So it's a new year. 2013 has arrived, and with it another potential failure is brought to the fore; although an un-advertised failure it may be. That's right, it is now the year that the child of 1994 has to 'bite the bullet' so to speak. It is time to see what the struggle has accomplished. You see, the child that was born in 1994, the 'first year of democracy' in South Africa, has now turned 18 years old, and the majority of these new adults are now finished with high-school and many are entering the job-market. Here begins their “school of life”.
So why is this so significant? Well mainly because in all fairness there can be no blame placed on these kids' skin-colour. They were born into a 'fully democratic' and 'fair' society... Or that is official description we are given.
Is it then 'fair' to stand these innocent new adults on an un-balanced playing-field and expect them to continue in the non-racist attitude that they have been raised with? After all, black economic empowerment and affirmative action were designed to 'balance the playing-field'.
Are these mechanisms not therefore outdated this year? I have heard arguments that a fair time limit for such policies would have been 12 years, being the time taken to school a child from grade one to matric, so surely we cannot push the limit of “fairness” past the legal age of kids that weren't even born into apartheid? Wouldn't that just be an equally unfair form of discrimination?
Of course there will be those that say tertiary education should be included in the “acceptable” time period, but I then need to ask if race doesn't play a part in university acceptance... And we all know it does, so let's draw a line that stops this racial intolerance.... NOW, before it is given chance to corrupt the ideals of these new workers.
Just another note: it was only the progressive folk that were having babies in 1994. The conservatives were saying you shouldn't subject your child to a bleak future. The same progressive adults were the very ones that voted “yes” in the referendum that saw the National Party open up the vote to non-white citizens. Their children would have been raised with progressive minds. So… Which of these two schools of thought are we proving to be right by prolonging the intolerance and protecting the majority from the minority?
Disclaimer: All articles and letters published on MyNews24 have been independently written by members of News24's community. The views of users published on News24 are therefore their own and do not necessarily represent the views of News24. News24 editors also reserve the right to edit or delete any and all comments received.
