Nicholas was born 10 days before the birth of our non-racial, non-sexist democracy. That was six weeks sooner than he was supposed to arrive, but perhaps he was keen to see his dad vote for the first time.
Nic’s 10th birthday coincided with celebrating a decade of post-apartheid freedoms, so it is ironic that recently all the children in his class had to stand up and declare — for statistical reasons — whether they were Indian, coloured, black or white. Just when you thought your kids had arrived in a non-racial society.
But then, non-racialism, once a political ideal for which people gave their lives, appears to be on the retreat. Non-racialism is still emblazoned across our Constitution, is dusted off when electioneering and is lauded at the funerals of white strugglers such as Oom Bey and Ray Alexander, but racial ghettoes and polarisation appear to be on the increase.
Given our history, the struggle to build a non-racial society was always going to be fraught with challenges. But the signals in this regard are, at best, mixed.
We’ve watched as some, rooted in the Bantustan system, their hands dripping with the blood of comrades, were elevated within the non-racial order. We have seen how those who perfected apartheid and deprived millions of their rights have been embraced in the name of non- racialism. We’ve witnessed a few, who were too ideologically pure in their version of black consciousness to participate in the first elections, come to occupy strategic positions in the cultural sector as the new gatekeepers to non-racial traditions and policies that they were never part of creating.
Then there are the cry-wolf racists, those who shout racism every time they believe their positions to be threatened. They are the new censors who would suppress debate and intimidate criticism; the opportunists who have emigrated from the unrewarding non-racial project to greener pastures behind the chauvinistically black smokescreen; the Sipho-come-latelies who have little history of struggle, but who appropriate the language of blackness and of ”the people” to climb the stairway of elitism.
”White people, and those who in the black consciousness movement were called non-white people, have always been uncomfortable with black authority,” opined the Black Consciousness-aligned chairperson of the National Arts Council (NAC) in the Sunday Times in May. ”What I find interesting is when you have a supposed demonstration at the NAC over funding and you find, as happened 10 years ago, black people doing the toyi-toying and white people doing the thinking. They come with their black surrogates.”
The new black elite shows that they can be as insulting to black people as the apartheid regime, which also implied that black people couldn’t advance and defend their interests without being led by some white communist.
Against these contradictions, many with expertise, experience and sound track records within the anti-apartheid struggle are marginalised. Non-racial organisations are dismissed as black surrogates with white leadership. Yet, the ideals of non-racialism remain alive in such organisations as trade unions, the Treatment Action Campaign and other social movements where the greater collective good is more important than the pursuit and defence of individual enrichment, status and position — where the health of all is more important than the wealth of a few.
”Indian” and ”coloured” communities wallow in self-pity, complaining that they ”weren’t white enough before, and now they’re not black enough” when, in reality, it is ”black Africans” who are still most likely to be unemployed, not have access to Aids drugs, be victims of crime and not live in a brick dwelling.
White racism is real and remains a great challenge. But opportunism, chauvinism and defensiveness among the black elite are unlikely to help address these challenges and perceptions. Ten years later, the non-racial project faces a crisis of vision, a lack of leadership. It is simple to show off a happy-clappy, superficial rainbowism when required for official functions. It is easy to change the demographics of the governance and management of public institutions. It takes no effort to use race as a weapon of attack and defence. But it is debatable whether these contribute to a sustainable, deep-rooted and generally embraced non-racialism.
Non-racialists of the country unite. You have nothing to be embarrassed about. Your country needs you.