We need better roads

This year I’ve been travelling a lot, throughout East and Southern Africa. In some cases, I’ve visited countries that I haven’t been back to in several years. In all cases, the growth and progress that’s taken place since my previous visits has been visible and obvious.

But one thing that has really bothered me, is that no matter how well economies may be doing, no matter how much cities have grown and developed, the roads almost always seem to have been neglected.

I first visited Mozambique in the early 1990s, and have visited fairly regularly since then. My first visit was shortly after the end of the civil war, and Maputo was in very poor shape. The road from the South African border to Maputo was also horrible — full of potholes. On each visit, I’ve noticed improvements and development in Maputo. More and better shops, more hotels, and so forth. The road from the SA border is now much, much better, and the main road from Maputo up north is excellent. But within Maputo city, the roads are horrendous and if you’re driving you have to be constantly aware of obstacles and sometimes huge potholes.

Kampala was very village-like when I first visited in late 1993. On my last trip there, a couple of months ago, the city seemed way bigger, and the amount of traffic had increased several-fold. But the roads seem not to have been touched. One of the reason the traffic’s so bad is that the main roads are still narrow — not tailored to a city of its present size. And then within the city, again, there are huge potholes on major routes (sometimes seemingly big enough for a car to fall into and get lost for days!).

In my home city, Cape Town, I’ve noticed the deterioration of many roads in the city — from the heavy traffic, but also as a result of rain and weather damage. There are regular repairs and upgrades but they don’t seem to keep pace with the damage.

Now I know roads are incredibly expensive to build and maintain, and bigger, wider roads are not the answer to traffic woes (the wider the roads, the more cars there will be – what’s needed is better public transport). But roads are still crucial for all of our economies, and you’d think that with the evident economic growth in the redion, and the billions of dollars in aid that have been spent, at least some of it should have been used to ensure our roads are in tip-top shape.

An article I read this week has confirmed my views. It’s from the development news agency, IRIN, and is titled, “Better roads lead to more money”. It reports that there is a strong link between good roads, and food security. The article reports on how small-scale farmers in Malawi struggle to get their food to markets, because of the bad roads.

According to the article, money is readily spent on building or rehabilitating new major roads, while maintenance of existing roads, and especially of secondary and subsidiary roads, is neglected. Spending is also skewed to focus on roads in wealthier areas of the country, at the expense of poorer ones (where the population the faces extra barriers to earning a small income).

The article focuses on Malawi, but I bet the situation in many other countries in the region is similar. The good new roads I was talking about in Mozambique probably reflect the same trend — they’re big roads, benefitting tourists and major transporters, while the rural roads and city routes used by ordinary people every day, are left to crumble. In South Africa, I’ve been on some secondary national roads, where there is a visible line as you cross from a rich province to a poorer one — you can see the road change in quality before your eyes.

It’s not only rural farmers that are affected. Electoral commissions face problems getting ballots to and from areas where there are poor roads. Health care is also a problem when medical personnel cannot reach patients, or residents can’t get to clinics. And the list goes on.

It’s not glamorous, or headline-grabbing, but it’s time we invested in good road infrastructure. The benefits will be many, and long-lasting.

To the top from nowhere

There is a lot of big, important stuff happening in South Africa and the world at the moment: Barack Obama’s transition plans, the ongoing global economic down-turn, climate change (we’ve been having some crazy weather in Cape Town lately), and the breakaway party from the ANC here in South Africa.

But this week, it was a fairly short interview on the radio that made the biggest impression on me. It was an interview with Sibusiso Vilane, about his book, called To the Top from Nowhere.

I don’t know if you’ve heard of Sibusiso Vilane, but if you haven’t you should have. In fact, he should be a household name across the length and breadth of our continent, as far as I’m concerned. Vilane is the first black African to have climbed Mount Everest. And he did it not once, but twice. But he didn’t stop there. He has gone on to become a member of one of the most elite clubs in the world. It’s called the Seven Summits club, and there are only 198 members of this club in the whole world (six of them are South African).

