The long road to freedom
Johannesburg is a city of contrasts. There are the rich areas and the poor areas. There are the posh suburbs with huge houses, electric fences surrounding them, and the townships made up of thousands of tin shacks surrounded by huge mounds of garbage waiting to be cleaned up. An aerial view of the city shows the interior as dry grassland. This is where the municipalities are located. But the city itself is the largest man-made forest in the world. Sandton, the part of the city where we were staying compares favorably with any first world city. It has glass-enclosed shopping malls with the latest products from around the world. It has tall towers that reach the sky and house hotels, offices, shops and convention centers, all interconnected by skywalks to prevent its visitors from having to walk through the dangerous streets.
The drive from the airport to the hotel in Sandton was an eye opener. It was 9 a.m. on a weekend. Just outside of Alexandra Township, there was a large group of black men waiting on the side of the road, waiting for one of the contractors who are busy rebuilding the prosperous parts of town to offer them a job for the day. This in itself is not unusual. What was different in Johannesburg was the fact that only a fraction of them would end up working that day, and it showed in their faces, in their posture… The unemployment rate in some areas is now 50-60 percent. , and it is the young who cannot find work. And there is a lot of migration that takes place from other African countries, who see South Africa as the land of opportunity. The taxi driver spoke about the crime that invades the city: mainly robberies, armed robberies, break-ins and vehicle thefts.
Dr. Ahmad Motala of the Center for the Study of Violence and Reconciliation (CSVR) described the high crime rate in Johannesburg as “residual violence”. Before 1994, when South Africa became democratic and ended the Apartheid era, there was state violence and severe repression. Despite the introduction of democracy, socioeconomic disparities continued to widen. At the moment, the South African economy is dominated by large conglomerates and it is very difficult for small businesses to enter the market. As the largest South African companies are becoming increasingly global, there is little benefit to this trickle down to the poor, allowing them to migrate into the middle class.
In addition to social and economic deprivation, there is also political deprivation, as there is no credible opposition to the African National Congress (ANC), which includes all black tribes, while the National Party, the current opposition party, is seen as a White Liberal Party. Therefore, the high levels of crime and violence in South Africa are the direct result of a deficit of democracy, development and dignity. The South African Government is well aware of this problem and is doing its best to change the situation of the people of South Africa, especially the poor who live in townships and rural areas. It is planning to introduce low income subsidies and address the issue of skills development.
The South African government is also putting an emphasis on creating educational opportunities for disadvantaged students. Mr. Hemant Waghmarae, an educator of Indian origin, said there are reservations in educational institutions to allow black youth to participate in the higher levels of the economy, something they were unable to do during the apartheid years. In fact, at that time schooling was only available to black students up to the eighth grade. One of the justifications for apartheid was made by white clerics who interpreted certain passages in the Bible to mean that blacks were only meant to chop wood and do manual labor for their white masters. Therefore, it was considered unnecessary to educate black children beyond purely functional literacy. Now reservations are creating another kind of tension, with students who are doing well in school reluctant to give up their seat at a higher education institution on the grounds that it is required to level the playing field. in the future.
Mr. Jay Naidoo, former General Secretary of the Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU), believes that technology can play an important role in creating inclusion, in bringing large numbers of people into the productive economy, in putting disposable income in the hands of the people and in recreating the entrepreneurial spirit that was destroyed by apartheid. He was the Minister for Posts, Telecommunications and Broadcasting at the time mobile phone technology arrived in South Africa. The government’s policy for universal access helped create economic activity in rural areas. For example, prepayment schemes allowed rural farmers to know prices and cut out middlemen. New technologies in the future may have a similar positive impact.
Thus, fifteen years after its freedom, South Africa is a country at a critical crossroads. Will his long walk beyond freedom lead to greater inclusion for his people and allow all of his citizens to integrate into the mainstream? Will there be social, political and economic empowerment for all its citizens? Will the electric fences that separate people be torn down, ushering in a more open society? President Mbeki’s vision of creating an African renaissance, in which Africans build the continent without relying on foreign aid and exploit Africa’s natural resources (of which there are many) for the benefit of Africans in general, rather than of a few individuals, succeed? Or will the walls that separate the rich from the poor get higher? Will crime and violence take over and become ingrained in the nation’s psyche? Will parents continue to name their daughters “Yesterday,” feeling defeated about their future?