The Pathology of White Privilege and Racism in South Africa – A Personal Perspective

May 8, 2012 · 41 Comments

A whites-only sign used during Apartheid. South Africa has a history of racial discrimination which continues to cause bitter relations between the various racial groups in the country.

Racial tension currently unfolding on social networks has once again proved that South Africa is still far from fostering any real sense of nationhood among its disparate racial groups. Be that as it may, it has been the white response to complaints by black South Africans regarding Jessica Leandra Dos Santos’ racial outburst that has captured my attention, and prompted me to explain and hopefully bring to the attention of white South Africans what I term the pathology of white privilege, denial and racism in South Africa – a play on a lecture delivered by American keynote speaker, Tim Wise, entitled “The Pathology of White Privilege”.

“Apartheid is over, these people need to get over it” – it is not uncommon to hear white South Africans say this or a variation of this sentence in referring to what is often termed the “the chip on black people’s shoulders” – the history of oppression under apartheid. Commentary informed by this very thinking surfaced again this weekend, with many white South Africans reducing the whole incident to simply a misunderstanding rather than a racial issue, bringing me to my core point of modern-day South African white privilege: denial.

South Africa has a brutal history of oppression mostly perpetrated by white South Africans, it is only natural to want to quickly forget this segment of history, naturally; it is an uncomfortable part of our history. But to simply dismiss everything that is connected to this history, will not serve to improve racial relations in South Africa.

White denial manifests itself in many ways but most telling is the vilification of corrective policies taken in post-Apartheid South Africa such as affirmative action (AA) and Black Economic Empowerment (BEE). While indeed, the implementation of both AA and BEE leave much to be desired, white South Africans have gone beyond just criticising the difficulties related the implementation of these policies but have argued vociferously against their existence in a democratic South Africa.

Which indicates to me that 1) white South Africa do not understand the true nature of systemic suffering that black people endured during apartheid – suffering that will most likely take decades to alleviate and 2) do not fully appreciate that much of the problems we continue experience in present-day South Africa are more connected to the Apartheid design more than anything else – and that solving such problems will take measures aimed at targeting the core principle of Apartheid; racial parity, or the lack thereof. So as a result, such policies are needed to affirm the previously and still disadvantaged black South Africans.

Naturally, the implementation of such strategies will lead to positive discrimination of white South Africans even though as many white people often point out that not every white South African necessarily benefited from the system imposed by the previous government. The malign crafting of AA and BEE by white South Africans as this sinister and almost genocidal policy could be addressed if they understood its necessity, not everyone, particularly those (mostly black South Africans) without any networks of value established through generations of education and privilege – as with most white people, can “work their way up”.

There is also a typical argument used in opposition to AA and BEE policies, white South Africans often argue that when white and black South Africans attend the same schools and universities they, on the basis of receiving the same education, become equal – nothing could be any further from the truth. Why?

While attending the same university with their white counterparts, black South Africans are usually the first graduates in their families and the vast majority of their parents are usually uneducated; and if educated are mostly nurses, teachers or clerks earning paltry salaries and rely on the black students to alleviate the rest family (which includes parents and siblings) from poverty. Also, most black students usually rely on financial aid or governmental assistance for everything related attaining an education: tuition, accommodation and food.

Contrast this to white South African students attending the same universities, usually the fifth or the sixth generation to attend university, their parents usually have well-paying jobs; some even working for some of the universities, resulting in some white students receiving fee remissions. When white South African students complete their studies, unlike their black counterparts tend not to have the burden of poverty alleviation within their immediate family.

In any case, the hardships faced by the black South African students to complete their universities studies are far greater than those faced by white students, which among other things may include: orientating themselves to the English language and the ‘white’ system of education due to an inferior educational level at secondary school and often studying on empty stomach with no parents or networks of value to call upon.

Compare this to the white students who their only worries are studying and contemplating which party to drive to – a notion quite removed from the reality of black students, usually walking during their whole university life – not necessarily because they want to, but poverty is too deep at home for their parents to even contemplate of a car as a birthday present – as with some if not most university-going white people.

The context depicted above would to my mind or any other rational mind for that matter, suggest that the black South African is more deserving to be ‘affirmed’, because the significance of his affirmation is far greater than that of the white South African – a seemingly harsh conclusion, but true. A failure to ‘affirm’ the black student now turned professional, would be tantamount to entrenching the status quo – white privilege.

White privilege also manifests itself in a inexplicable way in South Africa. Have you ever heard of ‘Eshowee’, Toti, Ezingolweni? “Ikopo”, or better yet, ‘Zimbabwee’? ‘Seepooh’? Umshanaga? Umshoti? Yes, all names, pronunciations of places and people intentionally perverted by white South Africans over the years, especially during apartheid because it was not convenient for them to bother to learn how to pronounce them correctly – a phenomenon that continues to this day.

There is something about being the preferred language and dominant culture over the years that creates an impression that you as part of the the dominant culture do not have to bother learning, interacting or even considering other cultures in your worldview. English and later Afrikaans culture was a dominant force in South Africa which meant that all cultures (those of the black majority) had to conform and accommodate English and Afrikaans preferences.

