Could non-racialism be the way to go for SA?

THE non-racial political model touted by the DA based on an all inclusive non-racial system is interesting and could be a bold step forward.

Botswana, where I lived from 1970 to 1980 and had my eyes opened, has a similar model where non-racialism is the cornerstone of their political dispensation.

Effectively what the DA model means, one imagines, is that one race group should not dominate another race group in any form, be it in the job market or in the business sector. Perhaps the DA is suggesting that replacing one race-based political system with another similar system under the guise of BBEEE and general transformation is disingenuous and just another form of institutionalised racism .

It appears that existing legislation has all the cards stacked against one race group while promoting the interests of another. Where does this leave Nelson Mandela’s vision of a non-racial, one country, one people society? Is existing government policy not promoting the very racism that they claim to be fighting?

The country is drowning in racebased policy and encouraging racebased groupings to form associations outside of the mainstream seems disingenuous and divisive. Blackbased associations are proliferating: Black Farmers’ Association, Black Lawyers’ Association, Black Business Association, Black Property Practitioners, Black Gun Owners’ Association. The list is endless.

The question is whether these associations are building bridges between themselves and other race groups going forward, or are they simply isolating themselves from the mainstream, and in so doing, disadvantaging themselves in the bigger scheme of things? The latter seems accurate.

Are race-based organisations constructive today, or are they divisive, racist and biased under the guise of transformation? This is the million-dollar question. Imagine the above associations, for example, being called “SA Farmers’ Association, SA Lawyers’ Association, SA Business Association, etc. Would this not add credibility to their cause, while at the same time build bridges?

Could the DA be on to the way forward by opting for a non-racial society? An old saying comes to mind: “Its impossible to be all things to all people, only some things to some people.” No government or country in history has succeeded in being all things to all people, so it’s unlikely to happen here.

One thing is clear: never before, post apartheid, has the country been so institutionally racially divided, so perhaps non-racialism as proposed by the DA’s John Steenhuisen is in fact the way forward. Racism is, after all, the new pandemic.