‘Coloureds forgotten’
RACIAL segregation remains rampant in our young democracy, with coloured people once again fighting for recognition and inclusion, according to Port Elizabeth resident Cedric Human.
He believes strongly that coloured people are the “forgotten race” – too black pre-1994 and not black enough to reap any of the economic benefits of democracy in South Africa today.
Although he does not like to refer to himself as a coloured, saying there is nothing differentiating him from a black person except that he speaks Afrikaans, Human said coloured people did not have positive stories to tell about the past 20 years.
“What is the difference between me and a Xhosa-speaking black person, because we look the same? Yet we as Afrikaans-speaking people are being excluded from opportunities.”
Human said he was disappointed in how the current government treated coloured people. “In South Africa today, the government will make you know that you are not black; they make you feel it every day. It’s almost as if coloured people are not wanted in South Africa. Yet when we grew up we fought together with black people against apartheid.
“There has been no change in the northern areas since the new government took over. No one has done anything to change the situation in Helenvale since 1964.”
Human said his two children were not able to secure bursaries through the National Student Financial Aid Scheme to study further because his “surname is not black enough”.
“I’m sitting at home with my two children because I’m battling to find a job and my children cannot study further.
“It’s been 20 years in the new South Africa but we have got nothing to show for it. How is that fair?
“We as coloured people are not existing at all, we are surviving,” he said.