Violent student protests a manifestation of slow pace of transformation

DIALOGUE is a vital means to break down the structural and systematic racial walls that continue to blight South Africa’s ideal of a Rainbow Nation.

This was mentioned during a threeday anti-racism conference which tackles issues in the hope of finding ways to combat the scourge.

The conference, which is being held at Constitution Hill in Braamfontein, is hosted by the Anti-Racism Network of South Africa (Arnsa).

It brought together representatives from civil society, academics and NGOs and ordinary South Africans.

Chief executive of the Nelson Mandela Foundation, Sello Hatang, who was among the guest speakers, called for efforts to empower the youth, particularly black children.

He said the violent protests that had engulfed many universities was a manifestation of the slow pace of transformation.

“How do we make sure black children are not bank ATM cards that are not recognised? The recent acts of violence by young people is a direct indication that our transformation efforts have failed,” he said.

Hatang criticised the “incident based outrage” on racism and made an appeal to people to tackle the issue, instead of shying away from it.

“We need to educate ourselves and stop pretending like we know. Our leaders need to lend a sympathetic ear to the youth.”

The delegates were then split into groups to discuss various topics around racism. Among the topics were the establishment of human rights clubs which help educate children about combating racism at primary and high school level.

Facilitated by Foundation for Human Rights member Sarah Motha, the clubs are part of the initiatives guided by Section 9 of the constitution.

“Our education system lacks grooming and educating young children to stand up for themselves in events where they are discriminated against,” she said.

Motha said nearly 80 percent of children admitted to Grade 1 failed to successfully reach matric without failing at least once.

“At their youthful and vulnerable stage is where we need to empower them,” she said.

The implementation of human rights clubs in schools would mean children could use their spare time to unpack the constitution and form support structures for those in their school who are discriminated against for whatever reason, be it race, sexual orientation or religious persuasion, she said.