Pursue genuine non-racialism

In previous opinion pieces and in my 2014 book Critical Conversations About Heritage I have warned of the dangers racism poses to our efforts to promote social cohesion and nation building. Now, as we enter 2016, South Africa has been rocked by a quick succession of racist incidents.

Penny Sparrow spewed forth a vile diatribe against blacks, depicting them as monkeys. She then flip-flopped between an apology, surprised at the negative responses she had drawn, and a confused defence of her views.

Justin van Vuuren posted an equally disgusting characterisation of blacks as the “scum of the nation” on social media. Standard Bank suspended economist Chris Hart over a racist tweet he posted. More recently, senior eNCA reporter Andrew Barnes mocked Basic Education Minister Angie Motshekga’s pronunciation on television. Then controversial radio personality Gareth Cliff found himself in hot water over his defence of Sparrow’s comments.

These racist outbursts provoked a number of responses. They were almost universally condemned on social media. It impelled the involvement of the ANC, South African Human Rights Commission, business associates of the culprits, unions and youth formations to act.

The problem here is that legislating against racism will not make it go away. Nor will fighting racism with racism. Racism in post-1994 South Africa is a complex and multifaceted threat to our democracy. Some aspects, like the utterances of Sparrow, Van Vuuren, Hart, Barnes and their ilk are overt. But there are also many subtle and less obvious manifestations of racism in our society.

These insidious manifestations stretch from the notions of supremacy inherent in the manner many white people continue to use in dealing with black people, to the nature of our economy, to the way language issues in schools are used to exclude certain groups, and to where the burden of poverty and inequality falls hardest.

We need to deal with the causes rather than the symptoms, to address structural as well as attitudinal causes of racism. It is not only about the overtly racist statements some people make. It is also about the many slights to our dignity blacks suffer in business and professional life, where a black person’s competencies seem forever under scrutiny.

It is about redressing racial imbalances in the economy and in job creation. It is about white privilege and the continual denial that whites benefited directly and indirectly from apartheid. It is about the way our 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.

During his inaugural speech as president in May 1994 Nelson Mandela reiterated this view, “We are all one nation in one country…. We enter into a covenant that we shall build a society in which all South Africans, both black and white, will be able to walk tall, without any fear in their hearts, assured of their inalienable right to human dignity.” Very few have listened to such appeals from our leaders. These racial outbursts and the responses they have elicited have shown, once again, that we all need to reflect deeply on what it means to be a nation.

Many programmes to address racism in South Africa and to promote nation building, reconciliation and social cohesion were instituted. Considerable progress has been made, but sadly, not everyone reached out to grasp the hand of friendship and reconciliation extended since 1994. Many whites remain aloof from the national project.

All of this raises a large number of questions. How do we define our nation?

Can we really talk of a South African identity? How do we ensure future generations are free of racial prejudice? How do we break the cycle of racism in this country? What kind of programmes do we need to insert in the national agenda?

It is my firm conviction that heritage can play an important role in building national identity, in instill

ing national pride and in defining

our national character. In the same

way we as South Africans need to embrace our diversity, we need to embrace our different histories. We need to understand that all these histories weave together into one giant tapestry that is South Africa’s past. From this we can take and emphasise those aspects that inspire and motivate us as our shared heritage.

The key point is that countries, especially ones coming from a divided and conflicted past, do not develop unifying national identities overnight and by accident. This year might just be the one in which we turn the corner in confronting and defeating the demon of racism in South Africa.

It is my fervent hope for 2016 that we have the long-overdue social dialogue we need to have on how we reach a stage of genuine non-racialism in our society; that we will find interventions and programmes that we can use to combat racism and promote effective nation building; and that we will all join hands and build a prosperous, united, non-racial, non-sexist unified country where each citizen can reach his or her full potential.

Advocate Sonwabile Mancotywa is CEO of the National Heritage Council