The South African Superpower That Gives Me Hope for Our Future!

South African superpower Grade 3 Young Man Brave Taxi Driver

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In a conversation with Europeans, I was asked whether I had hope for South Africa’s future.

Cape Town, South Africa (01 June 2025) — Recently, I found myself in conversation with Europeans visiting Cape Town, writes Good Things Guy’s Ashleigh. This is not an uncommon situation to find yourself in when you live in Cape Town, a City that year-on-year seems to attract more people from different walks of life and different stretches of the Earth. But, what was unusual was where the conversation led. And just how much it made me appreciate a South African superpower.

There are few things I love more than diving into a chat with people whose experiences are different to my own. Proverbial swimming cap on, and dive I did into a conversation I thought was heading in one direction, that slowly flowed into another.

After we graduated from topics to do with what all there is to see and do in Cape Town (what isn’t there to do?) and where one should absolutely go to eat and which view spot is the best for a sunset like no other, the conversation progressed from Cape Town to South Africa at large.

My foreign counterparts began asking me why their accommodation had fences, whether the crime really was as bad as they’ d been cautioned, and what I thought of our government (it was a few days after the Cyril Trump chat).

To my surprise, they did not look down at my perspective of South Africa’s problems in the ways you might expect from first worlders whose main form of transport is an eco-friendly bicycle. Instead, they listened curiously, asked questions to understand the South African perspective (I am by no means a spokesperson for all of us, of course) and to my surprise, levelled with me. Before I knew it, they were sharing their own political plights, disheartened spirits over the lack of unity in the Netherlands (in their opinion), and the challenges the youth face across Europe that the people feel isn’t discussed enough.

And then we spoke about the future.

One of my new friends asked me what I thought about South Africa’s future, and whether I thought it had hope as they did not know if theirs was hopeful.

I have spoken to a lot of people from a lot of countries, but typically this question is one South Africans ask each other. Never have I had someone who earns in Euros, has some of the best destinations a train ride away and a far more secure economy tell me that a lot of their friends actually feel hopeless about what’s next.

A gut-reaction, a sound from my mouth before thought, and I heard myself say ‘yes, I am hopeful’.

‘Why?’

‘Because we are South Africans.’ Such a simple answer at first, but shorthand for so much.

‘We have resilience in our blood. Or maybe in our Oros. But resilience, that is the South African superpower. When the government fails us (and they often do), it is volunteers, communities, neighbours and friends who fix potholes, clean up streets, rescue people from mountain perils, conserve our natural heritage and raise funds for people in poverty. It’s charities who are educating so many of our youngest generations, it’s social enterprises who are giving unemployed mothers a chance.

‘South Africa is a place where you learn to do the most with what you have, and then some. Where you don’t wait for a policy or an authority to fix the problems. Here, we roll up our sleeves. So I have hope in our future, because I have faith in our people.’

As I spoke, I realised how much South Africans have done with so little. How much we’ve bandaged together. How much we have lifted each other up.

I told the pair that I believe, in time, we will show our government officials how to do their jobs. And, that the future is hopeful because, despite all our complaining (no matter how humorous, serious or written in stone it may seem), the seed that is hope lives in all of us, because that is the same seed the new South Africa was planted with.

In so many ways, our struggles are our strengths. I have written about more individuals, charities, change makers and heroes than I can count, and so I feel qualified to say that hope is not fruitless so long as we remember our resilience.

And as I watched the Europeans nod and digest what I said, I felt thankful for everyone who isn’t just waiting for the perfect conditions, the right day or the future to make a difference. Because what is our future if not the difference we make today?