The profuse bleeding of the ‘black’ nation of Africans, Coloured people and Indians in South Africa which rise from deliberate, deep cut and sceptic historical wounds inflicted by the hand of sadistic apartheid and colonial administrators will take a lifetime to heal.
The enemy’s distasteful strategy of purposeful destruction of the moral fibre of the ‘black’ society has led to a seemingly untenable challenge of juvenile delinquency in communities countrywide, and has seen more young people languishing in prisons than they are in class.
While it is true that democratic rule in the country has been achieved and governing power transferred to the bona fide peoples of the land, it is false that this achievement amounts to the end of repression by the minority over the majority.
The end of apartheid no means meant that the dire effects of criminal looting of the land, stripping of dignity, erasing and distorting of history, could be undone by the mere adoption of a so-called progressive constitution.
Neither did the end of legal segregation mean free and equal access to the instruments of law, economy and resources of the land.
It never meant an instant change in the physical conditions of the black majority, nor did it mean their hunger and starvation of a hundred generations would suddenly be a thing of the past.
In all trueness, the ushering of the new democratic dispensation back then never meant the relaxing of hostilities between the former adversaries in the struggle. Fact of the matter is that as long as the negative effects of outside conquest and domination are still evidenced, the lauded constitution will remain a piece of paper not worth the ink it is written on.
The effects of apartheid, which are by design exclusive to ‘blacks,’ are a reflection of years of subjugation and stand as harsh testimony of the work that has to be done in order to level the playing field.
A glance at the level of inequalities in the provision of education and health, pay disparities on racial lines for people performing same work, gives an indication of the challenges still facing the country.
The terrifying streets of the township as compared to the tranquil environments of so-called classy suburbs speak volumes about the ‘one country, two nations’ notion as proclaimed by former President Thabo Mbeki.
The former President must have observed the anomaly of unrealistic, fake demographic misrepresentation of ‘blacks’ across all spheres of South African life when he coined that phrase.
He most probably had observed the squalid living conditions of blacks and Africans in particular in secluded, informal areas of Orange Farm, Alexandra, Mamelodi, Mangaung, Bisho and Seshego when he came up with this phrase.
Now back to what the attainment of a progressive constitution meant in retrospect.
Before we move to answer the above let us first have consensus that SA democratic rule was preceded by a volatile, violent and mostly fatal period of physical engagement with the oppressors.
It was indeed preceded by a period of combat and armed conflict that only came to an end when negotiations on the new SA began in earnest.
With lawmakers having traversed the difficult terrain of crafting the constitution and the country having gone to the polls, the country was set on ready mode for exploration and adventure.
The new constitution, as empty as it still is even when cramped with promising words, only served to afford ‘blacks’ an opportunity to re-draw the rules of engagement, and enact policies favourable to turning their situation around.
It became a period of trial and error wherein systems and methodologies were tested for impact on their ability to overturn the life of misery and torment around.
Indeed successive regimes by the liberating forces tried them all, from the RDP concept to GEAR and NEPAD, all formed against the backdrop of the pressing need to remedy the injustices of the past.
The success or failures of these systems are neither here nor there for purposes of this article; either result only serves to vindicate the unsavoury truth about the non-negotiable need to attend to grave historical injustices meted against ‘blacks.’
While some will critic government on its adoption and abandonment of these programmes as and when the need arises, most do so only to secure their self -interest against being threatened by any corrective measures proposed.
Measures ranging from affirmative action (AA), black economic empowerment (BEE) as well as broad based black economic empowerment (BBBE) are just an indication of the magnitude and scope of corrective work needed to strike a balance among different races in SA.
Acquiring the vote and seeing to a new set of rules meant for ‘blacks’ that they can now collectively work towards determining their own destiny.
It meant for ‘blacks’ the arrival of time to put heads together, in a sober and articulate mood, and map out the future which they want their children to inherit.
This by all means, is a future free of deceptive lies and misinformation, free of evil intent and greed, free of hate and corruption, and free of domination of one by another.
