南非三個值得慶賀的理由 Three reasons to remain cheerful about South Africa
I arrived in Johannesburg to find it sunk in gloom — literally. The lights go out regularly, often for hours at a time.
抵達約翰內斯堡後，我發現這裏已陷入黑暗之中——是字面意義上的黑暗。停電熄燈是家常便飯，一停往往就是幾個小時。
Eskom, the state-owned electricity company, compensates for its lack of investment with “load shedding” or power cuts.
南非國家電力公司(Eskom)用“拉閘限電”或停電來彌補其投資匱乏。
The darkness is tough on families, but on businesses too, and is a drag on investment and expansion.
黑暗讓南非家庭的日子不好過，也讓企業的日子不好過，還拖累着投資和擴張。
Economic growth is low and unemployment high. Beggars with cardboard signs plead with drivers as they stop at red lights. That is, when the lights are working; during power cuts they go dark.
經濟增速緩慢，失業率高企。在司機等待紅燈時，乞丐舉着硬紙殼做的牌子向司機行乞。當然，那是在紅綠燈仍然正常運轉的情況下。在停電的時候，紅綠燈也不亮。
After falling for five years, murders rose in 2013-14 for the second consecutive year, to more than 17,000.
在謀殺案件數量第五年下降之後，2013-14年度南非的謀殺案件數量連續第二年上升，增加至逾1.7萬起。
Jacob Zuma, the president, sneered in May at opposition members of parliament who demanded that he pay back taxpayers’ funds spent on his private residence at Nkandla.
南非議會反對黨議員要求總統雅各布嘠魹(Jacob Zuma)退還花在其位於恩坎德拉(Nkandla)的私人住宅上的納稅人的錢，而5月祖瑪曾對此嗤之以鼻。
Although a report by the public prosecutor last year recommended that Mr Zuma return some of the money, a police investigation said that upgrades at the residence were security necessities. They included a swimming pool that could be used to put out fires.
儘管去年一位檢察官公佈的報告建議祖瑪返還部分資金，但警方調查稱，對祖瑪私人住宅進行升級是必要的安全措施。住宅升級包括建造一座可以用來滅火的游泳池。
But amid the malaise, I saw three reasons to be cheerful.
但在瀰漫的不滿情緒之中，我發現了3個值得慶賀的理由。
3 Speech in South Africa is free and ferocious. An MP debating the government’s decision to allow Omar al-Bashir, the Sudanese president, to leave South Africa in spite of an arrest warrant from the International Criminal Court and a local court order, called the ruling African National Congress “a lawless regime” in a debate broadcast live on television.
圠幓蒗v論是自由而激烈的。政府決定不顧國際刑事法院(International Criminal Court)的逮捕令和地方法院的命令，允許蘇丹總統奧馬爾巴希爾(Omar al-Bashir)離開南非，一名議會議員在電視直播的辯論中對政府的這一決定提出異議時，稱執政黨非洲人國民大會（African National Congress，簡稱非國大）是“一個無法無天的政權”。
Journalists assail Mr Zuma and his government. “Where is the ANC’s leadership? Too many have given up and are looting as much as they can while the going is good,” the columnist Justice Malala wrote in The Times, a local newspaper.
媒體人士抨擊祖瑪及其政府。“非國大的領導層在哪裏？太多人已經放棄了，並且趁情況良好時儘可能多地掠奪，”專欄作家賈斯蒂斯氠拉拉(Justice Malala)在當地報紙《The Times》上寫道。
South African press freedom faces threats. Parliament passed the Protection of State Information Bill, with severe punishments for leaking or possessing a wide range of information. But Mr Zuma has not yet signed it. Journalists I spoke to thought he was wary of the law being challenged in the Constitutional Court, which brings me to the second reason to be cheerful:
南非媒體自由面臨威脅。議會通過了《國家信息保護法案》(Protection of State Information Bill)，對泄露或掌握各種信息施以嚴厲懲罰。但是祖瑪尚未簽署該法案。跟我聊過的記者認爲，祖瑪擔心該法案會在憲法法庭(Constitutional Court)受到挑戰，這便引出了第二個值得慶賀的理由：
The judiciary remains resolutely independent. There have been persistent fears that South Africa’s judges would be forced to bend to the will of the government. It hasn’t happened. Even Mr Zuma’s new appointments, selected from a list submitted to him by the Judicial Service Commission, have dispelled fears that they would do his bidding.
