Yes, I am well aware of the fact that I’m also a White South African and that the heading of this post contradicts itself.
Being born in SA in 1990 and growing up in the post apartheid era, I am also one of those whites who can question why I now have to ‘suffer’ for the sins of the previous generations and why affirmative action is still actively being enforced almost 20 years after the birth of the South African democracy – But I don’t/won’t.
I am sad to see that whenever a ‘sensitive topic’, like undoing the past, comes up everyone reaches for their racial agenda, tucks it under their arm and starts debating. Black people apparently simply blame apartheid for everything that’s wrong with SA and proceed to do nothing about it, while white people use affirmative action and the ANC as their preferred scapegoat and then proceed in a similar manner.
To get back to my point, it is no secret that we have issues in this country, crime, poor governance, poverty, unemployment, over population, education, etc. Probably topping the list, Just for the record, neither affirmative action or apartheid made the list - sad, I know.
The Reason this post addresses whites is because South Africa is not yet a democracy, the past is certainly not ‘undone’ and the playing field is far from level. – For me Democracy is simply equal opportunity for all.
For those of you who have asked the question above or still continue to ask it. Here’s your answer:
a Scenario - a black child is born in 1994 in the new South Africa, on the same day a white child is born - if both have stereotypical black and white families respectively, everyone would agree that the white child would be better off financially, live in a better town/city, go to a better school, possess a better command of the English language, possibly have access to tertiary education, etc. Those two children would be 18 in 2012, currently on the brink of finishing matric, thus justifying Affirmative Action in 2012. – it really is that simple.
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