This led to the trivialisation of other cultures and languages to the point that Amanzimtoti is referred to as ‘Toti’, Ezinqolweni as Ezingolweni, Ixopo as ‘Ikopo’, Zimbabwe as ‘Zimbabwee’, Umhlanga as ‘Umshanga’, Umdloti as ‘Umshoti’, Sipho as ‘Seepooh’ and the incessant asking by white South Africans for a shortened name, English name or nickname when they meet a black South African – all habits that have remained even in post-Apartheid South Africa.

I continue to be baffled by the seemingly intentional mispronunciations by white South Africans who can pronounce the Afrikaans word ‘gaan’, rather effortlessly while proudly proclaiming that they cannot pronounce ‘Kgalema’ or ‘Radebe’ – which require exactly the same intonation. I am equally perplexed and at times appalled by white South Africans who pride themselves of not knowing any other official language; other than English or Afrikaans, as if it was something to be proud of – disturbing to mind given that the majority of the country’s population speak neither English nor Afrikaans.

On the other hand, the mastering of white South African languages, particularly English and perhaps to lesser degree Afrikaans continues to be used as civilising tool for black South Africans. It is not unheard of for what people to shower complements to black South Africans that do not speak typically ‘black’, with most white South Africans passing remarks such as “you speak better than me”, “you are so different when compared to other blacks” – complements supposedly affirming black as “equals” unlike when they spoke ‘black’ –whatever that means. Again, like its Apartheid construct, language or the speaking of it as a white South African continues to be used as a civilising tool.

A variation to this same dynamic can be seen when it comes to South Africa’s perceivably rampant levels of crime. Black South African areas and ‘white areas’ that have a tincture of black become “dodgy”, a term which I found means the area is dangerous or it has too many blacks. In fact it, it is quite common to visit perfectly safe areas only to find out that “the area is dodgy” simply meant that the areas is black or has a shortage of whites – therefore as a white person you should stay away. Much of Johannesburg CBD’s gentrification in the 90s and early 2000s in favour of the ‘white areas’ in northern Johannesburg was driven by this very dynamic, rather than this purportedly drastic rise in crime as originally stated.

South African cities; with the exception of Cape Town, have become chaotic myriads of estates with exclusive suburban areas and gated communities, some lying 40 km from the original CBD, all in the name of escaping crime – which in actual fact is escaping all that is black – classical white flight. To this day white South Africans continue to paint crime as a phenomenon exclusively committed by Black South Africans despite the fact that there has been a rise in white orchestrated violent crime and that white South Africans have even before 1994 been the leading perpetrators of white-collar crime.

The foregoing text is insufficient in fully articulating the pathology of white privilege in South Africa but it nonetheless provides an adequate context to understanding South Africa’s deep seated racial problems, informed among other things by white privilege and denial which turn hinders any meaningful progress improving the South Africa’s racial relations.

In the final analysis it is clear that if South Africa white population wants to feel part and meaningfully influence of the affairs of post-Apartheid South Africa, they may need to: 1) acknowledge and accept that South Africa’s history has led to deep-seated problems which remain unresolved 2) that resolving such problems invariably needs policies of positive discrimination; not to punish white South Africans but correct past wrongs 3) seek to be part of the South African experience by learning long ignored cultures and languages of the black majority and 5) View crime as a countrywide problem, affecting all and as needing suitable and joint solutions by all South Africans. A failure to take heed of the above, may indeed lead to a self-imposed “genocidal policy”.

Mzoxolo Mpolase

m.mpolase@politicalanalysis.co.za

Wake up South Africa!

18 years on, and you still put the blame of everything that is wrong with SA on the white minority. THIS is why SA is going nowhere. Blaming it all on whites and continually digging up the past, playing the “apartheid” card… sad.
Spud

I don’t mind the author of this “analysis” having an opinion – I am just here to say that it is stupid, and biased.
Notice there is no name to the piece….
Mybizznizz

The fact is that Blacks are better of due to Apartheid. Compare South Africa’s overwheight compared to Congos starving but ‘Free’
Nyamuta

South Africa still under minority white people they control the economy which they violantly grabed from our ancestors. This will soon come to an end comrades are speaking from the grave. Dubula ibhunu viva JM
http://www.facebook.com/people/Belinda-Shaw/100000233870148 Belinda Shaw

