We dare not forget scars of the past

SOUTH Africa has beautiful beaches, but they can also be an ugly, political battlefield.

For decades under apartheid, beaches were segregated – with the minority white population enjoying exclusive access to some of the finest stretches where they could relax in the sun and build luxury homes with spectacular views. Blacks, coloureds and Indians were given separate, less-appealing beaches for their use. Occupying whites-only beaches in acts of disobedience of the law was an obvious strategy for anti-apartheid activists and, when apartheid ended, “whites-only” signs came down and – in theory anyway – everyone got to enjoy any beach of their choice.

That is in theory; in practice, however, the legacy of entitlement lived on well beyond 1994, displayed so vividly in Penny Sparrow’s callous comments on Facebook over New Year two years ago, in which she compared black holidaymakers on Durban’s beachfront to monkeys bringing dirt and discomfort to others (read whites).

Similar “discomfort” appears to have been felt by the privileged who call the Atlantic Seaboard home when, on December 23, security guards asked people to leave the famous 4th Beach at Clifton. There does not appear to have been any tension on the beach; rather it appears the guards had been employed by businesses in the area.

In the days that followed there have been numerous protests, including one in which a sheep was brought to the beach for slaughter by a group calling itself the Black People’s National Crisis Committee. This was followed by an EFF protest march from the city centre to Clifton this past Sunday.

On New Year’s Day things were calm on the beaches of the Western Cape and KwaZulu-Natal, but as we go into a new year, 25 years on from the beginning of our democracy, we dare not forget the scars of the past and how easy it is to scratch them open.