The long road to freedom

Johannesburg is a city of contrasts. There are rich areas and poor areas. There are the fancy 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 grasslands. 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 to any first world city. It has glass-enclosed malls with the latest products from around the world. It has tall towers that reach to the sky and houses hotels, offices, shops and convention centers, all interconnected by skywalks to prevent its visitors from having to walk through the dangerous streets.

The journey from the airport to the hotel in Sandton was eye opening. It was 9 in the morning on a weekend. Just outside Alexandra Township, there was a large group of black men waiting on the side of the road, waiting to be offered a day job by one of the contractors who are busy rebuilding the prosperous parts of the city. 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 today is 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 companies to enter the market. As the largest South African companies are becoming more and more global, there is not much benefit from this trickle down to the poor, allowing them to migrate to 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 everything possible to change the situation of the people of South Africa, especially the poor living in townships and rural areas. It is planning to introduce low income allowances and address the issue of skills development.

The South African government is also placing 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 highest 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 clergymen who interpreted certain passages in the Bible to mean that blacks were only meant to cut wood and do manual labor for their white masters. Therefore, it was deemed unnecessary to educate black children beyond purely functional literacy. Now the reservations are creating another kind of tension, as students who are doing well in school are 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 inclusiveness, in attracting large numbers of people into the productive economy, in making income available in the hands of the people and in the recreation of the entrepreneurial spirit that was destroyed by Apartheid. He was the Minister of Posts, Telecommunications and Broadcasting at the time mobile phone technology arrived in South Africa. The government’s universal access policy 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.

Therefore, fifteen years after its freedom, South Africa is a country at a critical juncture. Will his long road 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 and make way for 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 grow taller? Will crime and violence take hold and take root in the nation’s psyche? Will parents continue to name their daughters “Yesterday” with a sense of defeat over their future?

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