I agree with all points made but white ‘denialism’ is also largely a result of there being very few white South Africans that have any idea of what life was like for black South Africans during Apartheid. They have no absolutely no concept of the privileges they enjoyed and the cost of those privileges. They have no idea of what went on under essentially a brutal police state. I was fortunate enough to be part of the foreign news crews from ’84 onwards so I got to see the tip of the iceberg. White South Africans needs to make more of an effort to understand and to respect cultures other than their own. Amazing how we can all get together as one nation in sport but have a problem coming together as one nation. Denial is not a river in Egypt!
http://profile.yahoo.com/E6PLP3PBZM6HJNU3PLWBSX3WJU Jeremy B

shame all this hate yes there was shit in the past and it was really horrible but get over it, that’s like me blaming the price of gold on Nazi domination of Germany 50 years ago, I will fight words with words and hate with hate, I will fight till my country regardless of my skin colour becomes a real democracy, can you imagine how pathetic you sound, you will pay for this, you are just as racist like all those people in the past……… the real world is watching and dealing with real problems.. can’t wait till china takes over the world at least then you will know what it means to be a brother hood to work together regardless of skin colour or creed. THERE IS NO BLACK AND WHITE. the only reason there is still tension is south Africa is because people like you who write articles like this who probably attended university yourself want to make it look like everything is the WHITE man’s fault.
http://profile.yahoo.com/E6PLP3PBZM6HJNU3PLWBSX3WJU Jeremy B

have you seen this comment “Compare this to the white students who their only worries are studying and contemplating which party to drive to” how inaccurate, what a load of utter baloney, seriously a worthless racist pig just like the ones who started apartheid, this author is equal to all those racists in the past. Your nothing, you your worthless and GOD will deal with this kind of malicious racial attitude
Zene

Amazing. I knew that many white South Africans are ignorant when it comes to black people, but the levels shown in the comments section so far are mind boggling. And to think I thought the white people here in Australia are in denial. Perhaps white Australians have come a long way after all, even if there is some way to go. A shame then that we are being flooded by white South Africans, fleeing a free South Africa, looking for a whiter country, sending us backwards.
mandela

No african country is part of the G8 = blacks are not smart at all.
Hannah

Actually, poor and malnourished people are more likely to be overweight. The first sign of heart problems and diabetes is that your body’s insulin goes out of whack and hoards calories and stops using energy efficiently. Even when you are eating very little, the body gets fat. This happens often in poor areas because the foods likely to send the body into that state are cheap and starchy.
palaka

lol, your ancestors didnt even know what an economy was, the successful state of South Africa, is only so because of white people. Blacks flooded in afterwards because of the large quantity of jobs the whites had created…..read a book please
Brandwag

Much as we may be unnerved by the sentiment underlying the above article, in historical and sociological terms it is largely accurate. White South Africans have lived in denial of one sort or another since 1945. That is why a majority voted Nat and a substantial proportion of those who opposed the Nats believed in some sort of Swiss style federation where people of the same language, religion and culture could enjoy a more benevolent form of separatism. I part company with you when you say that South African whites, of which I am one, had no idea of the conditions under which their fellow countryman lived, worked and suffered. Whites understood those conditons very well but argued that black South Africans were still better off under white rule than they might have been had their own cultures survived intact into the 20th Century. Violent crime was a feature of township life from the 1940s; the poorer you were the more likely you were to be a victim. Now that the role of the police has changed and they are no longer tasked with protecting only the privileged members of society, and enforcing apartheid, they are, tragically, poorly equipped, trained and motivated to provide all South Africans the level of personal security which is the due of any human being anywhere. Violent crime has spilled into all sectors of society but, as in the past, the wealthier you are – black, white, whatever – the better placed you are to ensure your personal safety. The writer is correct in that white collar crime is still mainly the preserve of whites who also hold their own in areas like drunkeness, reckless driving and domestic violence. Only by understanding South Africa’s troubled past can we hope to address the changes necessary for a better future. It is up to those with the power, and the will, to make a positive contribution to proceed accordingly.
Brandwag

To be fair, colonists did settle the land. The economy they created, however, was based on agriculture, mining and industry, none of which existed in Southern Africa at the time beyond what was needed for subsistence purposes. That, mainly white, people exploited indigenous Africans for the labour is beyond dispute. Two fundamental and tragic mistakes of lasting consequence were made. In 1909 a native African deputation to the Constitutional Conference in London requested that the Cape African franchise be extended to all South Africans. This was not done because the British Government of the time, in the light of the looming crisis in Europe which precipitated The Great War, did not want to risk alienating the people of the former Boer republics in the Transvaal and Free State. Then, as now, Afrikaners numbered almost two-thirds of South Africa’s so called European Africans. The second, and worst, mistake was not to heed the calls of men like Nelson Mandela during the 1940s when peaceful change was not only an option, but would have worked far better than the changes since 1990 had South Africa’s ‘whites’ had the courage and foresight to take it on board 70-years ago.
sean

Personally think that the only way to get rid of racial disparity is to not use race as a criteria.
Change current policies to help the destitute (regardless of color) and instead of creating another elite group you will help everyone that truly needs it.
Nyamuta

Spud. what are you afraid of look at zim they are getting better everyday without any white person. now its time to stand up for the fight comrades and friends.
Nyamuta

white are racists they think they are very special and treat others like animals. when their parents came to the cape they had nothing in their hand they then colonised and raped our ancestors nad now they claim that they own the land. who gave you that land, those mines. surely this will came to an end. l will like going back to war for our land. why do you always talk about economic developments are you forgetting the stealing issue.
http://www.facebook.com/people/Knut-Cayce/100001907372873 Knut Cayce

