By Guy Chennells
This article is in continuation of a debate that I must admit I’ve only partly followed. It’s about race and being South African. If you know what you’re going to say in response already, this is not for you. If you feel a gnawing hunger for an unsure offering, like it’s a missing vitamin from your diet of opinionated point-makers, then tuck in your napkin and read on. Maybe you will add nuance to your views and help to broaden those of others.
My premise: there are some really nasty people in the world. Mostly, they make the lives of their spouses, kids, and co-workers unhappy. They manipulate, they judge unfairly, they use violence on people weaker than them. It is unfortunate that some of them are also great – not in the admirable sense, but in the sense that they have capacity to be influential on a level wider than just their families and communities. When those people get into power (and they’re the ones who fight the hardest for it) they do what all their co-assholes do and inflict misery on their entire circle of influence, bar the few that tow their narcissistic line.
People all lie somewhere on a good-bad continuum, I suppose, but on the other side of an arbitrary line on the continuum lie the rest of us. Not evil, per se, but not short of ugly motives, laziness, or selfishness either. Most of us are like this. If things are in our favour, we’ll take it. If they’re not, we’ll complain, endure and grow bitter. We’ll rail against unfair disadvantage, but quietly accept an unfair advantage. White people in South Africa were in a position to do the latter for years. If they just towed the line, or protested quietly, they could enjoy an unfair advantage in life at the glaring cost of anyone not fortunate enough to be in their arbitrary club. They did what people do – they worked hard, built businesses, studied, kept up with the Joneses. You would have done the same. It’s totally mind blowing how quickly people become accustomed to prejudice in their favour, and find the mental methods to live with it. It may sound like I’m justifying apartheid. I’m not, at all. But I want to lay the blame at two levels. Primarily, on those who are evil, narcissistic, obstinate, power-hungry, capable, and luckier or stronger than the rest. And then on those who are human and happen to fall among fate’s favoured few. I blame you. I blame me. I blame people for acquiescing to a regime of hatred and oppression when it suited them. I blame people for acquiescing to a regime of hatred and oppression when it suits them now. You are white and you are black. Some of you have thrown in your lot with evil in the past. Some of you do it now. Some will do it in the future. You, we, are all wrong to do it.
I hate that my education and success are illegitimate, built on oppressive advantage. But then I hate the idea of giving it up now because it was ill-gained. I do something to help those who are “historically disadvantaged”, but it’s always from my surplus. I don’t share to the extent that I’m financially equivalent to the people that I help. Andile Mngxitama wrote an arresting article that snapped me out of my malaise; but it also made me feel that as a white person, I’m trapped within this dilemma. He doesn’t seem to want me to progressively reform and give as much as I can bring my selfish soul to part with – that would be humiliating, insulting “benevolence”. What’s startling is that with this line of reasoning he fatalistically suggests that all white people can do is “simply laugh out loud”. In other words, coming from an unethical position of privilege there is nothing ethical that whites can do – the agency lies entirely with black people and whites should just carry on, waiting to see what happens, and not be too surprised if one day the privilege is taken from them.
Where does that leave me? I’m baffled by articles such as this that make valid points, but leave me unsure as to what I should actually do. So here is my unsure offering: in the absence of a clear, just path through the ethical quagmire, for South Africans who have to make choices today about how they will live, I suggest that the responsibility be shared. Without an environment created by people with the spiritual and character resources to accept white people’s inadequate attempts at redress, whites will remain too easily frozen in their heartless, arrogant, unapologetic ideology. People can only “lower the cordons in the locations of [their] hearts”, as Verashni Pillay called for us to do in her excellent article on the subject, when they are not under attack. What seems to me to be an inescapable, almost ironic, reality is that the economic and social fate of black South Africans is tied to that of whites. Like bricks in a wall, if you pull us out, the building collapses. Black people should consider whether they could live with an outcome where white people participate in an economic upliftment that sustainably benefits the majority of blacks. Because if whites lose in this country, so do blacks. That’s not an appeal for an Mbekian solution, one that is simply and blindly macroeconomic. I’m advocating the need for changed individuals, who do what they can (not what’s easy) with their conversations, finances, skills, and social capital. We need white people who go past soul searching to be deeply motivated to labour for structural change to our country’s structural racism. But I don’t think they will get there through attack.
