Susan Chala and Pule waga Mabe
Every child knows what Santa Claus familiarly known as Father Christmas looks like. White, with a long white beard, wearing a red-and-white suit and sporting a large, round stomach.
The Santa Claus at Southgate Mall does wear a red-and-white suit, but otherwise he’s tall, young, thin, beardless and white. The children clustering around and paying R20 for their photographs with him are all black not surprising as the mall services Soweto. Since it opened a decade ago Southgate has never had a black Father Christmas.
When Bing Crosby famously sang that he was “dreaming of a white Christmas” he might as well have been dreaming of South Africa, judging from the pigmentation of the local Father Christmases.
In a survey of 10 shopping malls this week the Mail & Guardian discovered only one black Santa, no females and enough reactionary justification to give a constitutional judge apoplexy, whatever their sexual or racial orientation.
Although some shops in Southgate Mall claim they have unsuccessfully tried to find a black Santa, a management representative, Phili Mtshali, confesses that the mall has never considered a black or female Santa. Father Christmases are usually recruited from old age homes.
“Christmas is a white notion and blacks cannot claim ownership of everything,” says Mtshali, adding that children do not see colour and are comfortable with a white, male Santa. “We cannot instill blackness in everything and Santa is a father figure for kids.”
A glance at the black fathers shopping in the malls reveals a definite absence of long, white beards, white skin and red-and-white suits.
But Mtshali’s sentiments are shared by Jonathan Ndebele, a manager at Sandton City, who says: “A black Father Christmas would not be as attractive as the white one.”
Ndebele says a female Santa would not have the beard, and children associate Santa with the beard.
Partly agreeing with her colleague, Nikki Nel, marketing manager of Sandton City, admits: “When I think of Santa, the first thing that comes to my mind is an old, white, loving and caring man with a big beard.”
But Nel disagrees that children will reject a black or female Santa. “Anyone who has love and care for kids can make a good Santa, and I would definitely hire such a person, regardless of their colour or sex.”
A Sandton City shopper, William Kgopane, says he would like to see more black and female Santas to emphasise the family spirit that should surround the festive season. “Christmas is a time for sharing, it is a time for the family to come together.”
Kgopane suggested that it would be best if malls had two Santas, of different race groups and sexes, “to represent a family”.
Most of the children spotted being photographed with Father Christmas in his different incarnations appeared to be crying rather than enjoying the experience.
Robert Ngobeni, a 76-year-old man from Diepkloof, who is working at Wimpy in Park Station, Johannesburg, said: “I don’t have any problems with the kids, they are afraid of my beard, but I give them sweets and they become happy.” He says children do not know if Santa is black or white “all they know is that he gives them sweets and presents”.