The alarming incidents of racism in South African society continue to shock and dismay.
Since January, when Penny Sparrow spewed vile diatribe depicting black people as monkeys, we have heard a steady stream of racist outbursts, usually followed by half-hearted, feeble attempts at apology.
Racial incidents are becoming so commonplace we are at risk of losing track of them and becoming desensitised. That should never be allowed to happen.
The latest astounding incident is the racism displayed by a serving Judge Mabel Jansen about what she sees as institutionalised rape in black culture.
The shock of her deeply hurtful comments derives from three aspects.
First, they come from someone who is meant to epitomise justice and fairness in our society.
Second, they reveal an underlying psyche of racist thinking and supremacy that is apparently very effectively hidden by many of our white compatriots.
And third, the perpetrator appears not to see anything wrong with the comments because they were made in a private conversation.
The scripture Luke 6:45 in Afrikaans, Waar die hart van vol is, loop die mond van oor (For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks) has never been truer.
Clearly the policy of reconciliation pursued since 1994 has not fully achieved its desired result. Sadly, not everyone has reached out to grasp the hand of friendship and reconciliation that has been extended since the advent of our democracy.
Many whites remain aloof from the national project.
Worse, many appear to have put on masks that depict an outwardly non-racist face when, in their innermost thoughts, they still subscribe to racial stereotypes.
If we follow Jansen’s warped line of thinking, it is all right for whites to be racist in private conversations.
In his 1952 book, Black Skin, White Masks Frantz Fanon wrote about black people adopting the values and mores of their colonial masters.
Here we seem to have a case of white people donning even whiter masks to hide racist beliefs.
If the latest incidents of racism teach us anything, it is that racism is not only a problem of individuals, but it is a societal issue with structural causes that require structural responses.
Revelations of Jansen’s racist views came hard on the heels of the recent focus on rape at Rhodes University.
Student activists in Grahamstown drew attention to what appears to be an endemic culture of rape in society and the fact that alleged perpetrators are seldom brought to book.
They did so in a very hard-hitting manner – by circulating a list of alleged rapists and by taking off their clothing to bare their breasts in protest.
The issue was exacerbated by the police response and rapidly gained national and international attention. To a certain extent media attention shifted from the issue of sexual abuse to the nature of the student protests.
As the National Heritage Council we believe racism and rape are two extremely serious scourges in our society. They are in effect, crimes against humanity.
Both need to be condemned in the strongest possible terms and both need institutionalised programmes to address, not only their manifestations, but also their root causes. Both are tied to broader issues.
In the case of racism, the fundamental problem of white supremacy and a one-sided and incomplete reconciliation process are at the heart of these racist mindsets.
In the case of rape, it is deeply entrenched paternalism in South African society, the general lack of respect for human life and dignity, the absence of ubuntu and the apparent lack of consequences for the abuse of women and children.
We are a society that is fast losing our moral compass. We need to move beyond condemning such phenomena to implementing practical programmes that will eradicate them.
Racism needs to be rooted out in all its manifestations. We need to address structural as well as attitudinal racism.
It is not only about overtly racist statements. It is about redressing racial imbalances in the economy and in job creation.
It is about white privilege and the continual denial that whites benefitted directly and indirectly from apartheid.
It is about the way African cultural practices are looked down upon, and the way our indigenous languages are made subservient to English and Afrikaans.
It is entrenched in the power relations in society that have not changed sufficiently, despite the coming of democracy.
Jansen was right to express concern about the rape of babies and general sexual abuse of women and children.
But she was completely wrong in ascribing it to black people only and to African culture in general.
Rape is an endemic problem that manifests itself across cultures in South Africa. Indeed it is a global problem, with localised manifestations.
Traditional African culture did not condone rape and certainly did not encourage the sexual abuse of children.
If one is looking for the roots of the scourge of rape, one needs to start with the Dutch and British colonial periods where, as a number of studies have shown, female slaves and African women were routinely subjected to rape and sexual abuse.
In a very real sense, racism and rape are intertwined in that they both have their roots in the colonial and apartheid past. We need to understand this properly in order to devise appropriate interventions.
This does not mean we want to harp on the past nor that we are indulging in finger pointing. It just means that we need to make use of all the historical and sociological studies we can to understand rape and racism to devise targeted interventions to address them.
These issues are so deep-seated and permeate society so widely that we need a multi-faceted approach. Government, civil society, faith-based organisations, traditional leaders and all other role players will need to join hands.
Arts, culture and heritage are some of the tools that can be deployed in these intervention programmes.
It is our firm conviction that heritage can play an important role in building national identity, instilling national pride, inculcating values and defining our national character.
It is my fervent wish that as a nation we will have the long-overdue social dialogue we need to have to overcome racism, rape and the other social ills we face. It is my hope that we will all individually and collectively undertake serious introspection on how we can reach a stage of genuine non-racialism and non-sexism in our society – one that is free of racial prejudice, sexual abuse and exploitation.
