Siphumelele Zondi
@SZondi
Recently I was in a pub in Johannesburg’s leafy suburbs
of Parkhurst. My friend and I were the only two black people there and everyone
else inside this popular pub was white. I overheard a conversation taking place
across from us where young white people were discussing how trust funds their
parents had set up were helping them get started in life. Another also spoke of
the property his parents had bought for him.
I later had a conversation with a white friend of mine
who acknowledged that a lot of benefits white people have come as a result of
apartheid and other policies that existed before apartheid was formalised which
ensured that black people would be near-slaves for white people. My white
friend mentioned that he has a grandfather who owns a fruit farm in the Eastern
Cape and knows that those that work on the farm are uneducated black people,
who are uneducated because policies of the past made sure of that. He mentioned
that his grandfather would never find labour that cheap if he was in Europe as
that kind of exploitation would never happen there.
Previous generations who owned farms, like my friend’s
grandfather’s generation, would then have enough money to give their children
the best education. Their black workers would not be able to afford such an
education for their children and thus their children would also most likely
grow up poor, so would future generations. Even if they could afford such an
education, the apartheid government made sure that there would be laws limiting
the number of black people entering university.
This was confirmed to me in a conversation I once had
with South African journalist and author Fred Khumalo. Khumalo said he was
refused a place to study journalism at Technikon Natal as they only allowed a maximum
of two non-white people to study at the institution. Khumalo said he also had
to get written permission from then Minister of Education, FW de Klerk, who
granted this permission. When Technikon Natal refused they told him to go to a
black institution like Mangosuthu Technikon which did not offer the programme
he wanted to study. After many fights, Fred Khumalo, was eventually allowed to
study journalism at the Technikon. These are fights no white person would ever
know. I also believe that for every Fred Khumalo who persisted to be one of
two black people in class, there were many others who would have given up and
opted to be delivery or garden boys for white families.
My father has shared similar stories for his struggle to
get an education. He once told me that he would work as a gardener (or garden
boy) for a white lady on weekends. On a particular weekend he said he told her
he had an academic function to attend and she responded by telling him that her
garden was more important than his academic studies and he should not bother
returning should he attend to his academic needs. He never returned to her
garden, but I often wonder how many people would have opted to earn that small
salary and not attend the academic function and perhaps never complete their
studies as a result.
As I sat in the Parkhurst pub listening to stories of
trust funds, houses white parents are buying for their kids and those that have
uncles giving apprenticeships they never have to apply for, I thought of
students I lectured at the Tshwane University of Technology in Pretoria. Many
of my black students would have stories of how they are the first people in
their families to get a university education. Many have to feed their families
on completion of studies and would never know what it’s like to go on holiday,
enjoy a trust fund or even not to worry about living from pay cheque to pay
cheque.
I then thought about the many stories I have read when
organisations like trade union, Solidarity, which say policies to correct the
faults of the past like Black Economic Empowerment are discriminatory
and thus should be dealt away with. If that was to happen then those who have
been given a good living on a platter for generations would continue to enjoy rewards
for generations to come as generations before them did.
Many young black people have to take out student loans to
be at university, that is a debt they have to repay when they start working.
While they are repaying loans, those with trust funds manage to get ahead and
overtake them as they would buy property early, perhaps get help to buy this
property. Many white students also have cars bought for them by their parents and they don’t have to buy their
first car and thus would have a better chance of getting and internship that
requires someone with a car. These are benefits that come from being in a
family that built wealth from generations of black oppression.
Young white South Africans should then understand that
and if they really are worried about everyone being on the same level in the country, they should allow laws that ensure everyone is then brought to that level and not protest against them. They should also understand that this will
not happen in two decades.
Thanks for your excellent guide man
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