SA racism of special type

THE image South Africa has sold to the world in the last two decades has never faced such an unflinching reality challenge. We have told the world over and over that ours is a country that has overcome petty racial prejudice, we have said we are a nation united in our diversity as symbolised by the rainbow and our country is in pursuit of shared prosperity.

We know now that such a national identity is anything but our own. We have witnessed in recent times a “resurgence” of racist behaviour that has forced us to look yet again at our country with open eyes. We never killed the beast of racism – it was only taking a nap.

Our leaders concede South African is a country in crisis and that the outlook has never been gloomier. Our country, which not very long ago was a beacon of hope, has degenerated to one characterised by xenophobia and racism.

We have problems in bucket-loads. This we know, yet solutions seem few and far between.

Former President Thabo Mbeki alluded to this when he wrote four years ago that “it would be treacherous to hide our heads in the sand and behave as though we remain on course in terms of the achievement of our shared and various national objectives”.

It seems we made remarkable progress in the infant years of our democracy and saw a growing black middle class and a more humane country, but we have recently veered off course. The country is regressing towards monstrous past behaviours. We do not like one another.

Those less stubborn among us will acknowledge that racism is a manifestation of economic inequality. Equally, everyone will acknowledge that SA is a country characterised by ridiculous economic inequality.

We understand for many reasons that economic inequality sustains racism and reinforces the notion that the economically deprived are intellectually incompetent, inferior and thus only fit for servitude. We know the South African economy was built to ensure that the country’s wealth was concentrated in the hands of a few.

I assume all of us will admit this was a grave injustice and that it deprived the majority of achieving a respectable livelihood.

Respectability in a capitalist society is determined largely by economic circumstances. Equally a lack of respectability is determined by the same.

We understand economic advantage or disadvantage is determined to a large extent by one’s access to opportunities for advancement, educational, employment, business and otherwise.

The Sparrows of this country are products of inequality and a paradigm in which the black man, being poor, ought to travel in a separate boat. Racism therefore is borne out of class relations. This is why some rich black people do not like poor black people either.

The incident in which a black waitron referred to restaurant patrons as black illuminated, in my opinion, the fact that we do not really know everything about what constitutes racist behaviour. All we know is racist behaviour is unacceptable. The incident necessitates a clear definition of racist behaviour so black waitrons such as the one in this incident do not again call black people black.

South Africans need to wake up from the fool’s paradise where strangers of different races smile at each other as they cross paths on our streets while harbouring deep-seated prejudices.

We need also to look at “political correctness” as being as much a part of the problem as it is a solution. We need to encourage people not to avoid engaging on sensitive matters.

Racist behaviour flourishes in an environment of economic inequality and the racist is often the rich guy. This suggests any solution that does not address economic inequality is no solution at all.

South Africa needs leadership that understands the will and interest of the people as documented in the freedom charter. Most importantly, South Africa needs a leadership that is not afraid to act on this understanding to ensure South Africa’s wealth is enjoyed by many more people.

This requires an inventory of wealth acquired unjustly and concerted efforts to recover and redistribute such wealth. — Maxesibe Ximbi, Cape Town