After extensive talks with my brother, who as I said earlier is a personal friend of the President Ramaphosa, the whole issue is a disaster. However when you talk about evaluation by the Government, you clearly don't understand Africa! This is not a rational decision, underpinned by economists and the Public Service coming up with discussion papers. This is raw emotion and manipulation by people using their power bases among illiterate, poverty stricken, unemployed masses. Given the Marxist roots of the ANC and the fact that after decades, nothing much has changed. The poor are still abysmally poor and all that has changed is that some of the faces of the wealthy ruling class are now black.
OK that is probably unfair - you now have a level of freedom that didn't exist before and now for Blacks who get an education, there is no longer job reservation for whites only, so a black middle class has developed.
However for millions at the bottom, although there is no longer the same fear of the ruling class and the police, there is still lack of education and health facilities and huge unemployment and violent crime. Instead of laying the blame where it really should be on the shoulders of the corrupt government who has siphoned money into their own luxury living instead of schools and hospitals and job creation, it is much easier for people like Malema to lead chants of "kill the Boers" and manipulate the people into believing if they support him, the whites will be dispossessed and the riches flow to them.
Add to that the Marxist element in the ANC and the rational people like Ramaphosa who know this will be a disaster have no option except to let it go through and hope that they can water it down and contain the damage. With elections on the horizon they have to be able to stand up against Malema's Economic Freedom Fighter's crazy party!
While I think this is a terrible thing to do, it is an action affecting less that 10% of the population, whereas Apartheid which in a similar way stole everything from the Blacks, Indians etc affected 90% of the population. I don't really think you can compare the two, or the world's response.
I was always amazed that power change happened peacefully and that is down to Mandela. Years after, it is hard not to see the disintegration setting in.
As far as visiting South Africa goes, I don't think people will see any difference for some years. Maybe eventually there will be an extra level of violence, but people still visit Kenya even though things can be fragile there as well. e.g all the problems in the Laikipia area last year.
