Let us build our future together

TODAY – 24 years after all citizens of this country were able to vote side by side for the first time – discussions around skin colour and privilege in South Africa remain incredibly emotive and potentially divisive.

Witness the debate that has emerged since DA leader Mmusi Maimane suggested on April 27 that we need to confront white privilege and black poverty.

This weekend the matter took a regional turn when DA Eastern Cape leader Nqaba Bhanga came out in support of Maimane.

But why has Maimane’s Freedom Day speech ruffled so many feathers both within and outside his party? Surely no one denies the historical wounds of apartheid? And, more pertinently, why do so many white South Africans struggle to acknowledge the pain apartheid caused without becoming defensive?

The answer may be in the phrase “white privilege”, which is like a red rag to many a proverbial bull.

Partly due to those who use the phrase to attack and condemn, many run or duck when the words are lobbed into the political space.

However, there is nothing inflammatory about Maimane’s words.

In fact, we fully agree with his statement that the liberation of one race is not the enslaving of another.

Denying the existence of white privilege would be ahistorical and dismissing the lived reality of many black South Africans.

In praising his words, however, let us also be mindful that Maimane is a politician leading a party whose hopes of significant gains in the 2019 elections lie in drawing black members into its fold.

The DA is mindful that it needs to be seen as a home for all citizens if it is to have a shot at winning national elections.

Even having noted this, however, Maimane does not need to pander to those who refuse to acknowledge our history.

He can boldly say colonialism left a stain on South African history and that apartheid was an evil against this country’s citizens.

No one can dispute how apartheid provided one racial group with an advantage over others, nor that the legacy of this is still seen today.

No matter where on the political spectrum we sit, it would therefore be wise to heed Maimane’s words urging us to “dismantle our yesterday and build our tomorrow – together”.