Africans in KwaZulu-Natal: Let’s cease to feast on the old carcass of scapegoating

South Africa’s freedom was hard-fought, and, as the following examples illustrate, foot soldiers in the struggle came from all walks of life. They were a rainbow people who dreamed of a rainbow nation.

In 1984 Jeannette Schoon and her six year-old daughter, Katryn, were blown up in front of Fritz, Jeannette’s three year-old son, in the kitchen of their house while in exile in Angola. Others endured banning or were imprisoned where they suffered humiliation and torture. Ms Elaine Mohamed, for instance, was ‘to strip, do star jumps, and was fondled by doctors and prison officials’. Ms Phyllis Naidoo was forced to use newspapers instead of sanitary pads. As she recalled: ‘It was horrible, and terribly demeaning’. Mr Schoon and his family were one of a rare breed for whom the police and prison guards reserved special contempt, a fellow Afrikaner family who, in their eyes, had turned their backs on their own people to campaign for equal rights for the black majority. The history of our country overflows with stories like these, underscoring how the liberation of non-white people in South Africa was a shared human sacrifice. For this reason, it always boggles my mind to hear certain quarters recounting the victory over apartheid as if it was the sole effort of black South Africans.

Twenty years onward – and the euphoria accompanying the ANC’s election victory in 1994 has turned to malaise. Perhaps more alarming, the rainbow nation dream seems ever more elusive as workers strike more frequently, protests become increasingly more violent, and the ruling party resorts to dangerous and desperate measures in an effort to retain political power. One tactic that is particularly problematic for our new democracy is the ANC’s tendency to play identity politics; that is, to racialise the discussion of social and economic problems that require reasoned, sensible debate and policy formulation.

The perceived impasse of black Africans’ economic empowerment is one such important debate. Addressing the complexities of such an impasse is crucial, since only sustained economic growth will bring about the conditions in which all South Africans can prosper. This necessitates a multi-dimensional analysis and an assumption of a certain level of responsibility from each and every one of us. Similarly important is a comprehensive government communication strategy which, at its core, endeavours to achieve more social cohesion.

Here in my home province of KwaZulu-Natal, the Xubera Institute for Research and Development recently conducted a miniature survey to quantify the current economic and social upward mobility of black South Africans in KwaZulu-Natal. The primary focus was on measuring the level of meaningful participation of black Africans between the ages of 25 and 50 in business, private sector, state owned enterprises and academia since apartheid. The results of the survey are soon to be made public. However, preliminary findings depict a betrayal of the dream for which generations of people struggled.

Sadly many black South Africans in KwaZulu-Natal remain trapped in an apartheid-engineered economic cul-de-sac. The National Party programme of apartheid had a far-reaching impact. Nevertheless we must not forget who fought for our freedom in the past and we must be sober in our analysis of the situation today. There isn’t a black South African who hasn’t heard of the part played by John Dube, AB Xuma, Albert Luthuli, Steve Biko, and Nelson Mandela. But as I wrote at the start of this article, those who fought for freedom were foot soldiers in a rainbow army.

Especially now, as the Madiba magic wears off, it is important for us to remember sacrifices made by people like Sadhan, the son of Phyllis Naidoo, who in 1989 was shot and killed on the ANC farm he managed in Zimbabwe. While not all of them paid with their lives as Sadhan did, countless white, Indian, and Coloured South Africans made enormous sacrifices so that all of us could be free. They included people like Fatima Meer, Phyllis Naidoo, Elaine Mohamed, Collin Williams, Patrick Duncan, Billy...