Race 'a reality' in SA

2003-07-10 14:00

Cape Town - Race is a South African reality, and it is "cynical and perhaps foolhardy" for parties like the DA to say that making reference to racial inequality suggested assertion of African hegemony, the Azanian People's Organisation said on Thursday.

In an apparent reaction to Democratic Alliance leader Tony Leon's accusing government last month of using racism to silence its political opponents, Azapo said democracy had not wiped out racial inequality in South Africa.

"It is unfortunate that...those who happen to be on the better side of the inequality equation squirm and squeak each time racial issues are brought to the fore," Azapo secretary-general Dan Habedi said in a statement.

The evidence of racial inequality was not hard to find; it was everywhere.

"It is black people and their children who pack trains, buses and taxis like sardines each morning to report for work or school in other areas, and go the opposite way in the afternoon. It is never otherwise.

"It is black people who do not have safe drinking water and who are vulnerable to waterborne disease.

"It is black people who live in shacks. Whenever you see a shack, you automatically can tell who stays in it.

"It is black children who are born, on average, 200g lighter than their white counterparts, and 20% of whom are mentally and physically stunted by the age of two.

"This means 20% of black children will have a hard time at school because they got stunted long before they could start school," Habedi said.

For the DA to say black people should not talk about their racial plight "is basically to inflict pain on us, and to paternalistically blame us for complaining about it".

"We do not expect the leader of the DA to understand this reality, or to empathise with the black majority.

"We also do not expect him to think that we are going to help him soothe his guilt-ridden conscience by not making reference to racist remarks and practices," he said.

For an anti-racist culture to develop in South Africa there was a need to be frank about racist activities and practices.

This was "even if such frank talk is like a spear that flies through the heart of the Democratic Alliance".

The truth was always hard to accept, Habedi said.

- SAPA