Don’t vilify SA’s white people
The article by Ayesha Fakie “How our heritage is reduced to ash” (September 21), regarding Heritage Day refers. The writer takes it on herself to insult, vilify and divide her fellow South Africans, and the white population group in particular.
Her prescriptive and perceived ideas about how different cultural groups should celebrate Heritage Day is not only suggestive of hypocrisy, but of more concern, blatant racism and sexism.
In her hateful diatribe the writer uses the word “white” and “whiteness” at least 60 times. “White supremacy”, “white supremacist capitalist patriarchy”, “white man’s ego”, “white heritage is synonymous with abuse”, “white pride”, “white narcissism”, “violent white heritage”; “white supremacist capitalist society”; “whiteness exploitative capitalism” are a few of her racist utterances used. These are slogans that even Bell Pottinger would not have been able to contrive.
The writer’s hateful, insulting, onesided, simplistic and narrow-minded view of “white” heritage is totally misplaced. Historical atrocities and human rights abuses committed by other cultural groups are conveniently ignored. They include the Rwandan genocide, Matabeleland massacres, Shaka wars and human rights abuses and atrocities committed in Zaire, Zimbabwe, Sudan, Uganda, China, Eritrea, Myanmar, et cetera.
I may add that “white” heritage celebration goes beyond having a “braai”, as the writer is suggesting. The advent of electricity, telephony, radio, computers, television, radar, airplanes, trains, bicycles, motor cars, photography, medical science and equipment, agricultural science and equipment, to name but a few, is part of the contribution that “white” heritage has brought to this world. I am certain that Fakie does partake in the use of some of these inventions? Does she acknowledge and celebrate this contribution of “white” heritage? Obviously not.
Judging by the contents of the writer’s tirade, it does appear that she has a significant hateful and racist bias by which she is causing a disservice to all the different cultural groups in our country. Her demeanour joins the ranks of the Penny Sparrows and Kessie Nairs.
In closing, I do find it ironic that the racist, sexist, insulting and dividing utterances made in Fakie’s article are made in her capacity as “head of the Sustained Dialogues Programme at the Institute for Justice and Reconciliation”. How bizarre.