Lifestyle/Community
My assessment of South Africa’s progress 22 years on
On April 27, South Africans will celebrate Freedom Day and 22 years of democracy. Today, South Africa is a very different place from 22 years ago. Every South African is formally equal and there has been significant investment in many different parts of our society to create greater economic and social equality.
LISA SEFTEL
However, high levels of inequality and poverty persist. In addition, racist attitudes and behaviour continue and many black South Africans, especially young people, do not feel welcome in certain spaces such as traditionally white dominated universities or work places.
For many the persistence of inequality, poverty and racism is a result of our “negotiated settlement” and even some of the initial policies of the government aimed at promoting reconciliation.
Whether this is the case or not, 22 years on, more needs to be done at an economic and social level if we want to live in a stable, inclusive, prosperous and healthy democracy. Responsibility for this rests not only with government but will all citizens – including business people, educators and professionals – each one of us.
I believe that all of us need to adopt a zero tolerance approach to racist behaviour, unfair discrimination and unfair practices. And we need to develop increasing respect for and understanding of our different origins and histories in our country.
There are so many small (and big) ways in which we can do this, including how we treat shop assistants, frontline officials at licence centres, and post offices; stopping and addressing our fellow citizens when we see them acting in a racist way; and paying our workers in the home and work places a living wage, etc.
This is the best guarantee for white South Africans to continue to be accepted in South Africa and for the non-racial future that our Constitution and the ruling party, the African National Congress, is committed to.
Anti-racism should have a lot of resonance for Jewish people who have been subject to discrimination, victimisation and violence on the basis of their religion in the last century and beyond. As Jewish people celebrating Pesach – a festival of freedom – one week before Freedom Day, let us recommit to doing what we can to ensure genuine and lasting freedom for all South Africans.
* Seftel is the Executive Director: Transport in the City of Johannesburg. She has worked in various jobs in national, provincial and local government over the last 21 years. In the past she has been an anti-apartheid activist.
nat cheiman
April 21, 2016 at 11:05 am
‘Ah yes. Thats the reason precisely, for the burning of educational books and varsities.
And whats more. The fact that Zuma and his cronies have run SA into the ground is the fault of whites. In fact it was Jan van Riebeeck that started this nonsense.
Another good thing about discrimination is that BEE and AA excludes whites. And then there is the mining charter that says blacks need to be handed on a plate an equity in mining and \”once empowered always empowered\”.
Oh yes. I forgot. I do try my very best to treat the people behind counters in the post office / licencing dept/ electricity dept/ and pikitup decently. Quite often, though, they are not open and striking and I am denied that opportunity.
The best guarantee for whites is to convince the ANC supporters that the government is run by intellectual dwarfs and to vote out these corrupt people who steal from the poorest of the poor.
Until the, I actually will continue with my own life and frankly I dont care about the electorate that vote in these halfwits that cannot run a country.
As a matter of note. The government want/ demand transformation of the economy and they cannot even educate the population properly.
When patients die in hospitals because of malpractice by doctors/ nurses and lack of facilities, whose fault is it?
We live in an unequal society perpetuated after apartheid by the ANC government, and whites are not to blame one iota.’