'Black Advancement Hinges on White Handouts?’
Mr. Zamani Xaba, this opinion piece is a reply to your statement that white 'racist attitudes' towards blacks are what have largely resulted in a floundering black African society that has lost its way.
You seem to be implying that people who are reluctant to give up their land, jobs or property are racist? This is unreasonable. Please don't fall into that trap. Just because they are trying to preserve their standard of living & property, does not make them racist, even if you feel they 'had it easy' under apartheid.
What is very misguided is our people believing that 'taking' what the minorities have will correct the imbalances long term.
A couple of points to consider:
1) The whites and other minorities are taking their assets overseas at an unprecedented rate, along with their support structure of investors...time is pretty much gone to 'take' their majority assets, and even then there is not enough to sustain our people.
2) Why do we want their assets anyway - it is only a temporary thing. Our clear objective should be for acquiring knowledge & education - something we can build into our society, and perpetuate. This will truly help us sustain and grow long term. Remember, there is no colour to knowledge, so why do we seem reluctant to acquire it unless we are somehow prejudice?
3) Why are we not putting more focus on increasing levels of education for mission critical career sectors? We need a revamped educational program that creates a well balanced society of not only academics, but engineers, scientists, data entry clerks, artisans, technicians, construction workers etc This will contribute directly to our knowledge base, and build our qualifications as a workforce with breadth & depth, and a technology leader. Where is the construction of our own robust institutions - we are doing some of this, but the vacuum the ANC has created in institutional-support for Our People is horrifyingly absent. Of course the ANC are an institution themselves, serving ONLY themselves at the expense of the millions of disadvantaged people. And they do this without losing any sleep, while expectant mothers die daily in disgusting hospitals, and the quality of our care for the aged is bordering on a crime on humanity. And you are worried about white attitudes? How is this going to help our hospitals?
Where is the plan for the re-emergence of South Africa as a center of inspired innovation? The ANC would rather focus on creating racial issues than tackling real challenges like this.
Taking land, or taking jobs, or taking taxes from a diminishing minority is short-sighted, and destined for failure.
It's funny when you look at the excessive wealth of the black elite, and how we DO NOT focus on taking their fair share of the taxes to help rebuild our country. We let them get away with hoarding millions of rands of ill-gotten wealth.
Also VERY SAD is how the black elite revel at deepening the class divide. They PLAN to keep the impoverished uneducated, and in debt, and prolong their pain so that they can keep capitalizing on it, all whilst they divert the resentment towards minorities & foreign entities.
Can the minorities help us more than they currently are? Of course. But many of them are simply trying to figure out how to get out of this country, or at least how to get their children out. They essentially are focusing on survival for themselves, and creating an exit plan for their next generations. The People who want to stay (like farmers) - we turn a blind eye to the farm murders, hoping the problem just goes away. The unfettered crime rates that are skyrocketing, that the ANC just 'shrugs off'. What label would you place on these complacent attitudes?
We seem obsessed with 'them' and 'others', while ignoring the building blocks necessary to ensure our productive futures are guaranteed, and not spent in refugee camps.
Is leveraging wealth from these fleeing minorities key to our long term advancement as a majority country? Of course not!
The fifty million (and growing) Africans in South Africa must dig out of this hole ourselves, in our own way, if we are to be a successful, self-sustaining and a healthy nation long into the future.
Let's insist that our leaders show us a specific plan on how this will be accomplished. If our leaders can't articulate this, we must find leaders who can.
Menzi Solomon Shange
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[Join Mr. Shange at the FNB Joburg Art Fair, Sandton Convention Centre, 6 - 9 September 2018. Mr. Shange is an Afrocentric blogger, artist, activist, and business owner. He currently lives in Gauteng, and known as a fiercely outspoken advocate for the disadvantaged & marginalized citizens of Mzansi]
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