Swaziland

Swaziland - a royal experience. What a welcome! About the "ultimate destination", I am less sure. Crossing the border was a much quicker and troublefree experience than what I remembered. Still it took more than 45 minutes to cross both borders. We still need to fill out a entry/departure card. Being used to crossing the border with France in less than 1 minute (even though Switzerland is not in a customs union with the EU, whereas Swaziland and South Africa are in the same customs union), one still has a feeling that the importance of the nation state puts sometimes too heavy a weight on already disadvantaged economies.


Swaziland tries to keep its specifity which is not an easy task when one is so close to the giant South Africa. The landscape is gentle, it is very green, the agricultural sector seems to be efficient. They were actually happy that their sugar export quota to the EU was increased and that they retained their export status for beef products. The people are quite laid back and verz few still weat the traditional dress.

I was also happy to update my collection of emalangeni, the local currency, which is tied to the rand. Both currency are freely accepted in the country. I also bought the local newspaper: Times of Swaziland. The front page was full of crime stories... If the country retains its rural character and its constitutional specificity, signs of urbanisation are evident. In 10 years since my last visit (thanks for not commenting on that...), the face of the capital city has changed dramatically.

Cape Town - I

To start this entry on South Africa, I should remind the readers out there that since it is not my first visit to South Africa, I will not be so much descriptive as comparative. Some whites would say that I should compare the country to what it was in the good old days, while most blacks would say that this would be unfair since they do not have a past reference that they can call "the good old days".

As for me, the first thing that striked me is how obvious it is that the country is reaching its full capacity. The first sign is the robots (a typical South African word for traffic lights) not working at many major intersections. This is because of load shedding at the electricity utility. A friend told me it was a strategic game play by the utility so it could finally get more money from the government for its investment plans. Indeed, there has been little investment in the country over the last few years. It should be highlighted that the larger imbalance is on the savings side, with ver low savings rate, resulting in a huge current account deficit. Everybody is just buying and spending, instead of investing. I guess that after years of depravation the new emerging class is very impatient to consume. It is understandable, but the signs of strains abound. And the Reserve Bank had to act again this week with another interest rate hike. One newspaper headline read "Tito spoils Christmas", in reference to the Reserve Bank governor Tito Mboweni.

The next sign was that the local airline company I was to fly with was grounded because of security concerns over the maintenance of its fleet. A good sign that the airline regulator had the strength to ground an airline right at the start of the summer holidays. But another sign that the private companies are also not investing enough. So there I saw my plane grounded at the airport, while I had to buy another last minute ticket with one competitor.

The problems were fixed later in the week, and I could safely fly back to Cape Town with my normal ticket. I will keep you posted on how long it will take to get my refund.

In the meantime, you can always send me a sms to my local number 0027 82 531 23 99 and tell me what you thought about my comments and what aspects of local life and issues you would like to see be discussed here.

La Revue

What best way to finish the year on a "best of". For the 111th time, here comes the annual "La Revue" at one of our theater. Last year, more than 40'000 people watched it - that is around 10% of the population. Huge success !!

So it is very important to appear in this spectacle, to have a sketch with one's character. There were so many highlights, so many jokes. A very good satyre of local and national politics as well as of some social events. Great laugh! Below, just a little banner taken from their website, with our president in the main role!

I also want to take the occasion to summarise the final results of our Parliamentary elections that were spread over several weeks, due to second rounds in many cantons. The results are the following per party, with first the number of seats in the National Council (200 seats) and second the number of seats in the Council of States (46 seats):

* Swiss People's Party (extreme right):

62 seats (+7) ; 7 seats (-1)

* Socialist Party (left):

43 seats (-9) ; 9 seats (=)

* Christian Democratic Party (centre):

31 seats (+3) ; 15 seats (=)

* Radical Democratic Party (right):

31 seats (-5) ; 12 seats (-2)

* Greens (left):

20 seats (+7) ; 2 seats (+2)

* others:

13 seats (-3) ; 1 seat (+1)

The participation rate was 48.9%. This is very low for national parliamentary elections compared to most countries, but for Swiss standards it is quite high and indeed the highest rate since 1983...! The linguistic minorities still represent 27% of total seats. The proportion of women has risen slightly to 27%. The average age of deputies is 52 years.

world capital

Of course, I am talking about Geneva! The worldwide seat of 25 international organisations such as the World Trade Organisation (WTO), the International Labour Organisation (ILO) and the World Health Organisation (WHO). It is also the European center of the United Nations. There are 157 states represented here and around 35'000 diplomats and international civil servants.

This week there was an international conference on debt management at the United Nations building. Many interesting topics on this issue were discussed by delegates from all over the world. For me, it was special occasion on two accounts. First, it was the first time in my life that I went to work in Geneva. Funny feeling. And second, it is always a priviledge to sit behind the board reading "Switzerland". Do we not have the best point of view?

Then there were also side-events such as the bazaar. Many countries had food stands and I tasted products from exotic countries.

Of course, every place has its symbol. At the UN headquarters in Geneva, it is the peacock.

Snow

Some say "at last", I said "so soon". Indeed, snow has arrived this week, much earlier than the previous years. In the end, it does not matter so much: the temperature is cold, the sun is barely shining, the days are short. Winter has arrived.Of course, most of you would have noticed that these pictures were all taken in Berne. Well, these is a very good reason for that: Snow has not fallen in Geneva! I always tease my work colleagues about the crappy weather in Berne and how much better it is in Geneva. They thought I was boasting or even suspected that I was paid by the Geneva tourism office. However I shortly found the hard data provided by "meteo suisse". And the data tell a very clear story. For the first 10 months of 2007, the average temperature was 15% higher in Geneva, whereas rainfall were 21% lower in Geneva. These patterns are similar when it comes to hours of sunshine (4% more in Geneva) and to rainy days (11% less in Geneva). Of course, some colleagues came up with all sorts of spacious arguments, such as having to measure temperatures on the Kelvin and not the Celcius scale.

Cheese fondue

One thing that is nice about winter (actually are there any others...) is the cheese fondue. The first one for the season is the best one ... so the theory of marginal utility applies indeed!

It is not the fondue itslef that is so special, it is the whole experience. There is the place called "Bains des Paquis", a wooden restaurant right by the sea. The atmosphere there is simple, cosy and joyfull. There are also all what goes with the fondue: the white wine, the smoked beef, the pepper and the desserts. And there is also the company of good friends and the interesting conversation one has.

It should be said that after this very traditionnal supper, we ended in a Indian bar, where they played Bollywood movies on a big screen. It seems it is very difficult to spend an entire "100% swiss" evening.

Halloween

Yes, I know Halloween is such an un-European event. Actually a few years ago, the retailers tried to impose that on European consumers because they thought they could make a lot of money out of it... Shops were full of scary, orange (i have nothing against that...) and funny stuffs. Even the little retailers had Halloween things all over their shops. But after 2-3 years, they realised that the consumers were not so keen anymore. Halloween has no historical roots, no tradition here. So, now it is much more discreet. But still, there is a Halloween-fan group in the region. The hosts know how to make us feel welcome!
And once inside, it is nice and warm with lots of typical Halloween products, including marshmallows, pumpkin soup and jelly. If you think you could come out of this supper without having gained 3-4 kilos, you would be so absolutely wrong!
Last but not least, some people still do not know that Halloween has nothing to do with happy feet. Actually I should not be too harsh on them since I was not disguised as well. But just have a look at them... can I hear you laugh?