Surfing as a Metaphor for Human Development

Human development, human capital, human rights. If there is one thing that Africa has always been less exposed to - it's that of the development of it's human capital. That's the core of BBBEE, or what the policy is supposed to achieve; broad-based black economic empowerment. Sounds great. That's exactly what Africa needs in general - of the almost 1 billion residents on the continent, how many could be measured to be 'economically empowered'? And I guess most importantly, what are the policies or activities that truly create lasting economic empowerment?

The policy that immediately comes to my mind is for a state to provide world class education for it's citizens - for free. Nations that provide high quality free education are obviously out to empower their people. What could be more fundamental a foundation to lay in developing human capital than education? A second obvious policy would be free or low-cost health services. This is why America is now getting into trouble - their choice not to offer much health care at all is catching up with them basically rendering the society sick. Some of the American politicians say constantly that my country, Canada, actually has the best health system called 'single-user pay' and they are dumbfounded why the richest nation in the world is not empowering its citizens with this simple tool. So in that sense, America is not developing its human capital to the fullest extent possible, and that in the future they will pay dearly for this.

South Africa is facing a similar dilemna with the respect to its education system. Everyday in the papers I read that university students are entering the system with surprisingly low skills in reading and writing - that the secondary and high schools are not doing their job basically. But this is the launchpad of future economic growth - educated youth who will then be able to thrive, create jobs, grow capital and become leaders. So what is going on in the schools I wonder? Is there a national cirriculum? And when was the last time it was revamped? How old are the textbooks here? These answers are the obvious results of how a government chooses to develop its human capital - or not develop it.

I decide to contact the Western Cape's MEC for Education - Donald Grant to see if he can explain what is going on in the education system here - and most importantly, where the gaps are, why kids are falling through the cracks. The Western Cape province is one of the most dynamic in the country, with Cape Town being it's economic engine basically. There is a huge emphasis on rebuilding the downtown core and city centre so it can become even more powerful than it is now. San Francisco, London, Hong Kong, Sydney - rich nations flourish from the centralized economic growth that becomes possible from their great cities. So to invest in a great city naturally leads to the economic growth for the surrounding political region - be it a province, state or nation. That's why the World Cup could become so significant for Cape Town like what Expo '86 did for Vancouver which began a 20-year economic boom basically thanks to foreigners, mostly Chinese. The BC provincial government could never has rallied the resources that came from foreign investors. By choosing to open it's doors and welcome the world, BC experienced a major transformational boom that no one could have predicted.

But the key thing for South Africa in this scenario of the World Cup - is to also have systems in place that allow the citizens to be uplifted on the wave of economic growth so locals won't be left out. It's like all the surfers I see waiting for the waves in Milnerton, Camps Bay and even in little Foesh Hook - they are all there on their boards waiting for that great wave that's coming. The fear here is that most of the citizens aren't out in the water yet, they don't have surfboards or maybe they can't even swim. If surfing is the metaphor for human development in Africa, how many citizens are ready to ride the wave?