Why Are People Afraid of Race In SA?
In South Africa we live in a society where most people still live in racially demarcated areas, without any sign that things are going to change anytime soon.
During elections we pretty much voted along racial lines, but no one is allowed to say it out loud.
Blacks mostly voted ANC and whites and coloureds mostly voted DA. This is an indisputable fact.
We see the country through the lenses we exist in.
So why are we afraid to admit it in this country when it is so obvious that it exists?
When I mention race on this blog, I’m asked why I am obsessed with race.
Probably because we live in a country where race relations is like the Emperor with his New Clothes.
We pretend that the playing field is level, even when we see that black children mostly go home to shacks and white children go home to a brick house.
Even those born after 1994 – the supposed magical year.
Saturday I stood in a long line in Nedbank while two men who were being condescending and probably not even realising it, while describing Patricia de Lille and Lynn Brown being smart and suggesting they should align with the DA.
How do they know that de Lille and Brown are any smarter than Zuma and Rasool? What makes these two women smart?
Because they don’t criticise the DA? Because de Lille criticises the ANC? Because Lynn Brown quietly does her thing?
Patricia de Lille had just over 100 000 people vote for in this elections…she can’t be that smart and for all her barking, we’ve yet to see some bite.
Then Mrs Helen Zille herself yesterday very generously mentions that other parties also have competent people in their ranks that she can use in her provincial cabinet.
As if competent people don’t come in all shapes, sizes and political affiliations! Just because someone doesn’t agree with you, doesn’t make them stupid.
The media are certainly trying to ignore racial differences and paper over it, but the fact is it exists.
And probably will for years to come because we can all pretend to see each other as equals, until we go into that voting booth.
Funny enough, every political analyst and his/her friend is giving advice to Zuma on how to run the country, but no one is giving Zille any tips on how to run the province.
It’s not as if either of them have run a province or country before.
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