圠幓蒗司法體系仍然是絕對獨立的。人們一直擔心南非的法官會被迫屈從於政府的意志。這種情況並未發生。即使是祖瑪新任命的法官——從司法服務委員會(Judicial Service Commission)提交的名單中選出——也打消了人們對他們會遵照祖瑪的命令辦事的擔憂。
The Mail & Guardian, a critic of South African malpractice, called Mogoeng Mogoeng, a controversial appointment as chief justice, “the ‘puppet’ who tore off his strings”. The paper said of Mr Mogoeng: “He was widely expected to be President Jacob Zuma’s lackey, but he has since proved some detractors wrong.”
對南非的不法行爲進行批判的媒體《郵政衛報》(Mail & Guardian)，把莫洪恩莫洪恩(Mogoeng Mogoeng)稱爲“扯斷了掉提線的‘木偶’”。莫洪恩被任命爲憲法法院院長引起了爭議。該報紙是這樣說莫洪恩的：“他被廣泛認爲是雅各布嘠魹總統的聽差，但是後來的事實證明一些詆譭他的人錯了。”
The government does not enjoy this judicial independence. Blade Nzimande, the higher education minister, accused some judges of “deliberately overreaching”.
政府並不那麼享受這種司法獨立。南非高等教育部部長布萊德槧偠曼德(Blade Nzimande)指責一些法官“故意干涉職權範圍以外的事情”
It is also disturbing that the government ignored the Pretoria high court’s order that it detain Mr Bashir. The court responded by asking prosecutors to consider charging the government and added: “A court is the guardian of justice, the cornerstone of a democratic system based on the rule of law. If the state...搠漀攀猀 not abide by court orders, the democratic edifice will crumble stone by stone until it collapses and chaos ensues.”
政府對比勒陀利亞(Pretoria)高級法院要求其逮捕巴希爾的命令置之不理，這也令人不安。該法院對此的迴應是要求檢方考慮指控政府，並補充稱：“法院是司法的守護者，是以法治爲基礎的民主體系的基石。如果政府……不遵守法院命令，這座民主大廈將一塊一塊地坍塌，直到大廈傾覆、混亂隨之而來。”
Independent judges are helping to keep that chaos at bay.
獨立的法官有助於阻止這種混亂。
So are ordinary people, whose projects are the third reason to be cheerful. I was in Johannesburg to chair a symposium last week on corporate longevity, part of a year-long Financial Times investigation into why some companies live for centuries while most die within a few years or, at most, decades.
渠通百姓亦然，他們是第三個值得慶賀的理由。不久前我在約翰內斯堡主持一個關於企業壽命的座談會，這是英國《金融時報》關於爲何有些企業存活數個世紀而多數企業則在短短几年或至多幾十年內消亡的調查的一部分。
There were several old companies at the event, but there were new ones too. There was Ezlyn Barends, whom I interviewed on stage, a young businesswomen and leader of two mentoring organisations. There were others who came up to me afterwards to discuss their business ventures.
在那次活動中有幾家老牌公司，不過也有新公司。我在臺上採訪了埃茲琳巴倫茲(Ezlyn Barends)，她是一位年輕的女商人、兩家人才孵化機構的老闆。後來也有其他人過來找我討論他們的經商經歷。
In downtown Johannesburg, once seemingly abandoned to squatters and crime, entrepreneurs are restoring apartments and running restaurants, markets, galleries and cinemas. These places are filled with relaxed, racially mixed crowds, busily proving that a country is more than its government.
約翰內斯堡市中心一度似乎被拋棄，淪爲寮屋者的天下，犯罪活動猖獗，而如今創業者正在收回公寓，開辦餐館、市場、畫廊和影院。這些地方隨處可見來自各個種族的人羣，他們神態放鬆，忙着證明政府不能代表一個國家的全貌。
