BBC - Around the World - Ariel's 'Foreign Bureau' - 3 August 2004

By Barnaby Phillips, Correspondent, Johannesburg, 3 August 2004

Nobody told me Africa could be so cold. I’ve lived in different parts of the continent for years, but Johannesburg winters still came as a shock.

The sunny skies are deceptive. At night it often plunges below zero, and we huddle round log fires and gas heaters.

But I can’t think of too many other reasons to complain about life in Johannesburg. Yes, violent crime is a real threat, we do all live behind high walls and electric fences, and we are cautious about where we go.

But as far as I am concerned, the positives easily outweigh the negatives. Apart from those winter nights, Johannesburg has a fabulous climate. The restaurants are great, the shopping convenient. All the BBC correspondents and producers live within a ten minute drive of the bureau.

It’s quite tempting to think of South Africa as a comfortable base from which to cover the rest of the continent; somewhere to relax, drink cappuccino, and go to the cinema after a gruelling trip to Liberia, the Congo, or Sudan. And then plan the next trip.

I think that’s a mistake. Ten years after the end of apartheid South Africa is still a fascinating society and, in many ways, the painful process of transition has only just begun. There’s no end of great stories here and bringing them to the world’s attention is very satisfying.

While South Africa’s racial wounds are slowly healing, the terrible impact of Aids is only beginning to be felt.

Aids will be with us for generations and here in the bureau we are always looking for new ways to tell the same story; seeking to prick the world’s conscience without overwhelming our audience with feelings of despair.

There’s another story that dominates our thoughts down here: Zimbabwe. The BBC has been banned from Zimbabwe since the middle of 2001. It puts us in an enormously difficult and frustrating position. We are keenly aware of the desperate plight of ordinary Zimbabweans, which we want to bring to wider attention.

We are also aware that Zimbabwe is an African story which has captured the British public’s imagination and we want to satisfy that interest. But it’s dangerous for us to go there.

I’m not going to let you in to our secrets but somehow, against the odds, I think we’ve done a reasonable job at keeping a flow of radio and tv features coming out of Zimbabwe.

Aids, Zimbabwe, Darfur… but I wouldn’t want you to think it's all bad news down here.

One of the highlights of my time in South Africa came on May 15. We were broadcasting live from a square in central Johannesburg. There were thousands of people, staring at a giant screen, watching with bated breath as Sepp Blatter, the head of Fifa, opened a small white envelope.

"And the 2010 World Cup will be held in…" We couldn’t bear the tension... "South Africa!"

Everyone went crazy. I was talking into a camera, trying to look composed. But it wasn’t easy – not least because I could see half the Johannesburg bureau doing a wild jig behind the camera. BBC objectivity – not when it comes to hosting the World Cup.