Germany, Europe’s most successful nation in spite of its tragic past, has made a poiint of not allowing its people either to forget or to deny the atrocities of which even a highly developed nation is capable when it loses its way. In Germany today, Holocaust denial is a crime. Modern Germany enjoys freedoms the equal of any to be found in the free world, but also has the world’s strictest laws against hatespeech, knowing from bitter experience that the word is father to the deed. South Africa can learn from Germany by realising that there are many sides to every narrative and all points of view are worthy of consideration if we are to see the whole picture. I heartily endorse the five points listed in the concluding paragraph of the article above. Only by confronting our past, and I mean the past as experienced by all South Africans, can we hope to move positively into the future. Understanding past mistakes is the key to righting the wrongs of the present and to ensuring that mistakes are not repeated. The past explains the present but should never be used to justify inaction or a failure to address the issues of the present. We can learn from countries like Germany, whose past will never be forgotten or forgiven but equally does not intrude into the present to poison the minds of the young and the innocent, confident in the knowledge that the Germany of the 1930s and 1940s exists only in the pages of history books. That is the challenge of the present for South Africa, to ensure that apartheid is remembered only as a shameful and regrettable period in our past. That apartheid has cast a long shadow is undeniable, but that shadow has no substance other than that which we give it by our actions. Freedom of choice is one of many freedoms conferred upon us by the 1994 Constitution. We can choose how we behave towards one another. We are not bound by the mistakes and misconceptions of the past. We can work together to right the wrongs of the past, and should make every effort to do so in the many cases where people are suffering in the present because of that past. You only have to look at the extensive efforts made by successive governments, religious and other organisations, after 1910 to rehabilitate the so-called poor whites, rural Afrikaners displaced by the Boer War and unsuited by nature, inclination or training to urban life. The SAR&H was an “affirmative” employer if ever there was, to name but one example.
http://www.facebook.com/people/Knut-Cayce/100001907372873 Knut Cayce

A good point. In nations which enjoy social security applicants for assistance are means tested. They also have to show a willingness to seek work and/or undergo some form of education and training. In countries like Singapore and Malaysia, people who genuinely cannot obtain paid employment must contribute to community projects in order to receive their benefits. The issue for South Africa, however, is to find the wherewithall to fund social security. The nations of which I speak have, at worst, around 10% unemployment. They also fund age pensions and child endowments for lower income families. This can only be done when a far greater proportion of the population pays income and other taxes than is currently the case in South Africa. You cannot tax people who have nothing to begin with.
http://www.facebook.com/people/Knut-Cayce/100001907372873 Knut Cayce

Sadly the reverse is true for Zimbabwe. The refugee problem speaks for itself. A more extreme example is Cambodia where Pol Pot destroyed an entire society in order to rebuild it. That never happened, and Cambodia still lags way behind its successful neighbour Thailand and even Vietnam which has made a remarkable recovery from its decades long civil war. The Mugabe regime has not done well by the Zimbabwean people.
Masivuye Qusheta

Your generalisation of “white South Africa” is appalling. History does not give you a licence to act like a self-righteous ignoramus. As a black South African, I feel compelled to inform you that it is exactly this bad attitude and perception that is the root of the issue. The only solution is to look to onward to the future, the past has already happened, there is absolutely nothing we can do about it.

There is still resentment, more than most people realise, and I still hear our brothers and sisters insult the umlungu when he walks past. Inciting hatred will only regress our society. The sooner all South Africans’ realise this, the sooner we become a true Rainbow Nation.
Masivuye Qusheta

Hannah, please check your facts before posting such nonsense, the condition known as “Kwashiorkor” is due to lack of protein in ones’ diet, not cheap carbohydrates.
palaka

No land was stolen. Business is business. Africans were not utilising the resources in South Africa. Thank God the whites came who were smart enough to capitalise on the land and build a successful country and save SA from being another African ****hole!
The theft is in fact the blacks taking SA from the whites after everything they built. Whites welcomed blacks to come and work in the successful empire they had built. It wasnt even a country nor had the blacks done anything with the land besides build huts before the entrepreneurs and successful developers built a beautiful country. Only to be snatched back by black self-pity.
palaka

I still welcome you Nyamuta, in my country, my roads, my infastructure – that, of which MY ancestors built…but please dont use that A-typical black pity story saying how they stole whites…because its simply not true.
palaka

I am willing to meet you half way and agree that it is black land but the cities are built with white money, intelligence and power. So it is our South Africa. Lets unite and stop fighting over it and build a ****ing killer nation again!
Nyamuta

Pliz take take yo cities and roads and go back home its better to sleep with an empty stomarch than to be treated like an animal. we are tired like of yo cheap pilitics jst wait and see …………..
Nyamuta

whatever u say abt blacks the issue is abt our land credit to Comrade Mugabe we are now waiting our own Mugabe in S.A these people 4get abt minority economic rule
palaka

if whites had not come, everyone would spell as badly as you LOL. secondly, wait and see for what lol? thirdly, SA is my home, I hold only one passport, it is more my home than it is yours, in fact I bet my ancestry line has been in SA longer than yours, im willing to bet.
Anonymous

The subliminal hatred in your post is obvious and does little to hide your jealousy regarding the successes of the white population.