Members of the Seven Summits club have successfully climbed the highest mountain on each of the seven continents. Vilane gained membership to the club in June of this year, when he ascended Mt Denali (McKinley), in Alaska.

Vilane was a game ranger in Swaziland, when he met the man who introduced him to climbing, and who became his benefactor, helping him find the funding for his Everest expedition. He began climbing in 1996, and first summitted Everest in May 2003.

In January 2008, Vilane and Alex Harris became the first South Africans to walk to the South Pole completely unassisted.

In 2006, President Thabo Mbeki bestowed the Order of Ikhamanga (Bronze) on Vilane, in recognition of his efforts.  The Order of Ikhamanga is given to South Africans who have excelled in the fields of arts, culture, literature, music and sports.

What impressed me, listening to Vilane, was his quiet confidence and modesty. He has achieved extraordinary things, but has no overblown sense of his own importance. He simply sets his goals, and then goes about achieving them.

A week after Barack Obama was elected President of the US, here I was, listening to another man of African descent who has gone from very humble beginnings to the very highest achievements (in this case, literally the highest!).

Vilane’s picture did appear on the front page of the newspapers when he first climbed Everest, but other than that, media coverage of him has not been spectacular. It just got me wondering about the many, many Africans there are who are quietly achieving great things, in every corner of the globe. We don’t hear enough about them, and we don’t listen enough to them, to hear their stories and learn from their experiences.

What a day!

I need to write this while it’s all fresh. What a day! This morning I woke up and turned on the TV, to see John McCain giving his speech conceding defeat on the US presidentlal election. I must say, what a gracious speech it was. If nothing else, McCain is a good loser.

Then about 20 minutes later, I watched Barack Obama’s victory speech. By that stage I was in an airport departure lounge, and there were quite a few of us gathered around the TV. I don’t think of myself as particularly sentimental, but I couldn’t stop a few tears from rolling down my cheeks. His speech was so fitting, the occasion so momentous, I couldn’t help but be moved.

The faces of the people in the crowd in Chicago reflected not just happiness but idealism, and hope. Goodness knows we need some ideals in today’s world, we need some heroes. Obama is now the focus of that need. Even as I savoured the moment, a part of my mind was already sceptical. Obama now carries the ideals and hopes not only of Americans but of many around the world. Will he live up to the heavy expectations that have been placed on him?

Please, please let us not be disappointed, as we so often are by our leaders. I recall, for instance, the scenes of jubilation in Kenya when Mwai Kibaki was elected president. Four years later, that jubilation had turned to bitter cynicism. In South Africa the hopes placed on the ANC have in many cases also faded all too soon. Let’s not have that again.

In a sense it doesn’t really matter. This moment, this day, will have a lasting positive impact, no matter what follows. As an American friend of mine has put it — African American men today see themselves re-imagined. The proliferation of negative images of black men in America, as prisoners, as drug dealers and so on, now have an extremely powerful counter-image. In a sense, the image of Africa, too, is changed. What impact is this having on youngsters, who now can imagine a world of possibilities they never before thought possible? Obama has broken the glass  ceiling for black Americans in the most powerful way.

Today, the USA, too, is being powerfully re-imagined by the rest of the world. Suddenly, the nation associated with George Bush, with war, with aggression and mindless conservatism, has transformed itself in this one act. Will our jubilation be justified, or will the strictures of office, the demands of the military-industrial complex force Obama into the mould of so many predecessors. Let us hope and pray not.

But again, I am hopeful, because this is not about one man. Obama’s campaign succeeded because it transformed the nature of electoral politics in America. It relied on an extensive network of grassroots-based organisations and individuals. It build on a model of citizen involvement and activism. The youth have been energised and re-engaged in politics by this election.

As Obama’s speech indicated, this is just the beginning. There are huge crises to tackle — a faltering global economy, two wars that the US is involved in, new forms of international instability. It will not be easy by any means. Obama can’t do it on his own. Individuals naturally have weaknesses and failings, but one of the huge strengths of the president-elect is his strength as an organiser, his realisation that he needs a strong team. In this case there is  a network, a movement that’s been established. In this sense, change has already happened.