I was, apparently wrongly so, under the impression that we as a country are trying to move away from Apartheid. Yes, that old system that gets the blame for everything when nobody else is brave enough to take responsibility.
So you might be wondering how can forced racial integration, like they plan to do in Stellenbosch be the same as Apartheid? The average person will surely be of the opinion that integration is the opposite of Apartheid (separate). Right? Wrong!
The thing about our constitution (which is ignored very conveniently) is that it is based on the principles of freedom. Freedom of movement, association, culture, and religion is supreme as long as it doesn’t lead to racism, hate or other bad ideas. Now in the Apartheid era people were forced to live in designated areas. “Whites, you live here, blacks you live there and you don’t mix”. So in its core, Apartheid robbed people of the freedom to choose…
Forced integration is based on the exact same principle! This system forces people to live where they maybe don’t want to live. “Whites, you must live here, blacks you must live here and you must integrate”. It is robbing young people from the choice. The moment you take away freedoms like association and force somebody to do something, you are sticking a broom right up the bottom of the constitution!
Who are these people to force this ideology onto a bunch of young people anyway? In their obsession to impress government they will ignore the freedom of the youth to make a point. The same happened in the University of the Free State. They forced groups to live together. And yes, these groups do tolerate each other, but it isn’t their first choice.
Our democracy, our constitution is based on freedom. This is an absolute mockery of freedom to force integration. Create neutral hostels where people who want to experience multiculturalism can do so by choice, but leave the door open for those who choose to stick with their own culture.
The challenge for people in office is to resist forcing their opinion unto others. This only causes rebellion. You want to make this country work, give people the freedom they are promised. Don’t think you can choose for the youth. Remember, one day when you are old, they will be in power…
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