The outrage being voiced against a white model is understandable even though the epitaph she used was directed at one man. Where is the outrage to be levied against Tshidi Thamana for wishing an entire population had been eradicated violently? So only white people can be racist right? That is the point you are getting at? It is a disgrace that we are forced into a corner and prevented from voicing our own outrage because it is not politically correct to refer to a black person, especially in South Africa, as a racist.

We have never denied that Apartheid existed. We as a population have admitted to it as fact and have taken steps to correct the situation. You forget that it was the 1992 referendum of WHITE South Africans who voted to end the regime. It was a WHITE president that put in motion the steps through which the regime was ended. The only role played in the ending of Apartheid by the black population was their constant terrorist attacks against innocent civilian whites. You have no Apartheid heroes. No belief is above the law regardless of how much support it has. You have no “freedom fighters”. You have one man that was released – after reasonably being sentenced for his crimes – that actually wanted to make things work in this country. I have respect for that man that was released and had a true vision of what South Africa could be. However the blacks in the country still seem to think that Apartheid, 20 years on, is still a valid excuse for their shortcomings and failures and lack of integrity or moral code! I see no logical connection.

Your post glosses over all of the black deaths caused by blacks during Apartheid. Statistics can prove that there were less deaths of blacks in police custody during the 46 year history of Apartheid than there were in the years between 1990 and 1994 – the years immediately after Nelson Mandela was released and the ANC was brought into government.

You seem to be of the opinion that EVERY white person has benefited from Apartheid – you are wrong but too proud to ever admit it. There are hundreds of thousands of us who, aside form being in a position to use certain facilities, ever benefited. As with today’s government, the elite few were the ones to truly benefit financially. The difference is in our attitudes to our situations and the means we use to change them.

The “corrective policies” of the ANC is effectively a reverse Apartheid. It is the deliberate and systematic eradication of any means by which a white South African can earn a living to support their families. What you need to realise is that you can never CREATE wealth by redistributing it. especially when those you redistribute to have no understanding of how to maintain or grow it. Instead of earning from those who have created their own wealth and in turn devising means of creating more, the black population is taking what is in existence and squandering it because they don’t care to learn how to even maintain it.

South Africa is the only country in the world where the government needs legislation to protect the MAJORITY from the minority. Instead of providing a strong educational foundation for students, the ANC has systematically taken a world class matric and turned it into a joke. They want the people who vote for them to remain ignorant so that their corruption and ineffectiveness is not seen and thus they do not get removed from power and so maintain their own means of lining their pockets with public funds.

But even if quality education was available we have little hope in believing that the black youth would take advantage of it. It is often the case that when protesting the lack of schools that students and parents alike take to torching the existing infrastructure. I ask you to please explain the logic behind such an act? What is the thought process? The lack of a strong educational foundation is, quite simply, the failure of the ANC to provide or properly govern the country. They do not take the time to train teachers and they pay the teachers that are trained so little that it is not even worthwhile as a career choice – I know this for a fact because my sister is one. And then, because of the failures of the government to provide there are teachers’ strikes which again severely prejudice the youth. So I now ask you again, who is at fault for the lack of quality education? Is it a result of Apartheid or a failure on the part of the government that you voted for to govern the country?

Every person has to “work their way up”. The difference between white graduates and black graduates is the work ethic instilled in them. we are taught the value of arriving on time and staying past the end of the day to meet deadlines. We are taught that it is in our interest to put in the long nights and hard work that is needed in order to succeed. White graduates on the whole do not leave university with the mindset that they are “entitled” to the top jobs or best salaries. We know we have to start at the bottom and work our way up to the top. All of this is earned. I’m not saying that there are some that have been born with a silver spoon in their mouths because there are, but this is not true for the majority. In line with your ideology you will next be telling me that black students who graduate with a Bcom Accounting or an LLB no longer have to serve a period of Articles before being allowed to practice in that field. I ask you where the training would be and what the state of those professions would be if that was the case?

I, at 26 years old, have had black classmates my entire life. They have had and still do have the same opportunities that I have had. A whole generation has gone through school since the end of Apartheid and still you tell me that Apartheid is to blame for the inadequacies and inability of the black population to better themselves economically? I implore you to look at the plea made in January 2011 which asked that black matriculants be marked more leniently than whites. How is that quality education? The difference is that white parents demand excellence from their children whereas black parents are more often than not happy with mediocrity. The government has made it almost impossible for a student to fail a school year. Where is the good in promoting a student to a higher grade where they will flounder because they couldn’t even cope with the easier work? And on the other side of the coin, none of these students even feel the need to try simply because they know that they will be promoted no matter what. I ask you again to please tell me what good this does for these students. 90% of matriculants entering university (because it is their right to do so and their greatly inflated matric results allow them to) that will never be able to cope simply because the educational system has not even bothered to teach them basic reading and writing skills.

