Rising expectations in S. Africa

Press, 8 November 1986, Page 20

Rising expectations in S. Africa

By

GEOFF MEIN,

a former ‘Press’ reporter who

is visiting South Africa.

The man wearing the Bob Marley tea cosy points a long black finger at a row of mud walls.

“That is what we have to live in. When we get power, we will move into whites’ houses. All of us.”

Dreams remain free in South Africa; just as they were free to blacks throughout the continent, most of whom still live behind walls of mud. The lesson has been lost. Visions of an affluent tomorrow have transformed South Africa’s black townships into cauldrons of discontent. Frustrations are vented on all forms of authority in a defiant challenge to a system of entrenched privilege. Expectations rise daily, fuelled by the piecemeal reforms of a beleaguered white Government. What might have satisfied the majority a few years ago is no longer acceptable.

South Africa has been in a state of violent equilibrium since the Soweto riots of 1976. Black revolt has failed to oust the Government, which in turn has been unable to quash resistance. During 1985, and the first half of this year, the balance swung away from the Government. Violence resulted in the staggering loss of 1200 schools, 4000 homes, 900 business premises, 9000 delivery vehicles and 7000 buses.

The State of Emergency declared on June 12 has reduced violence and restored the upper hand to Pretoria. The Government has deluded the pliable white community into believing the crisis is over; that maintenance of law and order justifies the regulations. As the white electorate lists further to the Right, the laws of emergency are becoming accepted as the ordinary laws of the land.

Conciliation has given way to confrontation. Rather than tempering opposition, the detention of an estimated 20,000 people has united blacks against the Government. Years of housing restrictions,

pass laws and the migrant labour system have weakened traditionally strong adult-child relationships by preventing intact black families moving to tiie cities. One study showed that up to one-third of black children know little or nothing about their fathers. Black adolescents are rejecting parental guidance and joining the self-styled “comrades” on the streets.

University researchers. say up to eight million blacks are unemployed — a figure 12 times the official estimate. More than half the residents of some Eastern Cape townships are thought to be out of work.

Crime rates are among the highest in the world. Capetonians have more chance of being murdered than the residents of Los Angeles, America’s homicide capital. South African police admit they have lost control of some townships; “peoples’ courts” are formed by residents to fill the void. Excitement over the imminent collapse of white rule — which emanates undisguised from many of South Africa’s overseas critics — is, however, woefully premature. The political aims of the banned African National Congress might be supported By many blacks, but the organisation’s fighting wing has failed miserably against the armed might of Pretoria. Defence analysts believe South Africa is the only Western State which could expect to win a protracted conflict. Plans to almost double the size of the police force in the next 10 years should further consolidate its dominance.

Yet the whites — many of whom already have firearms — are leaving little to chance. A bewildering array of security aids is being promoted for private use. They range from bullet-proof vests to 40,000-volt stun guns which give the victim severe muscle spasms for 15 minutes.

A 300,000-candlepower spotlight, which blinds an intruder

for three minutes, is advertised as an effective alternative to a gun, particularly if there are children in the house. Young South Africans are, inevitably, caught up in the events. Durban toy shops report booms in preChristmas sales of “Rambo Kits,” complete with machine guns, knives, and hand grenades. Mining companies have welcomed the opportunity to buy N.A.T.0.-standard armoured patrol cars. Other companies faced with unruly strikes can call on a private 50-man riot squad. Such displays of power, while comforting to insecure whites, fail to address the roots of discontent. Demography dictates that education will always be a central issue. More than half the black population is of school age or younger. Five times as much money is spent on white pupils as is spent on blacks — a disparity which must shoulder much of the blame for the current unrest. Black schools are being boycotted, particularly in highly politicised areas such as Soweto and the Eastern Cape. Moderate blacks have described the call for “Liberation Now, Education Later” as insane. But the boycotts continue. More than 30 schools have been closed, and troops have been sent into townships to protect willing pupils from harassment. In a belated attempt to redress the imbalance, the Government has proposed cutting spending on white education by half, and boosting spending on blacks by 400 per cent. There is no suggestion of significant structural changes to the system which has conditioned generations of white children to privilege, and to accepting separation as part of a natural order.

Whites seek to justify their position with talk of complex cultural differences. These no doubt exist, but even senior Government officials admit that whites and blacks are becoming fixed in negative stereotypes of each other, which often amount

to “nothing less than naked racism.”

Residents of Johannesburg’s wealthy northern suburbs sympathised with the plight of hundreds of thousands of homeless blacks — until the Government announced plans to create a Soweto-style township in their midst.

Concern switched immediately to the threat to white property values. Preservation of a littleknown green belt suddenly be-

came an urgent priority. One resident stated bluntly; “I am no racist. I just don’t want people of any colour living near me.” At a mixed swimming pool in Durban, coloured children are taunted with the cry: "No germs in this pool.”

These are not the remarks of extremists. They faithfully reflect the Afrikaner concept of white supremacy; a yoke which continues to restrain the progress of all South Africans.