A =D4Save the Cape=D5 campaign is being instituted to defuse increasing ra=
tension in the Western Cape, reports Rehana Rossouw
Racial tension could explode in the Cape if nothing is done to reduce=20 antagonism between coloureds and Africans, religious leaders and=20 politicians warned this week. Rallying behind a call to =D2Save the Cape=D3, the Anglican Church is=20 spearheading an anti-racist campaign, to be launched in the region soon, to=
minimise racial tension. Some concerns underlying the campaign appear to be rooted in speculation=20 and rumour rather than existing conflict. Observers point to unconfirmed=20 reports of train violence, attacks on jobseekers and friction between taxi=
operators as evidence of mounting conflict, but Metro Rail Corporation and=
the police say no such attacks have been reported to them. Political parties attribute the tension to the use of nationalist propagand=
and misinformation being spread in the run-up to the local government=20 elections, and the launch of new parties representing exclusive coloured=20
Reverend Trevor Steyn of the Anglican Social Development Institute=20 warned this week that the Cape could explode into a =D2second KwaZulu- Natal=D3 if racial tension were not addressed soon. =D2I have had so many people coming to talk to me about racial tension and=
violence in the past months. I checked in Mitchells Plain and Nyanga and=20 found that there were incidents of violence, particularly on trains running=
between the two townships,=D3 Steyn said. =D2People are not inventing these=
stories =D1 it is an outflow of what is currently happening in the country =
the uncertainties coloured people are facing.=D3 Steyn said coloureds believed that because President Nelson Mandela was=20 running the country, coloureds would not get anything from the=20 government. People he had spoken to, including professionals, told him=20 their employers said Mandela was =D2putting pressure=D3 on them to employ=
blacks instead of coloureds. =D2If they think their jobs are on the line because of black people, they a=
going to find a way of expressing their objections. We come from a very=20 violent past and many people have no other way of expressing their=20 frustrations except through violence. It does not take much to spark it off=
Steyn said the situation was =D2very sensitive=D3 and should be dealt with =
non-partisan organisations instead of political parties. =D2I am wary of the way political parties are positioned in the Cape. Some =
them are exploiting the situation for their own gain and the minute we star=
addressing the issue, we will be stepping on their toes.=D3 Non-government organisations will be invited to assist, and political parti=
will be invited to join the =D2Save the Cape=D3 campaign, with the proviso =
they steer clear of sloganeering and rhetoric which could inflame the=20
African National Congress Western Cape spokesman Brent Simons said=20 the ANC would support the Anglican Church=D5s campaign, as the=20 organisation was =D2extremely concerned=D3 about the increase in =D2race=20 awareness=D3 in the Cape. =D4Some political parties are deliberately inciting the situation, and the=
National Party is the main culprit. They laid the foundation for racism in=
the last election campaign,=D3 Simons charged. =D2Their leaders are telling one race that they are the kings of the Wester=
Cape, that their hands built the city, not black hands =D1 and that kind of=
talk could incite racism.=D3 Simons said unless parties refrained from such talk, the Western Cape=20 could face violence on the scale all parties would not like to witness. National Party Cape organiser Freddy Adams said he shared the Anglican=20 Church=D5s concern about the potential for violence in the Cape. =D2You can feel the racism, especially on the trains between Mitchells Plai=
and the African townships,=D3 Adams said. =D2I have seen and heard of racial incidents. African workers on=20 constructions sites were chased away by coloured labourers who said they=20 were stealing their jobs. In Eindhoven, coloured taxi drivers threatened to=
stop all black taxi drivers who were carrying coloured passengers. =D2There are rumours going around like wildfire that blacks are going to be=
given free housing and that all their debts are going to be written off.=D3 Adams said he =D2totally rejected=D3 the accusation that the National Party= was=20 spreading racism. He blamed it instead on new coloured parties which had=20 sprung up in recent months and restricted their membership to coloureds=20
=D2The National Party has nine branches in Khayelitsha alone. I spend a lot=
of time in African areas at house meetings and visits. If the people there=
thought I was a racist, I would not have survived this long.=D3