Hans Ngala
Aubrey, an American woman who was on holidays in Cape Town, South Africa has caused a stir online after expressing shock that there is an efficient banking system in South Africa as well as the taxi service, Uber.
The American lady whose TikTok name is @Aubs.Ba.Daubs states:
“I’ve gone from Cape Town to Durban, then to Kruger National Park, then Johannesburg and Polokwane. I thought I’d need cash everywhere, but I don’t! Not only do they take credit card, but Apple Pay too. South Africa have that in more places than I’ve seen in America.”
“There was a misconception I had about ‘gay culture’. I thought we’d have to be more closeted… but being gay is celebrated and normal here. It’s no big deal. Then there’s the transportation. Uber is just as easy to get here as it is in the US.”
Some castigated her for her stereotypical mindset which supposes that everywhere in Africa is a bush and that people live in trees and walk barefoot.
According to the UN Magazine, Uber was available in 15 African countries including South Africa as of 2017, this means that number has likely grown since then.
The American woman’s comments expressing disbelief that there is Uber in South Africa, speaks to the high levels of ignorance that most Westerners have of Africa though some people in South Africa are glad that her video which at press time had garnered some 3.5 million views, was also helping to market the country even though the video’s author came from a place of ignorance.
Many Africans (including Cameroonians) learn about Western economies and geography, but Western countries only have stereotypical knowledge of Africa or what Nigerian author Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie calls “the single story”. In a TED Talk, Adichie warned of the dangers of a single story (usually about Africa) and said that the thing with stereotypes is not that they are false but that they make one story to become the only story.
South Africa is Africa’s most technologically developed country and is sometimes considered a fully developed economy.
