The Sowetan (Johannesburg)
Paul Setsetse
30 August 2001
opinion
As delegates from all over the world gather in Durban for the United Nations' World Conference Against Racism (WCAR), I would like to draw their attention to the daily experiences of the people who live in the small towns, villages and farms in my country, South Africa.
I have first-hand experience of towns such as Bloemhof, my home town, Christiana, Vryburg, Herzogville (my birthplace), Potchefstroom and Klerskdorp, where I - and many other South Africans - experience racism daily.
Though the government has done much to eradicate racial discrimination through the repeal of apartheid laws, people living in these areas continue to experience discrimination.
They continue to be treated as "boys" and "girls" partly because the whites in these towns own and control the economy. They depend on the white community for their economic survival.
I am not critical of the fact that they are creating work for people, I'm simply expressing concern about those who take advantage of our people and continue to abuse and dehumanise them.
Black people living in places like these are the most voiceless of all South Africans. Apart from those common criminals who, from time to time, break into peoples' properties, steal a bicycle or a box of chocolates from the shops or commit domestic violence and other crimes, they are people who respect the law.
They do not discriminate against their white fellow South Africans and they do not call them names. The situation is, however, different as far as some of the whites living in these towns are concerned.
They refuse to allow black people to use facilities such as toilets and pubs, to buy or lease property, to trade in town, walk in town at night or to attend the same church - despite their claims of being God-fearing Christians.
I was refused entry to a "sports pub", which admitted whites only, during my Christmas holiday in my home town of Bloemhof.
I was stopped at the door by a young white woman who told me that I must pay a R200 admission fee. I immediately sensed that there was something wrong with the place. There was not a single black person there.
She then confessed that only people with membership cards were allowed in. I told her I would pay her the R200 provided she gave me a receipt as this was a lot of money to pay for entering a restaurant or pub.
She refused. I decided to leave the place as our exchange was becoming intense and a bunch of drunk white guys came up and started swearing at me.
My experience is just the tip of the iceberg. Many people are still enduring this kind of humiliation daily.
One of these racist whites may see you in a new flashy car and the first question they ask is: "Vir watter baas werk jy?" (who is your boss).
They can't believe that a black person can own anything valuable.
The South Africa Human Rights Commission, non-governmental organisations, the media and all sectors of civil society should team up with the Government and declare war against racism.
All efforts must be made to expose racist elements and they must be prosecuted. The police and the national director of public prosecutions should create an investigating unit to investigate and prosecute racially motivated crimes.
I wish to make the point that not all whites in these towns, villages and farms are racist. Many of them are not - like the newly appointed principal of Vryburg High School, who has donated two computers to a school in the local township of Huhudi. Many of them are committed to the transformation of our country.
The anti-racism conference is, indeed, necessary as it will help to highlight the seriousness of racism and the destruction it will cause if not eradicated.
I have no doubt in my mind that our South African delegation will highlight the plight of the voiceless and powerless among us who suffer in silence.
(The writer is the spokesman for the Minister of Justice and Constitutional Development. He is writing in his personal capacity)
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