What could be done to prevent the total collapse of race relations in South Africa? This was the salient question that the panelists had to unpack in front of a cheerful audience during the last Unisa-Sowetan Dialogue for 2016 at Unisa on 30 November 2016.

Back, Dr Siphamandla Zondi (Department of Political Sciences, University of Pretoria), Bongani Bingwa (TV Presenter and journalist), and Prof Harry Nengwekhulu (Director: School of Governance at Unisa), and, front, Dr Somododa Fikeni (Advisor to the Unisa Principal and Vice-Chancellor and Director of VC projects), Teresa Oakley-Smith (Founder and managing director of Diversi-T) and Prof Nyasha Mboti (HoD: Communication Studies, University of Johannesburg)

The topical issue was raised after a series of racial prejudices swept the country, often expressed on social media platforms. Racial discrimination also sparked public outrage at the Pretoria Girls High School when it emerged that black learners were allegedly instructed not to use Afro hair styles. Calls for decisive actions against racism intensified following racist comments involving former estate agent Penny Sparrow, who has since been found guilty by the Equality Court, and Dianne Kohler-Barnard, a member of  the Democratic Alliance and also a member of the  National Assembly.

Dr Siphamandla Zondi, a professor in the Department of Political Sciences at the University of Pretoria, said the idea of race relations in South Africa was engineered on false pretences with an intention to sweep racism under the carpet. He blasted the idea of the rainbow nation, describing it as an idealism of the few, not based on justice and equity.

“Racism is an embodiment of reality, an expression of experience, and to describe it as a race card is to downplay its importance.  We should debunk the myth of race relations because it protects the privilege of the few,” he said to loud applause.

Teresa Oakley-Smith, the founder and managing director of Diversi-T, a company specialising in transformation and diversity, said there is no rainbow nation in South Africa.  She said black and white people remain divided, detached, and delusional.

“The rainbow nation is a dream that never was,” she said to cheerful approval.

She said racism continued unabated, and white people continue to live in positions of privilege while the majority of black people are landless and live in abject poverty. She cited the recent racial incidents as the tip of an iceberg of complex socio-economic challanges.

Last month, a video went viral on social media where two white men, Willem Oosthuizen and Theo Martins Jackson, were seen on the video assaulting a black man and putting him inside a coffin while alive. This has since triggered wide condemnation and the two were later arrested.

Oakley-Smith believes that the lack of economic transformation and inequality is the fundamental cause of the racial prejudices that engulfed  the country.

“Racism is far more than attitude or behaviour. It is embedded in the economy. It lies on the failure of the distribution of wealth, to settle land question, colonial, and apartheid history and unequal access to education,” she said.

Prof Harry Nengwekhulu, the Director of the School of Governance at Unisa, said racism is not a problem but a reflection of the economic system inherited in 1994. He said South Africa is a capitalist economy, which breeds divisions at the economic level.

“We cannot talk about social cohesion in a class-divided society,” he pointed out.

He added that the heightening competition for opportunities invoked racial prejudices and ethnic tensions.

He said the continued racial prejudices are a stark reminder that the dawn of democracy in 1994 didn’t resolve the problems, which are embedded in economic ownership patterns.

Prof Nyasha Mboti, an associate professor and Head of Department of Communication Studies at the University of Johannesburg, said white people distorted history during colonialism in order to dehumanise black people and justify land dispossession. He cited Cecil John Rhodes as ruthless person who unleashed  terror against blacks and deprived them of proper education in order to advantage whites. He added that race relations is a concept based on false consciences to deceive blacks about their painful past.

Mboti said in order to deal with white supremacy, black people must regain their land that was seized from them and create self-reliance.

Dr Somododa Fikeni, the Director of VC Special Projects and Advisor to the Principal of Unisa, said it was possible to reverse the scourge of racism. However, he admitted that it won’t be easy. He questioned how it was possible that National Party won successive elections, yet its supporters who kept the racist regime in power are untraceable today.

“We have a paradox. Basically a racist country without racists is difficult. We were promised the Sunset Clause to last for five years but the sun has refused to set. The liberation was too strong to be defeated and too weak to win. We were given a crown but white folks remain with the jewels. We carry this crown in parliament while they carry jewels in Sandton,” he said to loud cheers.

*By Percy Mthombeni

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