Google has released street view images of South Africa, of course this was timed to coincide with the World Cup. I am amazed at how clean and organised the country is. The houses are all very well planned and the roads are wide and without potholes. Even the roads in Soweto are better than those in Lavington. I think our town planners have alot to learn from SA.

SA looks more like the US than Europe. It really looks 1st world. You can take streetview virtual tours on Google earth or Google maps.

South Africa in general and Cape Town in particular have a very highly developed infrastructure situation but you have to understand it came about from massive looting of mineral resources, near forced labour for a pittance from the local African population up until 1994 (and some say beyond) and a China-style planned economy - especially during the apartheid regime, that racked up massive amounts of unsustainable debt that the ANC was left holding the bag for. When you have those three factors working in tandem of course you will make glorious profits as few people can compete with such a low cost base. Remember too that is how the USA gained its competitive advantage for 200 years; free labour, raping the resources of the American Indians in the New World and building the infrastructure with it. The WHite House itself was 100% built with free slave labour. So that's why South Africa was able to gallop ahead in development with impunity. Johannesburg (Egoli-place of gold in Xhosa and Zulu)itself used to be a massive hill full of nothing but a giant gold vein, billions upon billions of dollars were minted of it to the point it is now a giant crater. And the "Zama zamas" illegal gold miners, are still making a mint from the rich pickings in the abandoned mines that the Oppenheimers and others long made their massive fortunes from to the point they are not interested any more in that "small money".

But back to topic. Cape Town indeed is a massively beautiful city. To roll down those expressways by the ocean and those seaside towns is a sight to behold. Who was that comparing it to USA? ha ha ha ha ha ha, no my braddah! I have never seen a city in the USA as scenic and breathtaking as Cape Town. Not even the Pacific Highway - beautiful as it is - comes close. The main reason being the natural beauty of Table Mountain set against endless misty seas and well planned towns across that coastline. You have to hand it to the boers; for all their faults, planning and aesthetics are two things they never fell short on.

But all that means nothing to the denizens of Khayelitsha and similar slums. I remember taking in the beauty of the country from stunning Cape Town International airport zooming along the N2 towards what we Kenyans like to call the "CBD" of the city. Wapi? On the left not far from the airport is the depressing shacks of Guguletu. Read the history of how that place come about, you might weep. Even as you approach Hout Bay and Chapman's Peak Drive (truly amazing road by the sea) there is a pocket of a slum there called Imizamo Yethu. I will never forget that place. I remember slowing down on that very smooth road and seeing some rough looking chaps coming out of that place that is buried in the midst of a very posh area. It took away from my experience in that otherwise beautiful town.

Indeed... never seen anything like Cape Town... but is it Boer country or English country? I think it's the latter.

The Boers are known for their hardworking nature. I was once in a small australian town and a guy was telling me how Australians and New Zealands are left in awe of the work ethics of the boer. They work like nothing and they are good in what they are doing. However, they are very banal in thinking and racists to the core. Had the Boers found a way of working with africans in a fair way, SA would be heaven on earth.
Their ladies are also stunning but very conservative, even Swenani would not have success there
Since my Surname is a typical SA surname i have thought several time of immigrating there, but their thieves are worse than our thieves in kenya. Very inhumane.
You are very right. the Boers had everything working in their tandem and thus their massive success in SA.

he he he he he! Apartheid just like Slavery did a number on them. Same thing in the USA, the jails are full of superthugs with no soul. Crime in SA is crazy, man. tens of thousands of murders per year, highest number of hijackings and rapes by far in the world and petty crime is the norm. Whenever I watch SA news on the internet from a safe distance here in the comforts of Nairobi it's like watching a really bad movie. The new thing for the past few years as I'm sure you guys have heard is the "Cash in transit heists" where the G4S cars are blown to the skies in a manner worse than Alshabaab! Only in South Africa!

Afadhali dustbowl yangu, sindio?
I was watching M7's 3.5 hour long recent SON address yesterday. I must admit for a dictator, the man is a wily, strategic thinker who can sell snake leather to a snake! He has elaborate yet honest facts, figures and explanations, peppered with interesting stories and humour to the point that he lulls you into almost forgetting opposition members are being tortured and murdered like chicken. The one thing that caught my interest the most is what he said about Uganda. That Ugandans take their country for granted. If he had a choice he would not waste time traveling outside the country, he would shuttle between his country homes and Kampala. In Uganda they do not need air conditioning, air is fresh and life is sweet. In other places like China one needs a/c all the time and there is no real joy there. I agree with him wholly. I once spoke to one chap who was veeeeery excited to be leaving for majuu. When I told him many others are on the way back and never plan to return to those forsaken snowy countries he gave me a look of shocking disbelief as if I had just shut the gates of heaven from him.

Very true. The beauty of South Africa that people see in pictures is just that. Beauty only seen from the window of your car or on pictures. In this video we only see the robbery what we don't see is that those people are always prisoners in their house.

People do not leave their houses and tembea tembea on foot in their neigbourhood for fear of being mugged. This is bearable for adults but can you imagine it for children. What this often means is that children cannot have an independent existence. You know the way children can have friends wa mtaa, that cannot happen because they always have to be accompanied by their parents wherever they go in the car. Wakirudi nyumbani the gate is locked and they are free in their prison paradise.

Consequences of the apartheid regime and now millions of youths who were disenfranchised and denied opportunities have become of age and now need to feed their families. The same might happen in kenya when the desperate youths in kibera, kawangware, kangemi, githogoro etc say enough is enough and scale the walls of the mansions in neighbouring lavington, karen, runda etc.

looks the same but it's not! inequality is everywhere but it's one thing when it's designed inequality from when it's natural. Kibera, Kawangware e.t.c. are not designed by public policy they just happen and people do escape them and as long as there is a way out - it's fine. many children (not enough) from these neighbourhoods escape them, some of the tenants are transient (wamekuja nairobi juzi). things change. plus some people don't even want to leave these places. The terrible thing about apartheid was that it was designed to keep everyone that way based on a binary attribute -WHITE vs NOT WHITE.

again... where have the poor scaled the walls of rich neighborhoods? Why? I don't know for sure but I am reminded of a statement by Voltaire - 'there is no God, but don't tell that to my servant, lest he murder me at night'.