There are a great many white graduates who also happen to be the first people in their families to graduate – I am one of them for instance. And my parents did not pay for me to attend university. I was forced to take out a student loan – which I am STILL paying back – but you would never have found me picketing outside universities for lower fees. I, like most white students, realise that a tertiary education is a luxury and not a right. You earn your education through hard work – not your skin colour. My father died during my first year at university and before that had been out of work for 7 years after having been retrenched and then unable to find a job thanks to the ANC’s “corrective policies”. That left my mother to almost kill herself trying to provide for me and my 2 sister, all 3 of us being at either high school or university. She did that because she didn’t want us to have to battle the way she did her whole life. All three of us had part time jobs that we used to fund our clothing, entertainment, cars, clothing and help out wherever we could around the house. So don’t speak to me about poverty – I have experienced it. Going to bed hungry because there was no food in the house. Studying in the dark because our electricity had been cut off. Struggling to pay school fees and all of the other things that go along with having very little money to spare. We lived through that and so to do thousands of white families thanks to the “corrective policies”.

We get jobs to pay our way and in so doing we learn the importance of hard work and responsibility. We can in this manner become productive members of society who contribute towards the economy and pay the wages of the fat cats in parliament who have never done an honest day’s work in their lives. There are black families that are the same but they are few and far between because it is simpler to just wait for it to be given to you rather than go out and earn it.

You complain in your post that whites have forced blacks to speak English and Afrikaans – if this is true why then are you using the fact that they cannot cope with the english in our universities as a reason for their poor performance? And there is a very easy and reasonable explanation for the need to have a good grasp of the english language – it happens to be the basis of all international trade. I would love to see you attempt to negotiate with an American or European company in an African language.

Your assertion that blacks are more deserving of being “affirmed” is flawed. The sense of entitlement and “deserving” that is so prevalent in the black community is misplaced and misguided and just plain wrong! Unless you have worked for something and have built it you deserve nothing that comes from it. What will happen when all the jobs occupied by whites have been given to black graduates? Where will the newer graduates be employed? Who will create new jobs? Who will have the expertise, drive and determination to embark on the massive task of creating new employment opportunities? You are sorely mistaken if you think that will come from the newly installed black graduates. Why should they bother to learn how to create and grow when fully functioning companies are simply given to them? And inevitably those companies fail because the newly placed black executive does not know how to do his job. He was more interested in ousting the white that he never bothered to ask how to go about bettering the company. People who are always given everything without having to earn it never appreciate what they have and never look after it.

You state that “pronunciations of places and people intentionally perverted by white South Africans over the years” by the whites. And yet you do not address this same epidemic in the black community now. It is inconvenient for blacks to learn how to speak english or how to correctly pronounce the words. Almost all students in today’s society are forced to learn an African language while at school. Why should we be forced to respect your culture when black South Africans deliberately attempt to break down ours? We are holding onto a culture that is being eroded and destroyed systematically by the ruling party and their failure, inability and lack of desire to protect it.

You complain about the shortened versions of names by whites. I point you to the billions of rands spent by the ANC in changing names of cities, streets, provinces, landmarks, airports etc in an attempt to destroy the heritage of the people who built them. It was the white government that gave us the infrastructure that we enjoy today. Electricity, roads, sewerage, plumbing, telephones and everything else. I ask you to please show me one of these infrastructural areas that has been IMPROVED by the ANC in the last 18 years? And the GFIP is not one of them being just another means of taking as much money from the public (which includes the majority of the black population) as possible. The Gautrain was a multi-billion rand mistake which has very little practical application for the average person in need of transport. So where are the improvements? Eskom is in shambles, our roads are falling apart, our police have admitted that they have lost the war against crime (in fact please look at our previous National Commissioner Jacki Selebi who is a criminal himself), hospitals are falling apart, we have service delivery protests (again these usually involve some sort of destructive tactics) and insufficient manpower to appropriately deal with waste removal.

And because of government’s mismanagement of funds we have strikes taking place with workers demanding more money. Can you please explain the logic behind a strike? How can you expect more money to be paid to you if you systematically destroy the money making ability of the entity you are employed by? It makes no economic sense. the worst thing that could ever have happened to labour was the introduction of trade unions.

You allege that the mass exodus of the educated and productive members of society from the CBD’s is an attempt to “escape all that is black”. I can guarantee that you do not live in the CBD of Johannesburg. Now why is that? Are you ashamed of your black heritage? Are you ashamed to be associated with the people who you share a skin colour with? I am positive that the answer you will give me is no. Then why are you not willing to live there? For the same reason as the rest of us – because we are not willing to put our lives and the lives of our families in danger due to the criminal infestation. The term “dodgy” has been applied to “white” areas too like Benoni, Kempton Park, Boksburg and the whole of the South of Johannesburg. So please do not flatter yourself int thinking that this colloquial term used by black, white, Indian and Coloured South Africans is in reference to black dominated areas only.

