Citizens still hope for united country
Survey shows people believe reconciliation is not yet complete
AS RECONCILIATION Day nears, seven in 10 South Africans feel that the country still needs to be unified. Experts, however, say that reconciliation cannot happen only between government and civil society, but also in private spheres and social interactions.
According to the SA Reconciliation Barometer (Sarb), released by the Institute For Justice and Reconciliation (IJR) in Cape Town yesterday, 75.3% of citizens believe that a united country is desirable.
“Optimism about the potential for a more unified society follows a similar trend to the desirability of greater unity. The majority of South Africans – 68% – believed in 2017 that it is possible to create an united South Africa,” the report read.
“Only 56.1% of South Africans, however, agree that South Africa has made progress in reconciliation since the end of apartheid,” it said.
Fewer than half of South Africans reported that their friends and family have experienced reconciliation after the end of apartheid.
“73.5% of South Africans feel that South Africa still needs reconciliation, while 63.4% agree that reconciliation is impossible for as long as people who were disadvantaged under apartheid remain poor. The ‘gap between rich and poor’ is furthermore ranked as the biggest source of division by Sarb respondents in 2017. The ranking of inequality as the greatest source of social division in the country, has prevailed since the inception of the Sarb in 2003 (with two exceptions),” the report found.
The IJR also hosted a panel discussion on reconciliation in the country. Panelists included Ebrahim Fakir from ASRI; Gugu Nonjinge of the IJR; Community Chest chief executive Lorenzo Davids; and Professor Rajen Govender from UCT.
Fakir said South Africans may want a united country, but the reality was that citizens were not nice people.
“Everyone wants a united country and of course they will say that, it is a survey they are participating in. When we look at the private sector you would see that they are not nice. Look at the corruption at Steinhoff, yet it is people that complain that government is corrupt. When we look at our state institutions we can clearly see that black citizens give these institutions a chance. Whites on the other hand have this belief that the institutions will fail, so they have a prove-me-wrong attitude,” he said.
Fakir said citizens needed a democracy that worked. “A government that delivers and institutions that cater for people.”
Govender said the problem with state capture was not the Guptas, but the available opportunities to capture the state. “The Guptas did not come to South Africa and simply decided to capture the state. They did so by the opportunity presented to them and that stems from a decline in transparency and accountability. How did we allow this to happen so soon?” he said.