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Comment by jasonkester | Hacker News Reader

Missed a word in the title: South Africa.

That changes things a lot. If it were in Kenya or Nigeria, this would be a bold move. South Africa, on the other hand, is not really all that much different to a middle of the road Western country.

As a result, this news is more on par with opening an incubator in New Zealand or Italy. Certainly cool to hear, but not really "Startups in the Congo" cool.

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"South Africa, on the other hand, is not really all that much different to a middle of the road Western country."

How many western countries have 30% unemployment, roving gangs of looters, and an average literacy level of 2nd/3rd grade?

roving gangs of looters

I've live in South Africa my entire life, but have yet to encounter a "roving gang of looters". Citation?

From people in the country I've heard that there is often a lot of violence that spills out of the slums around election time.

Not to mention that it fights with Congo for the title of rape capital of the world.

Thats BS.South Africa does have a high crime rate i agree but its not as drastic as people make it out to be.

You just say that because you've not lived in a country where you can walk the streets alone safely at night.

7 years in KZN 5 years In Jozi the Rest in Mpumalanga. Yes you are right at night safety levels drop but i think its like that in most developed countries too.But what are you doing walking at night anyways boet? Alone nogal

> i think its like that in most developed countries too.

See that's where you lack perspective. In safe countries (like here in Australia) you can name any suburb in the country and I'll go for a stroll at 3am with no fear for my personal safety. Why? Maybe I was out drinking and I'm catching a bus home.

From people in the country I've heard that there is often a lot of violence that spills out of the slums around election time.

Citation? The only thing I've heard about are "service delivery protests" that happen in townships, usually due to internal power struggles in the ruling party. The worst effect on the average middle class person, is that a road next to a squatter camp or township that they commute on may be blocked with rocks for a few hours, before police clear the scene.

South Africa does have a relatively high rate of violent crime (and a trend towards organised crime) and a corrupt ruling party.

But the people you are speaking to are exaggerating, and could be a bit disaffected, and are probably not the most reliable sources of information.

I've live in South Africa my entire life, but have yet to encounter a "roving gang of looters". Citation?

My wife was born in South Africa and always wanted to go back (her family left when she was a baby), so when an opportunity came to make a sales trip there she jumped at the chance. This was perhaps 5 years ago. One evening in Johannesburg she and a Brit were driving back from dinner when, stopped at a traffic light, they saw gunmen step up to a car ahead of them, one on each side, and force the passengers out with their hands behind their heads. IIRC, it was a one-way street. Luckily for my wife and the Brit, they were the last car in the queue and were able to make a u-turn and zoom out of there.

Was that a "roving gang of looters"? I don't know, but they exemplify Alex's point.

No, that's an example of a hijacking, not a roving gang of looters. Here in SA, hijackings are a risk. Burglaries are a risk. Government corruption, a risk. Roving gangs of looters...not a risk.

SA is a country with reasonably developed cities surrounded by huge rural stretches, at the bottom of the wildest continent in the world. Hard to generalise. However, the biggest challenge for a software startup is more likely to be "raise our game" rather than "avoid the next roving gang of thugs". :)

Middle class South Africa, (still largely white), is pretty Westernised. Private (and semi-private) schools, private hospitals, high end shopping malls, cheap domestic labour - those would be better descriptors for the South Africa most programmers experience.

I would put it more on par with Brasil, there is still a large amount of poverty in SA.

While South Africa is more industrialized than other African countries, I think you are selling Google short here. They are intentionally expanding to the African continent- a hugely populous region currently under-served. While South Africa might be more developed than the rest of the continent, people there must undoubtably know the African market better than Googlers in Silicon Valley. Seems like a smart move to capture a growing mobile market.

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