In 2014, whilst statistical projections placed the white population at 8.4%, the black population went all the way to 80%. Oh, and this she found was down from 10.95% in 2010. 8.4%? Yes, the number of white South Africans is only getting smaller. So why does the black South African feel like they are still in chains?
WHAT IF THERE WERE NO WHITES IN SOUTH AFRICA?
(THE BOOK REVIEW)
The title is a question, albeit not ordinary! On second thought though, is it even a question? What does this book; ‘What if there were no whites in South Africa?’ look to do? The author, a celebrated South African journalist, Ferial Haffajee, knows what the inherent reaction will be, she anticipates it. But see, what she really wants is for the African to self-search, like really self-search.
So, what if there were no whites in South Africa… huh? Well, maybe the black man’s story would be different, right? Oh but no, this is not entirely true, and Haffajee goes on to tell you why. First, are there even that many whites in South Africa?
And there folks, that is her hook; numbers. Is it all in the black South African’s heads? Is the white population much smaller than is generally believed? True story!
In 2014, whilst statistical projections placed the white population at 8.4%, the black population went all the way to 80%. Oh, and this she found was down from 10.95% in 2010. 8.4%? Yes, the number of white South Africans is only getting smaller. So why does the black South African feel like they are still in chains?
Haffajee must be kidding; maybe the few have their hooks in too deep. No, she isn’t, not at all. Not that she doesn’t know the issues at hand; she has chosen to look at the post-Apartheid South Africa a different way.
She reckons that though colonialism, patriarchy, white privilege, among many things have their claws deep in the ‘rainbow nation’, it can’t surely be as bad as it was over 20 years ago.
She sees the strides; a bit of her life’s examples perhaps, maybe the rising black middle class, or is it today’s youth- or as she calls them, ‘freedom’s children’. But why won’t the narrative change inspite ‘growth’ in the right direction?
The narrative
Freedom’s children, those born in the post-apartheid era she thinks refuse to see that it is better. I mean, it isn’t rosy, but it could be worse! Plenty of conversations and loads of time spent on said conversations all boil down to what they think they don’t have, white privilege. And therein, visions get held captive yet the solution is not really a solution. Yes, they want to go back to the beginning, all the way there.
So, back to the beginning, right?
Well, Haffajee will go there. What if the white South Africans did ‘return’ this wealth to black South Africans, would it solve the problem? No. Sadly, she worries that politicians have fed into the population’s belief that this would solve their problems, living dreams chained.
She names names! It is not just Julius Mulema that Hafajjee with call out, current president Jacob Zuma’s exploitation of the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE) data is a topic she tackles. In claiming only 3% of the JSE was owned by blacks, Zuma started a lie that has since become ‘truth’.
Maybe not entirely statistically true, but isn’t the South African ‘harvest’ mostly in white granaries? “My tax no longer goes to an illegitimate regime but to a black state that uses it to redistribute, in the main, to people who were not as fortunate as I was when freedom came,” Haffajee writes.
Give it all back
For arguments sake, she paints a picture of what it might look like if the white man’s slots were given to the black folks. For example the national figures estimate that for every 4million blacks not attending an institution at their level, there are 800,000 whites in school. If the whites were removed from the picture, that would still leave 3million blacks not attending school. The examples are endless, a must ready I must say…
But there is one other; money! Okay not money per-se, but poverty- Haffajee’s words. “…South Africa has a poverty problem not necessarily a black poverty problem,” to quote her that is. But really, what if they distributed the white South African’s wealth among the blacks, might that help? No, not with a population that insists on thinking in the Marxist realms.
As chapters thin out though, the debate with self gets thicker. It is hard not to think that maybe Haffajee’s positive outlook is wishful thinking. But does what she suggest hold water? Of course it does! She knows there will need to be an overhaul in systems, to beat things like corruption. Oh and she reckons it will not be a walk in the park.
Can black South Africa look beyond the scars of apartheid to embrace opportunities? A start perhaps, an apology maybe?
