They do things differently

It’s not just the past that is another country where they do things differently – other countries are also places where they do things differently. In South Africa where I’ve just spent 12 great days I noticed that by great cliffs or by swimming pools there are warning notices. And they warn that anyone who gets injured has only themselves to blame. The management will take no responsibility. If it’s a teeny child that gets eaten by a lion, then it’s the responsibility of the adult with the child, and not the game reserve. It can’t be much more than a decade since the British took the same view but I realized quite how restrictive the UK has become. Rather than take the robust African view of matters, we simply restrict what one can do – walk on cliff edges, take more than one child at a time into a swimming pool – so that there is a minimal risk of danger and litigation.

I was also impressed by another area of robustness in SA. One of the big stories was the planned strike of taxi owners on the day that Jo’burg’s brand new public transport system was opened in time for next year’s World Cup (which le tout South Africa is agog about). The taxi drivers are, I am reliably told, unpopular with everyone. Their vehicles are dangerous and ill maintained, the drivers are erratic and unsafe and they are sometimes given to violence towards their passengers. So unlike our own dear cabbies.

The newspaper report was refreshingly direct.

“Gauteng Premier Nomvula Mokonyane said ” Those who have spoken out on TV and in the media will find they will have to take responsibility for their loose talk. She added that those threatening the new public transport system were in the minority and that authorities would take a heavy-handed approach against troublemakers planning to use vehicles to block bus routes.

“If someone leaves a vehicle where it should not be, we will… throw it in the rubbish unless somebody wishes to step forward and claim it”

Speaking about threats of violence and intimidation, Mokonyane said “We are government and we are in charge. The others don’t have the police, the army and the metro police to call on”

That’s what I call the firm grip of government. In the event the strike didn’t take place but some members of the army were in a pitched battle with police in the centre of Pretoria, protesting about low pay.

South Africa is a fascinating and wonderful country. More anon. Meanwhile, here’s a picture of a lion.