Harsh treatment still
A NUMBER of social cohesion forums have been established, with the aim of counteracting racism.
This makes one wonder, why put out the fire now that the explosion has gone off ?
These social cohesion forums are nothing but a box-ticking exercise for government statistics or to cover up racism.
I speak as a common man. All a person wants is a job to feed and house his family. That is a decent life.
In the new South Africa the Indian community has faced many hurdles and poverty and economic inequality is one of them. Take a drive into Chatsworth, Phoenix and Northdale in Pietermaritzburg. These are predominantly Indian areas and you will see beggars at robots, shopping centres and on the streets. Unemployment has become so rife in our Indian communities that our people are left with no option but to beg to survive.
I feel for the future generations in the Indian community. Our children study then they cannot get jobs due to BBBEE (Broad Based Black Economic Empowerment). Yes this government policy in itself is racist. It sidelines Indians, coloured and whites from obtaining jobs.
The other issue is land expropriation. Indians came to South Africa, worked and bought their land, having been subjected to harsh working conditions. Then they were chased off the land they owned due to the segregation act and today land expropriation is only black concentrated.
Yes I hear President Cyril Ramaphosa say “our people”, but which group of people is he referring to? If an Indian household does not pay its electricity on time, we are disconnected immediately. If an informal settlement puts up more structures and utilises illegal electricity connections, nothing is done as they protest.
Indians have experienced harsh treatment from indentured labour and apartheid. Now we are subjected to BBBEE – the apartheid of the black regime. These social cohesion forums don’t matter when the reality stares us in the face. We look at Israel and how it oppresses Palestine. It’s the same here.
VENOLIN GOVENDER Pietermaritzburg