Re: There's nothing any white in southern Africa can do about his predicament. So either he kisses black ass or gets out.
Occorre che cambi tutto, perche non cambi niente....
Fabrizio Salina, Il Gattopardo.
figurella.it
The East African Standard | Online Edition
Saturday September 25, 2004
Apartheid legacy still haunts South Africa
By Makau Mutua
In April this year, South Africans for the third time overwhelmingly re-elected the ruling African National Congress, now led by President Thabo Mbeki.
Not surprisingly, the elections lacked the euphoria that marked the formal end of apartheid, led by Nelson Mandela, a decade ago. What’s more, the victory of the ANC may be dimmed by its own policy mistakes and the stubborn legacy of apartheid, an albatross that holds the young democracy in a death choke.
The promise of the new South African state was that it would end white supremacy and address the economic and social destitution of the black majority. Ten years later, South Africa has largely achieved racial peace, but not harmony. Although some halting progress has been made, the plight of blacks remains the bane of the Mbeki government. It is now evident that racial reconciliation, arguably Mr Mandela’s most celebrated achievement, left white privilege and control of the economy largely undisturbed.
The conundrum for Mr Mbeki and the ANC has been how to restructure the economy and institute social reforms without incurring the wrath of white businesses and the West. The patience of blacks, who constitute 75 per cent of the population, and solidly support the ANC, is not infinite. While blacks understand that there is no magic wand to overcome 340 years of white domination and exclusion, the ANC government is now under intense pressure after the elections to speed up the pace of reform. Otherwise, it is certain that unmitigated poverty among blacks could lead to a social cataclysm.
Statistics tell a grim story. Although the last decade has seen the growth of a modest black middle class, still half of all blacks are unemployed. A whopping 60 per cent of blacks live below the poverty line, compared to only 3 per cent for whites. Whites own virtually all land – arable and non-arable – and have a suffocating grip over the entire economy. While small advances in sanitation, education, housing, and clean water are encouraging, racial disparities effectively maintain two worlds, one poor and black, the other affluent and white.
The painful reality is that apartheid, previously a formal and legal system, has been privatised, making it a more pernicious social malady. Instead of enforced racial segregation, today social class generally corresponds to race, and determines where one can live, work, socialize, and eat. Mired in despair and social dysfunction, many blacks now live a violent life, either as victims or perpetrators. The result is that South Africa now has one of the highest murder rates in the world. Among blacks, faith in political democracy could suffer a fatal blow.
Matters have not been helped by Mr Mbeki’s intransigence over the Aids crisis, a catastrophe that is now a security threat to Africa’s largest economy. With a population of 45 million, South Africa has over 5 million living with HIV/Aids. Inexplicably, Mr Mbeki until recently refused to provide anti-retroviral drugs to the infected and launch a nationwide prevention campaign. Again, the Aids epidemic has struck blacks the hardest, further imploding an already fragile family structure and community fabric. Unfortunately, Aids has also viciously attacked the spine of the black middle class: professionals, politicians, and teachers.
But South Africa’s external policies are also critical. During apartheid, South Africa was a demon at home and a terror to its neighbours. It was a source of much grief and regional instability. Remarkably, since the end of apartheid, South Africa has played largely a constructive role, leading the region to more open government and economic renaissance. The one spectacular failure has been in Zimbabwe where Mr Mbeki has coddled President Robert Mugabe, a long time despot who has scrapped democracy, violently repressed dissent, and totally ruined the economy. As South Africa goes, so does the region, to who its fortunes are tied.
The simple truth is that a democratic and prosperous South Africa could be an anchor of stability and a beacon of hope for Africa. But the promise of this economic giant will come to naught if economic and social reforms are not speeded up to vanquish the legacy of apartheid which still excludes the majority of blacks. Nor will the racial peace last unless the majority of South Africans have a stake in it. Worse still, the burgeoning democratic culture, which even the poorest South Africans cherish, will be smashed under the weight of economic, social, and racial inequities.
In 1994, I witnessed an extraordinary sight when a 100-year old black woman was wheeled into a voting both in Mmbatho, North West Province, to cast her first ballot ever. She emerged from the booth and, with tears streaming down her cheeks, declared that the Lord could now take her away. We – election observers and voters alike – cried with her. They were tears of joy, of the promise of democracy, and the birthright of the citizen to freely choose by whom to be governed.
Last April, 20 million voters went to the polls again to affirm that birthright. The question was not whether the ANC would win, but by what margin – in the end the ANC took 69 per cent of the vote. Mr Mbeki and the ANC must not take this mandate – or the people of South Africa – for granted. The victory should be a summons to reaffirm faith in democracy by tackling corruption, instituting serious economic and social reforms, aggressively fighting the legacy of apartheid, and waging an all out war on Aids. Otherwise, the possible paradise that is South Africa will be lost.
Makau Mutua is Professor of Law at the State University of New York at Buffalo and Chair of the Kenya Human Rights Commission.
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