My point of reference on South Africa’s transformation is the Freedom Charter. I am, of course, aware that as an embodiment of the social, political and philosophical aspirations of South Africa, the Freedom Charter’s entrenchment will be as daunting a task as the defeat of apartheid.
While it is tempting to contemplate an end to transition, a realistic view, informed by an understanding of the dynamics of change, tempers the desire to seek quick and easy answers to complex problems.
Given our history of three centuries of racial domination, the critical question we’re faced with after 10 years of democracy is whether it is possible to change our socio-political and economic structures fast enough to meet the inevitable pressures for more rapid change?
The truth of the matter is that change in any society will always be uneven. True, we’ve made significant progress in South Africa, particularly with regard to ensuring that the language of transformation becomes the lingua franca of all transactions in society. Progress has been faster in some areas than in others. It will also be easier in some respects than in others.
It is necessary to expunge racism from our society as an imperative for transformation in South Africa. But many people are asking: Is the ”Rainbow Nation” fact or fiction? My answer to this question will be prefixed by the words, ”It depends”.
It depends on what the struggle for freedom was predicated on. It depends on whether one understands nation-building as an event or a process. It depends on whether one accepts that, at its most basic level, the issue of race is about difference and how individuals, jointly or severally, relate and/or react to it. It depends on how individuals and/or groups vest their interests in such differences. It depends on what individuals or groups’ relative status of privilege or deprivation was before 1994, and on their understanding of the Constitution’s exhortation that we all work toward a more equitable dispensation.
What this suggests is that the project of establishing a non-racial society cannot have a finite completion date. It is a continuous project. The legacy of apartheid is deeply embedded in everybody’s subconscious, and we must draw it out, bring it out of the closet, deprive it of its subliminal abodes. Here I hasten to make a distinction between racial awareness (and embracing of difference) and racism (the use of racial categories as a basis for discrimination).
I recognise the need for and urgency of a variety of interventions — quotas, empowerment targets and affirmative action. But these are much easier to achieve than undermining the psycho-social manifestations of racial typecasting.
There is also a dangerous tendency to allow our thinking about these issues to be framed by apartheid’s racial constructs. Perhaps understandably, among whites I still experience defensiveness, guilt and at times passive (or not so passive) aggressiveness on the subject of racism.
Among many of my black compatriots, on the other hand, I am increasingly taken aback by crass arrogance and self-righteousness. The newly ordained status of ”being free” is thrust at anyone of a different race as a way of gaining advantage.
Again, perhaps this happens for understandable reasons, but I’m reluctant to accept that. There is a very fine line between such chest-thumping ”we have arrived” black arrogance and lapsing into racist self-aggrandisement. Such self-aggrandisement is completely antithetical to the founding principles of our Constitution — not to mention the Freedom Charter.
The situation becomes even more complex in communities such as those of so-called coloureds and Indians. One increasingly hears murmurs of ”We are not black enough to be considered for opportunities in the new South Africa”.
Opportunistic political animals have not helped the situation. They foment racial discomfort for short-term political gain. By crudely playing the race card, they entrench the polarisation they claim to be unhappy about.
So, 10 years on, are we a normal society? Yes and no. Yes, relative to where we were in 1994: the political superstructure has become more representative of our society, and the agenda for change reflects the will of the majority. Yes, too, because increasingly the overarching concern of most South Africans is social development and not about fighting an abnormal system of government.
On the other hand, we are not yet normal if normal means free of race, class, gender and religious discrimination. Such a normal society would be one completely aligned with all the basic tenets of the Constitution.
The legacy of apartheid runs deep, but we must refuse to accept this as normal. To do so is to risk bequeathing a cancer to future generations. The eradicaiton of that cancer is a burden history has placed on the shoulders of the present generation.
Yet, after 10 years of freedom, ”Aluta continua” is still the rallying cry.
Those born since the birth of true democracy in this country must be saved from the racist psychosis in which apartheid justifies all manner of self-interest.
Sure, in 10 years a lot has been achieved — but a dash of realism suggests that it is not our generation that will enjoy a truly non-racial society.
We who knew the scourge of apartheid have a duty to fight anything that seeks to entrench old divides.
That must be our pledge as we prepare to celebrate our 10 years of freedom. We owe it to ourselves. We owe it to those who laid down their lives. We owe it to our children.
Murphy Morobe is head of the Financial and Fiscal Commisson. He is also the chairman of the boards of Ernst & Young and the South African National Parks Board