Race and Our Future

by Editor · May 20, 2018

On reading the headline, some readers might have decided not to read on. That would be a pity, because the debates on race and racism are important — and they concern us all.

How these debates play out will determine the future of South Africa. We cannot disengage from them, and we must contribute to them constructively.

The peaceful transition from apartheid and the euphoria that followed it almost a quarter of a century ago lulled South Africa into complacency. After the nightmare of apartheid, the full examination of its legacy was deferred — but it could not be cancelled.

Calling for the race debate to be shut down, to let bygones be bygones, is unhelpful because it delegitimises valid grievances about the legacy of apartheid and the pace of social and economic transformation.

The race debate is frustrating, of course, because the loudest voices in it are marked by belligerence, disinformation, generalisations, and lack of charity. The willingness to find one another that defined the Rainbow Nation era has given way to hostile rhetoric.

That frustration in many good people finds expression in pleas such as, “Why can’t we just get along with each other?” — which, generally in daily life, South Africans across racial lines probably do.

But the more pertinent question should be: “What can we do to create the conditions whereby we can all get along with each other?”

In the year of Nelson Mandela’s centenary, it is good to return to the values of the Father of the Nation. Reconciliation certainly was one of those. Mr Mandela opposed racism, and other forms of bigotry.

As Bishop Sithembele Sipuka has pointed out in response to those who accuse the Mandela generation of leadership of having compromised black aspirations, the policy of nation-building was necessary to preserve peace in the volatile 1990s.

But it would be an error to reduce Mr Mandela’s philosophy to reconciliation alone. The next step in the freedom project had to be a transformation of power relations in South Africa — not to disempower whites but to empower those who, shackled by poverty, have no agency in shaping their lives. The result of that is the often perilous populism of the likes of Julius Malema, which in turn serves as a pretext for many whites to engage in open racism. The erstwhile Rainbow Nation is becoming polarised.

Many things have prevented this from taking place, including the kleptocracy of the plutocrats in government who justified their corruption by reference to tropes like “white monopoly capital”, the neo-liberal economic model with its mendacious trickle-down theory, and the intransigence of many whites who believed that having transferred political power to a “black” government exempted them from addressing the imbalances created by apartheid.

The result of that is the often perilous populism of the likes of Julius Malema, which in turn serves as a pretext for many whites to engage in open racism. The erstwhile Rainbow Nation is becoming polarised.

And when the public discourse is dominated by those who shout abuse and those who’d prefer to shut the whole debate down, the peacemakers are not heard.

This is where the Catholic Church (and all faith bodies) must play a role, as our bishops have acknowledged.

It is a shame that many parishes ignored Justice & Peace’s “Lenten Prayer Reflections to End Racism” this year, and that some white Catholics even declared their hostility to this attempt at conscientising South Africans to racial prejudice. Indeed, the rejection of this initiative shows just how necessary it is. The Church has a treasure of social teachings from which it can draw to propose a society that is willing and able to combat racial injustice. But that requires the People of God to boldly confront issues of race and racism.

The Church has a treasure of social teachings from which it can draw to propose a society that is willing and able to combat racial injustice. But that requires the People of God to boldly confront issues of race and racism.

Pope Francis often speaks of the Church as a field hospital. This applies also to the sins of racism and racial injustice. Acknowledging the wounds, we must treat them. And, crucially, it involves being agents for changing hearts, for example by providing a forum for people to listen to each other’s experiences.

This involves, at the very least, a clear condemnation of racism in all its manifestations: in statements, in homilies and in practice.

It involves raising awareness about the problem of racial injustice and racism to create the conditions for fruitful dialogue.

It involves advocacy for economic and social transformation from which must come reconciliation.

And, crucially, it involves being agents for changing hearts, for example by providing a forum for people to listen to each other’s experiences.

Our country’s future depends on it.