Is South Africa the boat that sinks below the rising African tide?

The emergence of a liberated South Africa two decades ago was initially seen as a major fillip to what was disdainfully referred to by some as a hopeless continent. It was hoped that a South Africa free of apartheid would be the rising tide that would lift all boats.

But the expectation that South Africa would help to raise the bar for democratic governance has so far proved misplaced. And neither are we able to teach them anything about running their economies. On the economic front, in fact, the rest of the continent is showing us a clean pair of heels.

The end of apartheid and the integration of South Africa into the life of the continent finally accomplished the full restoration of the dignity of all African people. But Africa also expected some economic dividends from South Africa because of its business acumen, first-rate infrastructure and a financial sector that compares with the best in the world.

But we always seem to be a bridge to Africa, not part of it. South Africa's new leadership has unfortunately done nothing to discourage such a sentiment. In fact, they trumpet it with glee. We are, they crow, the gateway to Africa. South Africa deploys such an argument often when seeking seemingly loftier goals, be it membership of the Brics grouping of emerging nations or a permanent seat on the UN Security Council. That has tended to rub many African countries up the wrong way.

South African business, meanwhile, has fanned out across the continent in search of new markets. And those that have mastered the terrain are making a killing. That has created jealousies of its own and whispers of a new form of imperialism.

Such views are to be expected. The key is how they are dealt with. It requires a more skilful diplomacy than we have shown so far.

South Africa has been burdened by conflicting expectations. Some of us, cheered on by the West, want South Africa to go in and "fix" Africa's problems, or wish that our character and values would somehow be infused on the continent. Others expect an uncritical South Africa to be a good ally, to do things the African way and ignore some of its excesses. We've done neither. We've ended up falling between two stools.

South Africa has bolstered its status as a serious player on the world stage with some noted achievements. It hosted a highly successfully Rugby World Cup in 1995 and not only won it, but had Nelson Mandela skilfully using it to unite the country - now part of folklore. And winning the Africa Cup of Nations on home soil seemed to tempt the taste buds even more. Hosting the 2010 Soccer World Cup was the icing on the cake.

These accomplishments so soon after the country's transformation - seen together with institutions to bolster our democracy that are regarded as among the best in the world - unfortunately stoked a sense of South Africa's exceptionalism among some of us, a feeling that South Africa was unique, even superior, and would not end up in the ditch like the rest of Africa.

It's a far-fetched notion that has understandably put a few noses out of joint on the continent. It has led to some even celebrating our difficulties, wishing us to fail.

South Africa is in no position to lecture the continent, say, on corruption. In fact, it has, within a short time, almost caught up with the excesses of the likes of Zaire's Mobutu Sese Seko.

A few weeks ago, the country's education elite went apoplectic when a World Economic Forum report suggested that our schools may be the world's worst performers in maths and science. They nit-picked the report to show its inaccuracies. But they missed the point. The report merely fed into a perception that South Africa was regressing.

In a recent global peace index, which measures a country's peacefulness or absence of violence, South Africa is ranked 32 out of 50 African countries, with Mauritius and Botswana topping the list.

But what comes as a surprise is a study by an American think-tank that tracks the level of interest by major US and European companies in emerging markets. Of the 20 countries across the globe attracting most interest from Western corporations, Nigeria tops the list. Even with Boko Haram on the rampage, Nigeria is where companies want to be. Nine of the 20 attractive countries are in sub-Saharan Africa. Kenya and socialist Angola are high on the list. So are the likes of Ghana, Ethiopia, Tanzania, Zambia and Uganda.

South Africa doesn't feature at all. Even Pakistan, with al-Qaeda running amok, is attracting more attention than us. The International Monetary Fund estimates this year's growth rate in sub-Saharan Africa, excluding South Africa, at 6%. The Reserve Bank revised our growth forecast down to 1.7% this week.

Numbers don't lie. Our peers are on the rise while we seem to be on the slide. We should deal with it.

We can stick our heads in the sand if we like, but then our posteriors will be left exposed.