So please, challenge us. Prod us and urge us, sometimes threaten us. But then humour us when we start to unclench our selfish, frightened fists. Cheer us on when we make steps toward recognising our racism and foolish self-righteousness, and we begin to repent. Encourage us when we offer a bursary (for example), and then show us how to give sacrificially when you use it to ascend into and above the middle class. Shame us into giving. We need your help if we are going to be better than the past. And God help you to be better than us when you find yourself in our shoes.
Guy grew up in KZN, studied in the Cape, lived in India, and now loves his home in Braamfontein, Jozi.
race issue is a thorny one because we fail to accept that it is two way. Blacks can be racist too (I am black). I used to see the world in two colours i.e. black and white until I realised, through seeing the little/big things done by some whites for some blacks, that not all whites are racist.
orphanages that house black abandoned black babies run by white women giving those babies uncondiotional love.
black and white kids collecting clothes and blankets in winter for the destitute
kids from private schools adopting schools in poor communities
bursaries provided for disadvantaged high school leavers
We owe it to ourselves to build a non racial nation by at least allowing our children who were not born during apartheid to see each other as human beings, not as white or black. they will work together on school projects, innovations and in strengthening the economy
The masses dont understand whats wrong with their existance, currently they are blaming government corruption and black african foreigners, its only a matter of time before they blame white south africans for their plight, they are loosing patience. No bad did goes unpunished, its a morality tail.
Who are “us” who need to be cheered on? And who are you addressing, apart from Mr. Mngxitama?
Whites as individuals can do their best to contribute to South Africa. Once whites see themselves as part of a white community, then race-thinking is already triumphant. If whites saw themselves as South Africans, it would be possible to start thinking about class, which is the enormous issue which apartheid left us with.
Interesting that Mbeki has a reputation now of thinking only about economics. Actually, for most of his career after the elections, the white community denounced him as an evil racist who was out to get them.
Now this is the best article I have read in a long time! For the last 2-3years I have read all these articles published by blacks and pseudo black intellectuals telling me how useless and bad whites are in SA. Well given there still are some really racist conservative whites in SA left, that will hopefully die out sooner than later.
They tell me I have to change, I have to make it right, I have to confess and say I am sorry and recognise the past. But they do not say one word how they want me to go about this. Except old Tutu said I must pay 1% tax.
I am 43 my parent voted YES to stop apartheid, and I am a true blue blood non-racist South African, if I have to apologise I will, just tell me in what format and how?
But for god sake this non stop whining is getting a bit much, every other week there is a new intellectual harping on with the same old song and no new suggestion on how whites, and that are the ones that do want to be part of SA must go about what they require to ease the pain.
There is a vast majority of people of good will and character in South Africa regardless of background..
All they need are leaders who are ethical ..
I read these kinds of articles with something akin to incredulity. Whites didn’t segregate blacks because of their skin colour – that’s just a convenient myth – they did it because of their perceived capabilities.
Until Africa shows that it can manage itself without whites, and that it can do things that really benefit the populace without corruption and decay, then white attitudes will remain the same forever.
And as long as the ANC entrenches racism – whatever the ‘reasons’ – then whites will entrench racism, it’s as simple as that.
The answer is simple. Show the world what Africans can do, we will all resepct you.
@Graham Johnson
‘Whites didn’t segregate blacks because of their skin colour – that’s just a convenient myth – they did it because of their perceived capabilities’.
This such utter naive and ahistorical nonsense that I cannot believe that even you believe it.
