Weekend Argus (Saturday Edition)

Columnist should see the world as it really is

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RYLAND Fisher is again harping on about the shortcomin­g of the previous government by making ridiculous claims. Maybe he should grow up and see the world as it is, not according to the cliché of the rabble-rousing left.

Perhaps, when judging history, he should state clearly what was the alternativ­e.

For example, let us suppose that in 1949 majority rule had been implemente­d. We’ve had some 24 years of this and the country is just about bankrupt, so let us imagine what 40 more years would have done.

I remember the cries of “gutter education” and “no education before liberation”.

Now, out of 134 countries surveyed, we are at number 132 for education. Whose fault is that?

As for the “millions confined to Bantustan homelands”, at the end of the 19th century, the total black population of SA was in the region of three million, mostly settled in those “Bantustan homelands”. One hundred years later the population is 45 million or more. The massive increase in black population came about due to good food, good medical care, education, jobs created by industrial­isation, housing (according to National Geographic Magazine of September 1960, we were the world leader in low-cost housing).

But what about racism, that terrible sin? Julius Malema explained it so well last month when he said: “I have nothing against whites, but I prefer my black people”. Just imagine some white MP standing up in Parliament and saying: “I have nothing against blacks, but I prefer my white people”.

On this, I rest my case.

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