The responsibility for good race relations in Africa now lies not with whites, but with black Africans. If South Africa fails to understand this during this race debate, the country will be condemned to go through what Zimbabwe is currently going through.
Minorities everywhere tend to feel isolated and gravitate towards each other. That is the reason we have Chinatowns, Little Italys and the Kangaroo valley in London. It is then up to the majority in a society to make the minorities feel a part of the society.
The problem in Africa is that as nations are liberated from colonialism and other racial vices like apartheid, we make the mistake of thinking that legislating against racism is enough. Affirmative action, laws to open up ”private clubs” dominated by whites and fair access to employment do not build a race-blind nation. If anything, they tend to have the opposite effect. White Africans in virtually every nation on the continent tend to then withdraw into a social laager, and mix with blacks only when they have to.
The roots of Zimbabwe’s problems can be traced to this issue. When independence came there was a lot of praise for the country’s policy of reconciliation, blacks rose to managerial posts and directorships and there was a semblance of racial harmony. But very few whites bothered to make the effort to know their co-workers outside of the office. Very few made the effort to visit their co-workers’ homes in the high-density areas either to attend parties or simply to call on their friends from work. Most of this has to do with hangovers from the past, when it was believed that a white person in a township would almost certainly be killed or robbed. So, as in other African countries, as restaurants and clubs started being patronised by blacks, whites retreated to suburban clubs and restaurants where the majority of patrons were also white. In the end, we had two societies functioning side by side, meeting only when they had to at work and at cocktail parties. Sports like soccer were and still are considered black, whereas other sports, like rugby and cricket, enjoyed almost exclusive white support.
The result is that the white population of Africa never becomes part of the black world of Africa. In Zimbabwe especially, this was illustrated by the universal absence of compassion for white farmers when their lands were being taken over.
It would, of course, never happen that a Zimbabwean government could appropriate lands from Ndebeles on the basis that the land was stolen by Mzilikazi in the 1800s from the Shona people. Should any government try to do that, people all over Zimbabwe, not just in Matabeleland, would pour on to the streets and denounce that government. The reason for this would not be racial. On the contrary, Ndebeles are integral to Zimbabwean society. We feel that they are part of us.
Yet it remains true that black Africans remain the only people able to ensure that the ideal of true racial harmony is realised. The way I see it is that whites are a minority on the continent and cannot help but feel besieged, what with affirmative action, legislation requiring percentages of shareholding to be in black hands and all the rest of it. Just like an Antipodean in London seeks out other Antipodeans, so the white man seeks comfort in numbers in Africa. Which is why legislation alone can never be enough to create a race-blind society.
But what can blacks do? And how does it become their responsibility to incorporate white Africa into black Africa to the extent that we all feel part of a single nation? First, it is always the responsibility of the majority to protect the minority. Every black person, therefore, has a responsibility to make sure that when they hold a party at their homes they invite white co-workers to be part of the festivities. When you go on holiday, invite a white compatriot to come along. Nelson Mandela understands this more than any other African leader today. Only when we, as the majority, take the responsibility to build a bridge between the two communities on a personal level, can true racial harmony be realised.
The refrain I hear most is that my black compatriots do not want to go this far because they are certain that they would only embarrass themselves since the invitation would almost certainly be turned down. So they are content with the superficial, legislated racial harmony and the two societies continue to live separate lives.
This does not absolve whites of responsibility, however. They also could make the effort by doing exactly what I am urging black Africans to do: go out of their way to meet and interact with blacks outside of the legally prescribed areas. If the perception is that white Africa does not want to be part of black Africa, then future generations will reap the rewards of that separation.
There is no doubt at all that if our leaders in Zimbabwe had not made the mistake of thinking that legislation was enough, then land grabs would not have succeeded.
In essence, therefore, the true route to racial harmony in Africa is the complete integration of both blacks and whites into a single society. Blacks should not view whites and other minorities as groups that should be ”grateful” to be allowed to stay in Africa. It is a dangerous notion, which, in Zimbabwe at least, is contributing to great retrogression in all spheres of society. White Africans, on the other hand, also need to take the same advice. It is a shame that today, 23 years after independence, you still get white Africans referring to their fellow black Africans as simply ”Africans”. It is an exclusive word that implies that whites consider themselves not a part of Africa.
Racism, therefore, can never be fully tackled at government level through laws and by-laws. It will take the two societies making conscious efforts to befriend each other on a personal level. As the majority, blacks bear the responsibility of extending that hand of friendship first on a personal level.
Denford Magora is the creative director of DDB Hash Three advertising in Zimbabwe