‘Until Africa shows that it can manage itself without whites’.
Africa has had a 20 year period of economic growth higher than at point to date. All without white government. Over the past decade six of the world’s ten fastest-growing countries were African. In eight of the past ten years, Africa has grown faster than East Asia, including Japan. The Economist, not a magazine given to radical pronouncements, declared Africa the hopeful continent in a December issue last year:
http://www.economist.com/node/21541015
If you choose to take off your blinkers then you will find Africa is changing very rapidly for the better.
@Graham Johnson: “And as long as the ANC entrenches racism – whatever the ‘reasons’ – then whites will entrench racism, it’s as simple as that.”
That statement is really demoralising.
If you can not, on your own, irrespective of what the ANC does, lead a life of non-racialism, then you do not have the principle inside you.
Remember, there is only one person in the world over whom you (should) have full control, and that is yourself.
On a side note: While the official ANC policy is one of non-racialism, there are unfortunately many individual members who harbour deeply-hidden racial hang-ups. This cognitive dissonance is what I think manifests in the prevalent double-speak, hints at social engineering, continuous need for clarification (“you interpreted me incorrectly”), and so on.
This cognitive dissonance is so deeply entrenched that these individuals fully convince themselves they are completely non-racial, are aghast when their credibility is even vaguely questioned, and often respond with palpably absurd statements such as “blacks can not be racist, only whites can be racist.” That the logical fallacy of such a racially-based statement about non-racialism is obvious to even a novice student of logic, only goes to show how strong the denial is.
Caveat: My sample universe rests way too strongly on blogs and comments on blogs, but I would really be intrigued what a scientific analysis of (say) Thought Leader’s blogs would reveal.
“The dilemma of race”……race IS not a dilemma, it has been MADE a dilemma.
Must I run around saying “mea culpa, mea culpa, mea maxima culpa” for being white??
In my younger days, we had a black man (Dakar) sharing our household. He was hiding for the Germans and my parents gave him shelter for a year and a half at great risks for them selves.
Must I run around and proof that I am not a racist????
Yes, I do make racist remarks at times. We all have our prejudices. Do you mind??
But generally, I treat people as equal human beings.
Must I go around and proof that I care for the poor?? I won’t.
Race -imho- has been made a dilemma by history, including the old Nats, and continued to being made a dilemma by the current Government.
I will never eat humble pie for being white. I do expect the same from any other African, Chinese, Indian or whatever race you can dream up.
The problem with self hatred is the fact that one fails to accept one’s role and responsibility in the new dispension and also the fact that you were in fact a perpetrator of a hienous crime against humanity. The only victim is the act of racism is blacks in general and African in particular. No amount of skirting will ignore this very basic fact. The question however and the opportunity granted to the perpetrators in our country is the opportunity of their decisive moment. Let me repeat that: an opportunity to grab your decisive moment in history.
Also let me ask you a question, have you ever looked at the experience of racism from my point of view. I am black and the experiences of being black has never been palpable. It’s as if the perpetrator will not let me forget that I am black. Sure you have constructed me from your beliefs of propaganda and stereotype but you havent allowed to be. The other problem I have with the perpetrator is their comittment to their former beliefs and status. eg Graham Johnson et al. There is no wholesale committment is rebuilding our society. There is no wholesale commitment for them to come out of their closet. The wholesale pretence is just sickening and nauseating.
But, as I have said you had the opportunity to make that decisive decision and realign yourselves to your responsibilites in rebuilding this country from racisct to non-racist. Sadly, mostly all have yet again failed this country!
I think Guy sums up the human condition accurately. It is not easy to be brave and a rebel when you happen to be part of the privileged part of society because you have something to loose. I know it is a weak excuse, and I wish I did more back in the eighties so I could have a clear concience now, but I did not. But that does not mean, as a white person, I do not know that I stil prosper due to benefits from the previous dispensation.
