The transition that never happened

Countries such as South Africa have changed so drastically that there are few intrinsic  land -marks left. The iconic buildings are still there, the grand structures of government in Pretoria and Cape Town, the hideaways of the rich like Plettenberg Bay, the ribbon developments along the coast still have their occupants living the "good life", the food and the restaurants as good as anywhere in the world but the foundations of good governance have gone and with it the criteria that defines a country.
Of course it was always a false premise to judge the country on its predominantly white experience. The country we never saw, or never wished to see was all around but somehow we decreed the proclivity of its people was different to ours and so the standards in virtually everything was vastly different. There were no touch stones other than the relationship in the home where the domestic worker and the family was a small window into the heart of Africa.
Now with Government and the Parliamentary caucus behaving in the way they do,the last vestibule of a common cause is broken. The confidence and optimism that Mandela laid out has  broken, first by Mbeki and his denial of the cause AIDS, and his support for Robert Mugabe which seemed to denote a backwoods element in his make up and currently, President Zuma who represents a step back to the traditional tribal patriarchal chief.
"Africa for Africans" has become the realisation of many of the indigenous people and by that I mean the traditional construct of a tribal hierarchy and a bequeath mentality which demands unalloyed support.
The dream of western capitalism rooted in the foot of the African continent has perished. The dream of Cecil Rhodes and his mission to inculcate a political structure which moulded commerce with the rule of law and Parliamentary democracy has proved a mission too far.
This is not to say it is a wholly bad thing for Africa to Africanise itself especially if the people are willing to accept the functioning of omniscient rule in a tradition their grandparents and especially their great grandparents were fully at home with. In its day it created historical memories when African tribal leaders such as Charka took on the rule of the white man and defeated him in battle. The road to subjugation and a tin shack followed, especially during the Apartheid period when the African was belittled and besmirched by a system of governance which was totally alien to them. It was not a happy constructive time and in the sudo democracy represented by the pomp and circumstance of Parliament cheap words replace actions and the symbolism of a white man's construct never quite worked in their favour.
Perhaps it is better to tear it all down (like Jesus destroying the money changers tables), a revisionists move that takes into account the condition of all the people not just the successful.
Sadly like the poorly educated native in this country, the population is bewitched by elitist power and continue to support a clique who have the utmost contempt for them and only pay lip service to democracy when it suits their purposes.