From his column, it is clear the calm pragmatism of the Mandela days is wearing very thin. Sidley writes:
I felt welcome enough to return from another country I had called home for nearly two decades. My daily lived experience, for the most part, seems far removed from the vicious racism of some of the Fallists, or even the oft-repeated anti-white lashings of the EFF, and even occasionally by the ANC as they try to seduce those voters who would approve of the sentiment.Sidley worries the calm he experiences day-to-day is a bubble, a bubble that could one day pop and leave him in fear for his life. He concludes:
If not for me, who does not have the energy to start again elsewhere, then at least for my children – are we still welcome here?One suspects his private answer is "NO" or he wouldn't have asked the question. Formerly exceptional South Africa has been regressing toward the African mean, which isn't good.
