By : Sthembile Shabalala
South Africa is labelled as a democratic state, where every citizen has a right to exercise their democratic Rights as enshrined in our constitution. It has been 20 years since South Africa gained its freedom and got released from the chains of oppression and discrimination. However our country still has unresolved issues when it comes to implementation of a true democratic principal and non- racialism.
It is clear that people have not come to terms with the fact that we are a new rainbow nation. There should never be incident that is inclined . Our people are still caught up in the past, which goes against everything our heroes and heroines believed in, what our Madiba’s, Sisulu’s and Tambo’s died for.
Nelson Mandela said ‘If people can be taught to hate, they can also be taught to love’. It is suprising how people fail to accept one another. In 1995 when the Truth and Reconciliation Committee (TRC) was established it aimed not at only finding the truth and grating amnesty to people who had violated human Right during the Apartheid era, but also to reconcile South Africa as a new rainbow nation. It was to bring unity where there will be no division along racial lines, but where there would be a complex where every citizen will be equal and enjoy every basic Human Rights.
Racism is a cruel and ruthless practise that is to remain in the past. People are failing to accept one another. This is not only how whites treat Blacks but how Blacks treat whites as well.
Some people argue that we live in a democratic non racialism- nation, Viwe Boyce a Cost Management Accounting student at DUT believes racism does still exist.
“We will never be an equal nation it is clear that whites will always have the best life, the best jobs and best houses. It is even more painful because we as blacks tend to oppress each other and step on other people’s toes just to get to the top”. said Boyce
One of the greatest heroes who believed in black pride and self reliance is Steve Biko once said ‘we will never remove the ideology of superiority and inferiority unless we are psychologically minded. He meant that for a very long time that is what we were taught that a Black man is nothing , a white man will always be above that is why we have to remove that inferiority in our minds first.
It is very saddening that after so long throughout the years of struggle against Apartheid we have people who are still obsessed with such behaviour. We still are a divided nation where a person is judged because of skin colour.
Nomkhosi Cele says South Africa is now a better country than it was back in the years of oppression and discrimination.
“I could not sit in the same area with a white person; I could not even stand next to a white person. It was not allowed. if we were been caught in the same line with them, we would have been jailed. Things are different now, I am proud of the people who fought for the freedom that we have. That period of Apartheid was a cruel time in our country therefore it should stay in the books of history.” Said Mrs Cele
The time is now to let go of the past, to live together as one and be the kind of nation that the people who paved the way for our Freedom would be proud of. We owe it to them to commemorate and honour their memory by standing together ad celebrating their selfless struggle throughout the tragic time in South Africa’s history.