Curated prosperity amidst lived poverty

AS STATED in this column last week, I believe we are at the end of the era of ‘the rich boys’ club: The nauseating fact that Johannesburg could clean itself up for a three-day visit by rich people and ignore the plight of its own people for 30 years should never be okay with us.

- LORENZO A. DAVIDS

It reeks of callousness and contempt. This is the 2010 FIFA World Cup all over again. It's The Truman Show on steroids.

We don’t become better as a nation by pretence. We become better by deliberate intention. The water cuts, power outages, broken municipal systems and potholes will all be back this morning. This is how politics are conducted in the new era. It’s all performative. Nothing is substantive. It is not based on fact or intention. South Africa is a masterclass on performative politics. Nasrec looked incredible, and the G20 attendees and guests were all impressed and lauded the ‘first G20 on African soil? For the sceptical elite, South Africa is always a curious place. They love our authentic Big 5 and our curated Big 3: Sandton, Kruger National Park and the Atlantic Seaboard. The rest of the country is a war zone that they don't dare venture into.

This hypocrisy is entirely politically designed. Our politicians have created a South African story that rich people and wealthy foreigners love, and one that the rest of us live in. The Canadian government issued a travel advisory to its citizens on November 13 , just nine days before the start of the G20 summit, stating: “Exercise a high degree of caution in South Africa due to the significant level of serious crime”