SOUTH AFRICA: One Country Two Nations A major component part of the issue of reconciliation and nation building is defined by and derives from the material conditions in our society which have divided our country into two nations, the one black and the other white. We therefore make bold to say that South Africa is a country of two nations. One of these nations is white, relatively prosperous, regardless of gender or geographic dispersal. It has ready access to a developed economic, physical, educational, communication and other infrastructure. This enables it to argue that, except for the persistence of gender discrimination against women; all members of this nation have the possibility to exercise their right to equal opportunity, the development opportunities to which the Constitution of 93 committed our country. The second and larger nation of South Africa is black and poor, with the worst affected being women in the rural areas, the black rural population in general and the disabled. This nation lives under conditions of a grossly underdeveloped economic, physical, educational, communication and other infrastructure. It has virtually no possibility to exercise what in reality amounts to a theoretical right to equal opportunity, with that right being equal within this black nation only to the extent that it is equally incapable of realisation. This reality of two nations, underwritten by the perpetuation of the racial, gender and spatial disparities born of a very long period of colonial and apartheid white minority domination, constitutes the material base which reinforces the notion that, indeed, we are not one nation, but two nations. And neither are we becoming one nation. Consequently, also, the objective of national reconciliation is not being realised. This follows as well that the longer this situation persists, in spite of the gift of hope delivered to the people by the birth of democracy, the more entrenched will be the conviction that the concept of nation building is a mere mirage and that no basis exists, or will ever exist, to enable national reconciliation to take place. Former South African President Thabo Mbeki, addressing the National Assembly on the 29 May 1998 under the title, Reconciliation and Nation Building. So I was reminded of these words by former President Thabo Mbeki, when reflecting upon that annual festival of opulence and debauchery: the Durban July which just happened this past weekend. This is a time of the year when the South African elite come out to play, i.e. spend a weekend down in Durban, under the guise of going to watch a horse race: drinking, partying, showing off the latest fashion, the fanciest cars, drinking the most expensive champagnes/whiskies, hanging out at the trendiest spots, competing to see who could make the biggest impression by “blinging� the most. This is a microcosmic reflection of the one South Africa that Mbeki talks about, the South Africa that is affluent, has first world living standards, is modernised and competes on a global scale. The Durban July, An Annual South African Thoroughbred horse race held annually on the first Saturday of July since 1897 at Greyville Racecourse in Durban, KwaZulu-Natal. On the other hand, whilst all of this is happening, we have poor miners in Marikana who live in substandard, inhuman working conditions whilst sweating hard every day to ensure that those who live in the other South Africa can continue enjoying lavish lifestyles and eating of the best of the land. We have communities like Diepsloot, in northern Johannesburg, an informal settlement of one-roomed RDP houses, shacks, untarred roads, constant power cuts and water shortages, extreme levels of poverty and a swarm of people who are unemployed, uneducated, desperate and hopelessly disenfranchised despite the right to vote that democracy has brought them. So these are the two South Africas that we live in: affluence and opulence right in the face of abject poverty and inhuman living conditions. The question to ask is: what of the nation building agenda amidst all this? Can we ever truly become one nation when all this inequality persists and the majority are on the periphery whilst the elite play? Two South Africas completely disconnected from each other, with no ladder connecting the one to the other so that those who are at the bottom and have the inclination can climb up and become part of the other South Africa. We are a peoples democracy turned into an oligarchy. Is this what the famed liberation struggle was about? What of those weighty words by former President Nelson Mandela at his inauguration speech on that iconic day, 10th May 1994, Today all of us do, by our presence here, and by our celebrations in other parts of our country and the world, confer glory and hope to newborn liberty. Out of the experience of an extraordinary human disaster that lasted too long, must be born a society of which all humanity will be proud. Our daily deeds as ordinary South Africans must produce an actual South African reality that will reinforce humanity’s belief in justice, strengthen its confidence in the nobility of the human soul and sustain all our hopes for a glorious life for all? Surely this one country, two nations reality that we are currently experiencing, is a betrayal of these lofty ideals as expressed by Mandela. Marikana Miners protesting for improved wages A society of which all humanity will be proud? Is this what we are truly building? Sustaining all our hopes for a glorious life for all? Is this the reality for the majority of South Africans? The truth lies somewhere between the Durban July in all its glory and the�living conditions of�poor miners at Marikana, Diepsloot in all its squalor in northern Johannesburg right next to majestic, modern, elite developments like Steyn City and Dainfern. One country, two nations: cry the beloved country!!!
Posted on: Fri, 11 Jul 2014 08:49:46 +0000
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