I won't block quote that amazing summary, but I will say that this line
typifies BBC reportage about Africa as a whole. That news agency routinely engages in what I can only call "primeval" language when discussing any issue about the place. But that is true for Western media in general: discussion of African politics, economics, health, etc., is so reduced to the level of preconceived notions of tribal savagery that the "news" given in the report is usually worthless.
Also, kudos for disabusing the ignoramus of the notion of mass breakdown of South African institutions since 1994. In a similar light, S Africa's economy grew faster under the ANC since 2000 (the intervening years 1995-2000 were indeed recessionary) than in any year from the 1970s.
I don't follow S African politics as much as some other countries in Africa, but I will state from what I gather, is that the problems of the ANC stem from being a protest cadre party that's gone "soft" and complacent. Even the corruption is overstated -- the ANC's issues stem more from staffing government positions with incompetent loyalists.
