Our dear friend Cyriac Roeding, the former EVP of mobile at CBS (NYSE: CBS), is on a world tour of about 10 countries in seven weeks. After leaving CBS earlier this year, he is on to the next new thing, and for inspiration—and to unwind—and at our request, he is documenting the mobile lifestyle across the countries he is touring. This “postcard” for us from South Africa…check out his pictures of the mobile lifestyle in the country, here on Flickr. His first three postcards from Bhutan, Nepal and India, here.

“Until 14 years ago, South Africa was the only country in Africa that had a constitution that sanctioned a government running against the country’s majority.  Less than 16% of the population was white, and yet this minority ruled by law.  The country was internationally isolated by embargos against its apartheid regime that forced black citizens – with military power where needed – to live in impoverished, overcrowded townships and hostels with hardly enough water.  Crime soared along with unemployment, and so did HIV, due to massive numbers of migrant workers.

In 1994, after much unrest, a new constitution was passed, and de Klerk, the last white President, handed leadership to Nelson Mandela, who had been imprisoned for 27 years, never budging to offers of personal freedom in exchange of accepting the apartheid regime.

Today, after three election cycles, some effects of apartheid are still clearly visible.  Unemployment stands at 23% - that is more than thrice India’s rate.  HIV rates are appallingly high – some estimates suspect 6 million people are infected in a country with 48 million (12.5%).  Crime rates are unacceptable.  Upscale neighborhoods with mansions are still towering right over vast areas of ramshackle huts.  Not political ideologies force people to live there today, but sheer economics.  They simply cannot afford a better place.  Differences between rich and poor are extreme.

And yet, despite these effects from the past, South Africa struck me as having enormous energy, positive spirit and drive for change (apart from its striking beauty and diversity, from wildlife to winelands).  Setbacks occur continuously;  such as the recent violence against foreigners from other African countries that hit the press and shocked the country.  But from an overall perspective, the country seems well on its way to move into the future.  It is also a leading-edge “mobile country.”  Screens of bank terminals encourage users to switch over to cellphone banking.  Airports and agencies hand out “text and win sweepstakes” feedback cards on arrival to incentivize travelers to provide reviews and request travel tips for hotels and restaurants while in South Africa.  On the road at traffic lights, street hawkers walking the stopped cars don’t offer window washing like elsewhere; they sell mobile phone charge cords for car use instead.  And on TV, some advertainment shows are entirely based on SMS responses.  A show called “Leza LegalWise“ provides legal advice based on text message requests.

Even in the wild, mobile is key and pervasive in South Africa.  Many parts of the vast Kruger National Wildlife Park have perfect cell phone voice and EDGE data connectivity (see the picture with a rhino in the background).  Ironically, stationary PC internet access at safari lodges is not stationary:  Regular desktop PC’s are connected to the web via mobile connection to the next tower in the Park.

To top it off, mobile technology is also employed to help overcome the remnant effects of apartheid.  In the townships of tens of thousands of metal shacks, cell phones are the key to communication for the people that live there.  Where telephone lines and stationary computers are a rarity, the population avoids the cord altogether and leaps right to mobile phones, like we have seen in Nepal, India and Bhutan.

Throughout the country, crime is also tackled using mobile phones.  Outdoor billboards call out in big letters “Mobile-ize Against Crime!”  Citizens are asked to tip off the police if they see suspicious activity by texting to a shortcode.  This struck me as tricky at first (I grew up next to Stasi East Germany which encouraged citizens to “tell” on each other); but the motivation here in South Africa is not politics, it is security.  At this point, the South African government will use any tool it can in its quest to bring down crime rates.

Mobile phones play many roles in South Africa – from “Big Five wildlife spotters” to “anywhere bankers” to “instant legal advisors” to “most pervasive crime busters.””