And the biggest benefit I got was almost free education up to university degree level. If our present government could focus on that – upping the quality of free state education in the poorest pockets of society, I believe we’ll start to seriously redress the situation.
That is why I contribute to these blogs: to highlight the need for our state to focus on education, which will enable young people to pull themselves up from poverty to a life of dignity and achievement. It starts there. That is what I received from the apartheid era that still gives me opportunities to prosper. And I wish it it for every South African: the ability to prosper if you have opportunities to take that will open the world for you.
But as Guy pointed out, it is difficult. I do not really know how to productively “labour for structural change to our country’s structural racism”, even if I try to contribute…
I guess, like all fellow South Africans I will be perpetually confronted with the question of race. The peculiar manner with which we dealt with race in South Africa culminating in our history of apartheid will have an influence on the South African experience for a very long time. These are my views:
All men are equal. But our history has made the majority less equal. How do we address this legacy in the context of trying to establish a fair and equal society. Surely not by allowing those who have made the race issue their currency of trade and have cornered this market for their selfish ends. They play the race card at will.
Unfortunately, this discounts the contribution a previously privileged white minority could make towards this fair and equal society. This past privilege has by an large provided them with the skill, the work ethic and know how. Can we harness these for the development of the majority who have been previously disadvantaged without brow beating these white South Africans into submission?
Unfortunately some want to take sole credit for our liberation and the development of a fair and equal society. First however, they must feed and entrench themselves into positions of power. Tragically they are in the ascendancy!
The only viable counter a social movement rooted in giving real power to the man in the street and not the economic and political monopolies that currently exist.
According to a poll in Nuus24 (whose target market is Afrikaans speakers), 78% of the respondents have no long term commitment in staying in South Africa. http://afrikaans.news24.com/
Even if they will never actually leave, in their hearts they no longer feel part of South Africa.
And why should they?
The only thing that is valued from them is the tax that they pay.
Mugabe is the Malema’s hero. Mugabe has driven out most of the white population.
How self destructive is that “victory”!
What pride is there in becoming just another beggar nation?
@Graham Johnson:
Wow dude! Do you mean to tell me that anyone born ‘n bred in Africa with white skin isn’t African? I can’t see that as being true. I’m African. I’ve never left the continent and the last ties my family had with Europe ended in 1858.
You might also want to check your history books on African accomplishments. During the 1960′s, several African countries had the fastest growing economies in the so-called Third World which were outpacing the likes of South Korea. Sadly, this progress was trashed by “nationalist” movements and American-affiliated espionage and bribery (Charles Taylor has just been busted for having close ties to the CIA, btw…).
We’ve made thing work before so there is really no reason why we can’t do it again.
Why do we keep dividing our ethnicity? Those born on the African continent are by definition African. In South Africa specifically, there is so much to be celebrated among our people, ethnically. Yet we continue to break each other down, focussing on negative traits, rather than celebrate our positive contributions to this excellent country. Why? There is so much we can learn from each other, yet we are divided between black and white and a ‘never the two shall meet’ attitude. The only thing standing in the way of SA greatness is us and our constant need to bisect black and white.
Now, while on the emphasis of defining a group based on race: What is the responsibility of black South Africans since they are a majority? Is it to merely use this majority to push through decisions which are obvious wrong? Speak about cutting your nose to spite your face. How do black South Africans begin to shift their paradigms and value systems to allow them a natural progression towards being justly dominant in all aspects of South African life?
What about the previously advantaged white South Africans. Is it to place a premium on their contribution to this fair and equal South Africa we would like to create? Do they understand that equity means the majority (black) should ultimately take its rightful place in all spheres of South African life? That the majority of South African wealth will be in black hands – everything else equal? Are they willing to work tirelessly and in partnership with their fellow countrymen towards this eventuality?
One of the best articles I’ve read on this subject.
We are created to work in relationships; family, community, work, world.
Any artificial boundary stops this happening, can be our own boundaries or ones imposed on us.
