To Build a Nation

The findings reported this week that we are beginning to see ourselves as South Africans first, rather than as members of a particular race group, is encouraging.

Nation-building must be among South Africa’s priorities, perhaps second only to poverty alleviation. As the report seems to suggest, placing a superior importance on racial self-identification is in conflict with the notion of national unity.

It is perhaps surprising that such large numbers of South Africans have embraced their national identity. The country’s history has been dominated by questions of race. For most South Africans, where and how one lived and worked was prescribed by the colour of their skin and the texture of their hair. Racial discrimination, culminating in half a decade of the evil apartheid system, has defined South Africa.

The effects of racial differentiation in society are still painfully visible. Because of this history, poverty continues to be linked largely to race. This legacy continues to dominate government policy, business practice and academic debate.

Yet, it has taken only a decade for about half of South Africans to shake off the shackles of racial classification, at least to such extent that they see themselves as South Africans first.

While this is indeed good news, definitions of South African-ness may well have differed from one social group to another. While for some being South African may mean rugby and braaivleis, for others it may mean vuvuzela and kwaito. When we speak about national identity, we must seek to know what the unifying factors are, and how we can accommodate sometimes incompatible social traits.

Moreover, it is significant that while 78% of coloureds, 70% of Indians and 82% of whites see themselves as South Africans first, only 44% of Africans do so. This should not surprise us. More than any other group, before 1994 Africans were reminded daily of their racial classification, which affected virtually every facet of their lives. This consciousness cannot be simply undone. The magnitude of forgiveness shown by many Africans towards those whose representatives systematically tyrannised them has been astonishing. But bygones cannot just be bygones. The legacy of apartheid injustices will remain with us for many generations.

Of course, it is perfectly likely that most of the 56% of Africans who classify themselves by race or ethnicity first would regard themselves as South Africans second. In many instances, one may suspect, the differential between the two options might have been very small. Depending on social situations, there is certain to be a fluidity between perceptions of self-identity. Ask, say, a Xhosa man to classify himself, and one might get different answers at an initiation ceremony, a job interview, and a Bafana Bafana match.

An area of concern raised in the report is the growth of class identity.

In a country where there are immense gaps between the wealthy and the poor, class inevitably is an issue. During apartheid, when class and race were broadly synonymous, the focus was on the latter. In post-apartheid South Africa, class will increasingly become a factor that defines politics.

The Catholic Church has long recognised this. While not engaging in Marxist dialectics, the Church has, in keeping with Christs command, consistently engaged itself on behalf of the poor more so, perhaps, than many a former communist and trade unionist riding the gravy train.

Poverty alleviation, more than anything, will be the key in accomplishing national unity.