You take pains to mention that “white-collar crime” is still mainly perpetuated by whites. And this I will give you as a point won. But in response I will ask you to please explain where the physical damage is done through white-collar crime? Where are the broken bones? The lacerated skin? The rapes and murders and assaults? where are the mutilations and post-mortem humiliations? Where is the torture? can any of these things be attributed to “white-collar crime”? The short answer is NO. The long answer is that even if you lose some money as a result and feel the need for revenge, where is the respect for human dignity and human life which should prevent people from committing such despicable and hate filled crimes? It is barbaric the way in which crime is rampant and unabated in South Africa. A state of affairs that did not exist during the Apartheid era.

The fact that black South Africans want whites to both work and support them as well as give up our dignity and means of survival by happily handing over the jobs we have earned hinders any meaningful process. By the perpetuation of hatred and the demonisation of whites by the likes of Julius Malema and Jacob Zuma you are holding yourselves back from any real progress and advancement. Blacks hate us so much but they want what we have – without having to work for it. I wholeheartedly respect the blacks that do not run true to this form and instead are working to forget a past that they were not a part of, that did not affect them and that is simply being used as an excuse for the inability of the black population to conduct themselves in a manner which would allow us to become a great nation.

So in my final analysis it is clear that if the South African black population wants to have any meaningful influence of the affairs of post-Apartheid South Africa, they may need to:
1) Stop demanding that they be given what the whites have and start demanding that the government step up and do their job in respect of job creation, provision of eduction, healthcare, security and stability;
2) Stop living in a past that is dead and using it as an excuse for their failures and inability to better themselves. When they do this we can all work together to build something great;
3) Stop economically punishing whites and using them as scapegoats. Acknowledge the wrongs being perpetrated against the whites NOW and takes steps to end the hatred causing it;
4) Accepting that we are a multi-cultural society in which no culture is better than any other. Sharing that culture with each other and being in a position to celebrate it without fear of repercussions – and I specifically mean the Afrikaaner culture. We are all South Africans whether the blacks like it or not and we must learn to accept it’ and
5) View crime as a countrywide problem, affecting all and as needing suitable and joint solutions by all South Africans.

PS: your little threat there about the “self-imposed “genocidal policy”” – I ask you where is your ability to think like a rational human being and come to the conclusion that two wrongs do not make a right? Do blacks not respect the humanity and dignity of other cultures and races to such an extent that they are willing to threaten a full scale war? Do you fear our presence in this country so much?
Disappointed

I was excited to read this ’till I saw the generalisation in the first few lines about white people and it totally ruined any credibility this article may have had. Ironic much.
http://twitter.com/tremley Ron

I have given my life to try to alleviate the sufferings of Africa. There is something that all white men who have lived here like I must learn and know: that these individuals are a sub-race. They have neither the intellectual, mental, or emotional abilities to equate or to share equally with white men in any function of our civilization. I have given my life to try to bring them the advantages which our civilization must offer, but I have become well aware that we must retain this status: the superior and they the inferior. For whenever a white man seeks to live among them as their equals they will either destroy him or devour him. And they will destroy all of his work. Let white men from anywhere in the world, who would come to Africa, remember that you must continually retain this status; you the master and they the inferior like children that you would help or teach. Never fraternize with them as equals. Never accept them as your social equals or they will devour you. They will destroy you.”
Dr. Albert Schweitzer Nobel Prize Winner 1952 from his “African Notebook
Gideon

Hai Shame… So angry… You need a hug…

Don’t worry, we’re not all so bad… Maybe, if you got to know some white people, and didn’t just look at them in such a resentful way, you’d make some friends… That way, you wouldn’t be such a grouchy pants…

Nobody should get special treatment due to the color of their skin, that’s why apartheid was a bad thing… If the government runs the country in such a way that benefits one racial category, its called apartheid…

So, if your done having a pity party, come over for a Black Label and a braai….
Naima

After reading your rant, I seriously doubt that you do have a University education.
You state:
“You forget that it was the 1992 referendum of WHITE South Africans who voted to end the regime. It was a WHITE president that put in motion the steps through which the regime was ended.”

Here’s a thought, why was it only WHITE South Africans who voted? ummm, maybe because no one else was allowed to.

“Statistics can prove that there were less deaths of blacks in police custody during the 46 year history of Apartheid than there were in the years between 1990 and 1994 – the years immediately after Nelson Mandela was released and the ANC was brought into government.”
If statistics can prove this, then why didn’t you provide them, what random statistics should we refer to for your bizarre theory..
And, the ANC was elected into government in 1994, so I would assume up until 1994, the National Party would still be responsible for deaths in custody.
Anonymous

A. The reason that the white population voted to end the regime was simply because South Africa at that point in time had no black citizens. They were all citizens of their own independent states that they could not run. And I seem to get the impression that you are blaming every single white person alive for the actions for the NP government? How very liberal of you. Should I go ahead and blame every single black person for the actions of the ANC government? No because that would not be fair. But of course, because I am actually educated, I can think logically and analytically which goes to prove my point. So you can also get off of your high horse, brush the massive chip off of your shoulder, build a bridge and get over it.