There was the artificial boundary of apartheid, there now is the artificial boundary of B.E.E. Two wrongs still do not make a right.
An education is a nice thing to have; it teaches us that we can learn more about whatever we want by finding the information to read. It doesn’t make us gods. Many of us bemoan the present education system because we notice how little people seem to be achieving within it. My father managed an SA Standard 7 (Grade 9) in a pre-apartheid system; he was then thrown out of school because his behaviour left much to be desired. He found a job, studied alone to gain qualifications in the mining industry while doing his quota of hours underground. When he decided to join the RAF, he took advantage of an offer to join as an officer, as long as he could pass the entrance exam. Unfortunately, he arrived in Britain with broken ribs and failed the medical board. Because he had no money, he couldn’t wait for the ribs to heal, so he joined in the ranks and worked his way up digging latrines (with broken ribs), working as a mechanic and eventually becoming an officer after passing numerous tests to get there…all of which he had to study for alone while working full time. He loved SA and eventually retired here.
If an SA matric today can teach everyone how to study on his own, it will have done the trick. I can assure you that that’s all it taught most whites during the apartheid era. Little of what we learnt back in 1968 qualified us for much more. Most of the technology didn’t exist then.
(more to come)
@Geoff Smart
I often get this “two wrongs does not make a right” retort from people when I discuss affirmative action and BEE. They however see the need for redress for the black majority and suggest exposing them to a good educational system and through it they believe the sheer stats will gradually place them into their rightful (i.e justly dominant) place in society.
This argument falls flat when one considers a distinct requisite for the development of societies: My argument states that no great civilization or society has ever developed without the disproportionately higher contribution of minorities who find themselves within this society. Majorities tend to be “lazy” and find comfort in their sheer numbers. It is the minorities who bring a different perspective. Incidentally, I do not believe in affirmative action as a tool for redressing the plight of a majority. Affirmative action works well when dealing with a minority because it is intended to ultimately assimilate this group into the habits and methods of the majority. I do not believe we are suggesting that the majority in South Africa be affirmed and hence assimilated into the habits and methods of the minority. Rather, should we not be looking at the cultures, habits and methods of the majority align these to our vision and make these our norm into which the minority needs to be assimilated? In any case, minorities tend to excel and punch beyond their weight in a just society despite being…
(continued)
The only other really important thing is access to a job of some sort. Both of these requisites are beyond the average white person’s ability to provide for all South Africans. We are happy if our taxes can do this. Unfortunately, the taxes don’t reach the necessary destinations.
With jobs, people can save something to study further after hours. I don’t know the statistics re how many Afrikaans speakers studied this way, but most my age began working straight from school and built their education over the years, which is why so many claim it was not handed to them on a plate. We don’t understand instant access to the best jobs.
This is one of the most intelligent pieces I have seen on this subject. It makes the point that ordinary white South Africans have no idea of what is expected of them or how to achieve for black South Africans what they desire. We cannot do the learning for them. We have no influence in mainstream education and medium to large businesses. At one time, almost every white home employed a domestic worker; few can any longer afford to do so, so that’s just one area where jobs shrank alarmingly. Lousy jobs, it is true, but better than nothing. Even my first jobs were pretty ghastly. I often worked half the night and slept on the floor at my desk because I had no way of getting home. For years I worked two jobs to earn more; I sacrificed a social life for that.
Could I give everyone some sort of job, I would. But it isn’t so easy.
Thanks for the comments everyone. I’m disheartened by the folk who took this as an oppotunity to show how closed their hearts are. Stop. Examine yourself. You talk with such self-righteous confidence…are you sure you are above reproach?
But I’m also encouraged by the nuanced views of some who see the need for a more humble and personal response to nation building from both white and black south africans.
