SOUTH Africa is headed in the wrong direction and needs to take lessons from Rwanda, 30 years after the reverse was true and South Africa served as an inspiration for Rwanda, former president Thabo Mbeki has said.
Mbeki and Rwandan President Paul Kagame spoke about the history of the two countries as Rwanda marked three decades since the start of its genocide on Sunday.
Kagame was complimentary about South Africa, historically, while Mbeki offered a sombre assessment about the country currently. In the past 30 years, Rwanda had advanced a great deal, while South Africa had regressed, Mbeki said.
“There was a period at home (South Africa) that everything was moving very positively and then things changed and went the opposite direction,” he said.
“I think it’s very important to understand, why are we not following in the footsteps of Rwanda in terms of development.
“We must answer that question ourselves as South Africans.” Kagame expressed gratitude for South Africa’s role in helping revive Rwanda after its genocide, even while it was finding its feet as a newly-minted democracy.
“The new South Africa paid for Cuban doctors to help rebuild our shattered health system and opened up its universities to Rwandan students, paying only local fees,” Kagame said. He added that a cross-section of Rwandese people had benefited from South Africa’s “generosity”.
“Among the hundreds of students who benefitted from South Africa’s generosity, some were orphaned survivors; others were the children of perpetrators; and many were neither. “Most have gone on to become leaders in our country in different fields.”
Mbeki described a period in South Africa – while he was deputy president to Nelson Mandela – when strong institutions, such as the Constitutional Court and the Public Protector, were created. “The economy was doing very well… we reached five percent rates of growth, unemployment decreasing, then things changed and went the opposite direction,” he said.
He added: “Why are we not following the example of Rwanda which is progressing very well? Why is South Africa going the opposite direction, whereas it had demonstrated exactly its capacity to go in the same direction.”
Mbeki said he was contemplating addressing South Africans about this as celebrations approached for 30 years of democracy. He said it was important to understand the regression, then say “what needs to be done to correct what needs to be corrected”. —News24