B. You want my proof? http://www.justice.gov.za/trc/media/1997/9705/s970527b.htm – there you go. Official documentation as released by the government putting all deaths during apartheid at 21000.

7000 political deaths between 1948 and 1989 and 46 massacres in that period, as well as 14000 lives lost and 22000 injuries in the period 1990 to the elections in 1994. So please, I ask you to refute my evidence?

Those 7000 deaths that occurred amounted to roughly 166 per year whereas now we have a murder rate of roughly 20000 per year. That is the failure of the ANC to do their job. So now I should go ahead and blame all of that on blacks?
Yassar786

I am a muslim in South Africa I tend to agree with this article partially, but it is a reality now that white south africans need to start accepting that South Africa is now a country ruled by the majority which is the African community. When talking about Affirmative action and BEE if anyone be it black or white calls it a policy of discrimination those people need to re-examine what they saying because when indians arrived into this country we had to rise to the occasion under oppression which was far worse than AA or BEE we did this by establishing our own schools,hospitals and tertiary institutes. Whites shouldn’t complain when they have been on the receiving end for many years.I’m not a racist at all but India also has an affirmative action for scheduled castes(yes theirs racism in india to!) Don’t criticise what AA or BEE is trying to achieve rather criticise the way its being implemented (because that’s a difference all together) and another thing if whites feel they being racially targted they should rise to the occasions the same way indians did, don’t complain and whine.
Peterjsinger

What a load of shit.
SJCnicholaspeterson

Nyamuta, do u not understand that the Zimbabwean economy crashed completely, thy had to switch to the use of the American dollar. Yes, I concede that they are at a general incline in terms of economic wealth. But Zim is so low below par in terms of the HID (the happy index development) and economic wealth it’s frightening.
Rikus

As a white South African I am deeply offended by this article. The sheer ignorance and narrow point of view is appalling. The over-generalisation is enough to make one sick! I am white, I am Afrikaans, but I am NOT the person described in this article. The same applies to many other whites in South Africa.

A practical example: Out of my 5 best friends one is Sudanese, one is Iraqi, one is Filipino, one is an Afrikaner, and one is Indian. Where is the racist mindset? As you could have guessed I live overseas…now before you start crying “white flight” and “traitor” and all that, let me explain. My parents made the choice to move, I had no say in it. We didn’t emigrate and I plan on returning to SA in a year.

The sad thing is we had to leave the country partially due to the collapse of the educational system (my parents are both teachers) and partially because of what my parents perceived as a “lack of opportunities” for my future. We do NOT form part of the privileged white community that you describe. We do not have money to throw around. My university education will depend on loans and scholarships!! DO NOT put us in the same boat. I have to work myself to death in school to get good grades plus I have to work holiday jobs (8 hour night shifts), where is white privilege. Then last year when I visited UCT I was told I cant get a scholarship because I’m not historically disadvantage, my straight A grades dont matter.

Yes Apartheid was wrong! It was a disgusting and institutionalised abuse of human rights (although not universally participated in by all whites) BUT I did not live a day of my life in apartheid! (born in May 1994) I did not have any part in it, I was not advantaged! I believe in the need for BEE but I am also sober enough to see the damage it is doing, Professional, educated whites are fleeing, Young whites who love their country, have a bright future and can contribute to SA’s well-being are not exactly welcomed back with open arms.

Articles like this vilify the whites in on our country and help no one. Yes racism and privilege must be discussed, but it must be done diplomatically and constructively.

TO MY FELLOW WHITES: If you are one of the people slurring racist remarks around, shame on you! You are digging your own grave. The white community in South Africa is itself a mesh of immigrants. We ought to have significant respect for diversity, Either we adapt or embrace or we cease to exist. We are a people who adapt for a living “‘n boer maak ‘n plan”. Lets embrace the new South Africa as we ought to have done a LONG TIME AGO.

rikusvaneeden@live.com if you have anything to say.

Dialogue will save our country,
Tshepishomafologela

well said.
Brooklyn Moyo

You nailed it on the head. South African whites are the beginning and end of all our problems in South Africa.
LB

Great article Mzoxolo. Ignore all the other crappy comments made out of guilt, igorance, denial or self-righteousness. Truth always hurts. And unfortunately your truth is not my truth. And neither is my truth your truth cause we come from different backgrounds. And we view the world through different lenses. You couldn’t have narrated your point-of-view so divinely. Well done!
LB

Sorry Masivuye. Just because you are one of the fortunate few and haven’t experienced what Mzoxolo is talking about doesn’t mean it doesn’t happen. And neither does it mean we should not focus on a better South Africa. We can’t build a better future without reflecting on the past or present lest we repeat the mistakes of the past. I consider myself very liberal, have white, colored, Indian friends. But that! Doesn’t change the reality he paints. And you right… And neither does it make us Blacks angels.

Society

The Pathology of White Privilege and Racism in South Africa – A Personal Perspective

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