Perhaps the message to white south africans was too soft: you can do more than you do. You can be more thoughtful and empathetic than you are. You can be more generous in your judgements. You can be more challenging in your braai-side conversation. Don’t wait another day to grasp your precious privelage which is the ability to be a greater person than you are today. Don’t settle for doing just enough to have an answer for your critics. Don’t be right, be great.
Hmmm. It’s dead simple, really. Just give up hating. Give up hating anything and anyone. Give up hating yourself / ourself / themself / myself / non-self / who-self / what-self…
I mean, it’s just so tiresome isn’t it? And so wearying; so draining; so much deadly labour in it…
Of course, that is the Safrican Way, one supposes – too stupid; too hide-bound; too nasty and gossipy; too influenced by public media which have got to keep on talking, regardless how crass and repetitive and pointless…
So the country is going down the drain. Naturally, as we have a government as wicked but more stupid than the evil Nats were. But still, why do we expend our resources on inciting hatred amongst one another? There is only one reason left: The ANC “govt” has invested everything in a program of official hatred. They cling to the trump card of the devil for they have no virtue to share with the nation.
One of the best articles I’ve read on the topic. It resonates with almost everything I concluded while growing up on the Cape Flats in the 80′s. It’s shocking that there are so few who think like Guy. But my thoughts on the subject evolved further during my residence in Europe. Only then the SA puzzle came together. Europeans, and even the most supposedly liberal of them, are in essence some of the most selfish, egoistic people I’ve ever come across. So what we see in South Africa is really no surprise.
@ Tommy Madikoto
Interesting points, thanks. Some sort of “affirmative action” is needed but I sense we both say what is being done is not right. I’d like to see your reasoning more fully developed, maybe in a Reader Blog?
@Mao Brac: “Europeans, and even the most supposedly liberal of them, are in essence some of the most selfish, egoistic people I’ve ever come across.”
Wow.
How sad that in today’s day and age people can still jump to generalised conclusions like that.
Those same “Europeans” that initiated socialistic thought. Those same “Europeans” who, of their own free will, decided that slavery is bad and abolished it.
And now, notwithstanding all the world’s knowledge of psychological subjectivity and bias (especially confirmation bias), Mao Brac can come up with the statements above.
Being so caught up in self-created, self-reinforcing delusion, Mao Brac wouldn’t know the truth if it hit Mao Brac in the face.
Please, open your eyes, recognise your emotional biases for what they are, and use your mind.
This article by Guy Chennells warmed my heart. It is so clear and devoid of the self-protecting self-justifying positions that occupy the centre of this whole debate. We are all as humans essentially similar, namely with strong tendencies to act out of weakness and fear, but also and encouraged by the right circumstances, to go far and deep out of our comfort zone to be compassionate towards others. Primatologists believe that like primates, humans have two very equal drives, the one for opportunism and the other for collaboration. For the first of these you could read the unconscious, self-serving and fear-based attacks on others for own advantage, and for the latter you could read a deep desire, when not under attack and when the state recognises that we are all bricks in the same wall, to contribute towards the public good.
Well done Guy you make us proud
rotman.
Race race race, South Africans are so obsessed with it. And white liberals who did nothing to change the previous regime now have the biggest issues with it. Reminds me of an old Progressive party meeting and the blue hair tannies talking about how kind they were to the maid, “you know we even paid for her to catch the train home”
Get over it. Your skin is white and that just means take it easy in the sun. Nothing to feel guilty about your education. Do you think the rich dude who has just finished private school because daddy benifitted by being a cabinet minister feels guilty? Not at all. Or the Indian layer who went to the UK to get her degree while daddy ripped off the local populace? (The white mams from Sandton buying thier ethnic spices)
Denying race is denying a fundamental aspect of your persona, however if you think like a Verwoerd, you have a problem, but if you think like a Tutu, well you have a different but a much nicer problem.
To move forward, get over trying to be the bwana and helping the poor black guys, rather be the one that is honest about his intentions and deals with every one fairly and straight.