Advocate Sonwabile Mancotywa is the CEO of the National Heritage Council
Racism and rape: twin scourges of our society
Since January, when Penny Sparrow spewed vile diatribe depicting black people as monkeys, we have heard a steady stream of racist outbursts, usually followed by half-hearted, feeble attempts at apology.
Racial incidents are becoming so commonplace we are at risk of losing track of them and becoming desensitised. That should never be allowed to happen.
The latest astounding incident is the racism displayed by a serving Judge Mabel Jansen about what she sees as institutionalised rape in black culture.
The shock of her deeply hurtful comments derives from three aspects.
First, they come from someone who is meant to epitomise justice and fairness in our society.
Second, they reveal an underlying psyche of racist thinking and supremacy that is apparently very effectively hidden by many of our white compatriots.
And third, the perpetrator appears not to see anything wrong with the comments because they were made in a private conversation.
The scripture Luke 6:45 in Afrikaans, Waar die hart van vol is, loop die mond van oor (For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks) has never been truer.
Clearly the policy of reconciliation pursued since 1994 has not fully achieved its desired result. Sadly, not everyone has reached out to grasp the hand of friendship and reconciliation that has been extended since the advent of our democracy.
Many whites remain aloof from the national project.
Worse, many appear to have put on masks that depict an outwardly non-racist face when, in their innermost thoughts, they still subscribe to racial stereotypes.
If we follow Jansen’s warped line of thinking, it is all right for whites to be racist in private conversations.
In his 1952 book, Black Skin, White Masks Frantz Fanon wrote about black people adopting the values and mores of their colonial masters.
Here we seem to have a case of white people donning even whiter masks to hide racist beliefs.
If the latest incidents of racism teach us anything, it is that racism is not only a problem of individuals, but it is a societal issue with structural causes that require structural responses.
Revelations of Jansen’s racist views came hard on the heels of the recent focus on rape at Rhodes University.
Student activists in Grahamstown drew attention to what appears to be an endemic culture of rape in society and the fact that alleged perpetrators are seldom brought to book.
They did so in a very hard-hitting manner – by circulating a list of alleged rapists and by taking off their clothing to bare their breasts in protest.
The issue was exacerbated by the police response and rapidly gained national and international attention. To a certain extent media attention shifted from the issue of sexual abuse to the nature of the student protests.
As the National Heritage Council we believe racism and rape are two extremely serious scourges in our society. They are in effect, crimes against humanity.
Both need to be condemned in the strongest possible terms and both need institutionalised programmes to address, not only their manifestations, but also their root causes. Both are tied to broader issues.
In the case of racism, the fundamental problem of white supremacy and a one-sided and incomplete reconciliation process are at the heart of these racist mindsets.
In the case of rape, it is deeply entrenched paternalism in South African society, the general lack of respect for human life and dignity, the absence of ubuntu and the apparent lack of consequences for the abuse of women and children.
We are a society that is fast losing our moral compass. We need to move beyond condemning such phenomena to implementing practical programmes that will eradicate them.
Racism needs to be rooted out in all its manifestations. We need to address structural as well as attitudinal racism.
It is not only about overtly racist statements. It is about redressing racial imbalances in the economy and in job creation.
It is about white privilege and the continual denial that whites benefitted directly and indirectly from apartheid.
It is about the way African cultural practices are looked down upon, and the way our indigenous languages are made subservient to English and Afrikaans.
It is entrenched in the power relations in society that have not changed sufficiently, despite the coming of democracy.
Jansen was right to express concern about the rape of babies and general sexual abuse of women and children.
But she was completely wrong in ascribing it to black people only and to African culture in general.
Rape is an endemic problem that manifests itself across cultures in South Africa. Indeed it is a global problem, with localised manifestations.
Traditional African culture did not condone rape and certainly did not encourage the sexual abuse of children.
If one is looking for the roots of the scourge of rape, one needs to start with the Dutch and British colonial periods where, as a number of studies have shown, female slaves and African women were routinely subjected to rape and sexual abuse.
In a very real sense, racism and rape are intertwined in that they both have their roots in the colonial and apartheid past. We need to understand this properly in order to devise appropriate interventions.
This does not mean we want to harp on the past nor that we are indulging in finger pointing. It just means that we need to make use of all the historical and sociological studies we can to understand rape and racism to devise targeted interventions to address them.
These issues are so deep-seated and permeate society so widely that we need a multi-faceted approach. Government, civil society, faith-based organisations, traditional leaders and all other role players will need to join hands.
Arts, culture and heritage are some of the tools that can be deployed in these intervention programmes.
It is our firm conviction that heritage can play an important role in building national identity, instilling national pride, inculcating values and defining our national character.
It is my fervent wish that as a nation we will have the long-overdue social dialogue we need to have to overcome racism, rape and the other social ills we face. It is my hope that we will all individually and collectively undertake serious introspection on how we can reach a stage of genuine non-racialism and non-sexism in our society – one that is free of racial prejudice, sexual abuse and exploitation.
Advocate Sonwabile Mancotywa is the CEO of the National Heritage Council
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