By Mandisi Majavu - The Conversation
One of the sources of social discontent in post-apartheid South Africa is the legacy of white racism. This toxic legacy is evident in racialised poverty and inequality. It is a historical fact that the economic prosperity of whites in South Africa is based on the racist exploitation and impoverishment of blacks.
The long history of racism enabled white South Africans to enjoy
one of the highest standards of living in the world by the 1970s. In his new
book, titled Can We Unlearn Racism? , Jacob R Boersema, a New York University
academic, shows that by the 21st century white South Africans' “lifetime
work-related earnings on average are four times higher than for Africans”.
Add to this corruption , rampant crime , frightening levels of gender based violence and failing political institutions : the outcome is a social horror show that produces misery for millions of black people. This is what former president Thabo Mbeki was referring to in his recent scathing critique of the governing African National Congress (ANC).
Mbeki also criticised the party for not being able to organise a
racially diverse audience for the memorial service of the late ANC deputy
secretary general Jessie Duarte . That, he said, showed that the ANC had failed
to embody its fundamental value of non-racialism .
Mbeki's thinking reveals deep confusion about “race”, racism,
diversity and non-racialism. He falsely assumes that diversity means harmony.
Non-racialism is one of the unexamined dogmas of the ANC. It has
its roots in the politics of Christian humanism that inspired the formation of
the party in 1912. That humanism regarded Christianity as transcending race by
offering “an ultimate goal of inter-racial harmony based on the brotherhood of
man” .
Whatever solidarity there was between different racial groups in
political structures like the Congress Alliance – which drew up the ANC's
“Freedom Charter” in 1955 – did not translate to the social world outside
politics.
The world outside politics was defined by racial segregation.
That has not changed much. Apart from the workplace and in schools, ordinary
blacks and whites continue to live racially segregated lives .
The history
The ANC's establishment in 1912 was driven by an ideological
blending of British liberalism and a Christian vision of non-racialism . This
equipped it poorly to respond to and make sense of racism and modern South
Africa. Black commuters defiantly board a train reserved for whites during
apartheid in 1952. Bettman via Getty Images
For most of the early 20th century, the ANC thought it could
defeat racism by appealing to Britain's sense of common justice. In his
presidential address to the South African Native Congress (now ANC) in 1912 –
which was published in the Christian Express, the Christian missionary journal
published by the Lovedale Press – Reverend John Dube encouraged black people to
show “deep and dutiful respect for the rulers whom God has placed over us”
because the sense of common justice and love of freedom so innate in the
British character (would) ultimately triumph over all other baser tendencies to
colour prejudice and class tyranny.
Consequently, from its formation to the 1950s, when its leaders
were subjected to government bans, the ANC failed to win a single political
victory over white racism, as historians have pointed out.
From the 1950s, it moved away from “black Victorianism” and
incorporated a Pan-Africanist worldview, as well as Das Kapital – Karl Marx's
critique of capitalism. The Marxists in the ANC argued that the aim of the
struggle was to overthrow capitalism, which they saw in terms of class rather
than race .
Black people thus focused their hostility on the apartheid
government, and “never on whites as such” . Black people who dared to use race
as an analytical category were eventually purged from the ANC.
By the turn of this century the ANC had rid itself of British
liberalism and Christian politics. But it remained committed to the idea of
non-racialism. And it has embraced capitalism – in particular the capitalism
entrenched in South Africa by white people.
There are three consequences.
Firstly, the ANC is an intellectually impoverished organisation
that rewards incompetence and greed, and encourages individuals to strive to be
the king of the rubbish pile.
Secondly, corruption and blatant disregard for the law have
achieved ambient levels.
Thirdly, South Africa is dysfunctional and social cohesion has
broken down.
Failure of non-racialism
Mbeki is one of the few ANC politicians to admit publicly that
non-racialism has failed to unite South Africans. The black intellectual
ecosystem has yet to develop a compelling analysis of the relationship between
white wealth and black poverty.
The white narrative that blames the black elite for the
persistence of racialised inequality erases white racism from post-apartheid
South Africa.
According to Statistics South Africa:
The labour
market experiences of different population groups in South Africa continue to
diverge substantially, and still reflect the strongly persistent legacies of
apartheid policies … Thus, black African unemployment rates are between four
and five times as high as they are amongst whites.
The black middle class remains largely an academic construct. It
consists of a mere 4.2 million people whereas blacks make up 80% of the
population of 60 million . Research shows no sign of a decrease in racialised
wealth inequality since apartheid.
The ANC's failures mean that the vast majority of black people
are trapped in poverty, with few prospects of escaping.
Thabo Mbeki is right to be worried. And it is not only the ANC
that does not have the solution to the country's problems.
Until black people break from the ideological capture of
non-racialism, the legacy of white racism will never be dislodged.
*Mandisi
Majavu is a Senior Lecturer, Department of Political and International Studies,
Rhodes University
(Mandisi Majavu does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.)
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