the pack, surely, if president Cyril Ramaphosa achieves his objective of making the country the continental gateway. Stakes involved in fixing Eskom have just been raised a couple notches.