Don’t try and talk street slang because you are not a bro, be honest to yourself and those around you and you will do a damn side better than feeling guilty about your education.
Sadly it is always only whites who are racist, but at the end of the day they do have themselves to blame. But than how many Arab women are allowed to marry Fasi…
Zimbabwe is a great example of how not to run a country. Followed by Nigeria, Kenya, Angola, Mozambique, Malawi, DRC and all other sub-saharan countries.
They all stopped developing the moment control was given to the majority. Not a single one has ended corruption or decay. Their economic growth is only because the minority still hold the levers of financial power.
The ANC wants both their taxes and their power. It is hell bent on bringing SA to its knees. Their behavious paints all their kind with the same brush. How do you like a person who just wants to take, take, take?
This is a most refreshing and welcome addition to debates on white privilege, guilt and role in South Africa. As a white male who also unwittingly benefited from the accident of my birth, I find it unusual to witness another admitting the annoyance we intuitively feel at being disparaged for the accident of our birth. Also his admitting how difficult it is to part meaningfully with our ‘surplus’ in favour of those that our forebears collectively harmed. I have benefitted recently from reading a book entitled “the Gift” by anthropologist Marcel Mauss. In it he famously makes and proves the thesis, after examining ancient societies in which goods and services are freely exchanged often without overt acknowledgement, that “there is no such thing as a gift”. Humans only give in the context of relationships of often subtle but nevertheless essential reciprocation, where there is always “something in it” for the giver. We as those with potential to give more need to find and know our place in this complex society, where we are encouraged to give more to those less fortunate. We whites need to feel, to know that our attempt to override our innate caution and selfishness is not to be spurned as “expiation of guilt” but rather to be received as an attempt to contribute towards a new web of interrelatedness. Guy’s article is arresting and powerful. It is rumoured that he is known as a man of numbers, I do not think that is his greatest gift. Let’s see his way with…
Two points i like in this article:-
1. You would have done the same. It’s totally mind blowing how quickly people become accustomed to prejudice in their favour, and find the mental methods to live with it; and
2. And God help you to be better than us when you find yourself in our shoes.
We have a long way to go, but we will get there, as long a we believe that there is a way.
@Sanzer, this is the approach that we need. Lets stop tip toeing around each other and get over it.
A genuine Thought for once but I can’t agree with the premise that “What seems to me to be an inescapable, almost ironic, reality is that the economic and social fate of black South Africans is tied to that of whites”. It isn’t really. You’ve bought into the Malema rhetoric that “whites” have some sort of control that makes “blacks” tied to them. They don’t. The drivers of the SA economy should be efficiency and productivity tied to government support as regards infrastructure. Currently all are in a shambles with Eskom top of the useless heap. Dismantle monopolies, licencing, restrictive legislation, cadre deployment and tenderpreneurship and give everyone a straight and fair run at the money and SA will boom. Race should play next to no part.
I really agree with your premise, at the very least. It bothers me that anyone should be made to feel like their on the backfoot even slightly because of their skin colour, especially again in South Africa. I say to myself that skin colour had little to do with apartheid in the beginning; it’s ignorant, oppressive, and exploitative mindsets that sowed the seeds.
I must drive a wedge here between race and skin colour. My skin colour might tell you what side of the divide I used to be on in this country (if I’m even from this country), but not that I am Venda, Zulu, Afrikaans, Pedi, or of English. My point is that our roots all go much, much deeper than skin colour.
You are a South African. Choose to build new bridges and get to know your fellow South Africans, no matter what they look like. Find a little bit more about another culture, learn a language you don’t know (and let your kids learn a new one), learn to sokkie, etc… Then you’ll be able to be compassionate to another South African because of who that person really is, not because of their skin colour.
Well said, Zano
@jack sparrow, I don’t mean that whites have control over black people, I mean that millions of white individuals are built into the economic foundations of the country…there’s no way of extricating them without the house coming down…