Cape Coloureds & Elderly Blacks Miss Apartheid: Living Standards much better under apartheid; despite forced removals

The ANC is Not for US, Say Coloured Voters

Fadela Slamdien, All Africa
17 January 2011

Cape Town — Much has been said about the 'coloured vote' in the Western Cape being the ANC's Achilles heel. Being the one province in the country that does not have a majority black population - the ANC's traditional voter base - and the ANC's inability to woo coloured voters to provide them with an outright win has seen Cape Town swing between the DA and ANC until the DA gathered strength with the winning the province in 2009.

Not even Nelson Mandela's reign in the early days of democracy was able to grant the ANC an outright majority vote in the province. West Cape News hit the streets of Grassy Park in an effort to obtain insight into the mood ahead of upcoming local government elections.

Among the tens of coloured people canvassed during a day in Grassy Park, most elderly people said a lack of jobs and high levels of crime reflected badly on the ANC. Leaning toward the right, a number of people said their lifestyles were better under apartheid, despite the fact of forced removals.

"They should have left things as they were. Before, there was very little crime, the death penalty was in, and one could send your children to the shop at night. Everybody had jobs. People were given houses and not put out on the streets like now. In 1994," said a resident who did not want to be identified.

She said despite the Group Areas Act, the apartheid government provided for them. "People who were kicked out of Constantia were put in council flats. Look at the way people are living now. People are not put into flats. Now there is crime and drugs. Why vote for the ANC if all of this is happening?" she said.

Another major grievance was the issue of affirmative action, which most viewed as form of reverse racism, with black candidates trumping coloured applicants.

"It is a black apartheid now. The ANC has nothing to do with us. Blacks get the jobs first. They don't give it to coloureds and whites," said 81 year old Acarr Achmat.

Many also feel that they have been left out in the cold by the ANC even though they joined them in the struggle against apartheid. "The ANC is 100 percent prejudiced. I fought just as hard as them. We had the same problem. I was part of them. Now I am an outcast. They do absolutely nothing for us... (but) we are black too," said 62 year old Nasser Burkh.

"The DA is more supportive of the coloured people," said a woman who did not want to be named. "The ANC is more for black people."

The ANC's reputation in the province has also been damaged by the perception of empty promises and a lack of progress when it comes to improving conditions in predominantly coloured communities.

"The ANC makes empty promises. Nothing materialises,"said Kevin van der Ross, while other pointed to DA-led housing initiatives on the Cape Flats.

But a few felt exploited by the DA. "Many of our people are not educated and informed. People are politically confused and don't know who to vote for. Zille has exploited this confusion and makes promises to the people. But after the votes, everything is back to normal and she doesn't care," said a man who did not want to be named.

For others, coloured people's loyalty to the DA was a matter of racial identity in the negative, voting for the DA not because it was a 'coloured party', but because the ANC was perceived as black.

Younger residents tended to be disillusioned with both parties.

Twenty three year old Gaironeesa Zimri said casting a vote was "useless" as political parties did not deliver on their promises. "This country is in a big mess. It doesn't matter who you vote for as nothing has been done. It is useless voting as you will achieve nothing. The country has gone from bad to worse," she said.

» » » » [All Africa]

Black People Remembering the Past with Nostalgia

Matchbox beats 'sim card'

Once-despised township houses now preferred over RDPs

Jan 17, 2011 10:47 PM
Phumla Matjila, TimesLive

Phumla Matjila: Ahem, I get a lump in my throat the size of an egg when older black people remember pre-democratic South Africa with a whiff of nostalgia.

AHEM, I get a lump in my throat the size of an egg when older black people remember pre-democratic South Africa with a whiff of nostalgia.

Surely, South Africa today can't be worse than during apartheid, I tell myself as I eavesdrop on the conversation of three generations of women, chit-chatting, bemoaning how some things have changed for the worse in our country.

Even the youngest of the women, in her late 20s, is sounding pessimistic about her future and that of her children.

Politeness takes a back seat as I strain to hear their conversation. After all, their story resonates with many South Africans: those who are unemployed, live in the poor areas of our townships - and, in rural areas, rely on public healthcare and transport, and survive on government grants - and, when they die, burden those left behind, usually children.

Sitting on the stoep, watching children play in a muddy puddle, the older woman tells the youngest of a time when they would wake up early in the morning to look for a job.

A grandmother reminisces about those days when she wouldn't return from a day of job-hunting without having found a job (even if was just for that day), or the promise of a job for a relative, or a neighbour, if she was not suitable for the job.

The other older woman nods in agreement. Looking for a job meant going from door-to-door in the "suburbs", she explains.

"It was never a futile exercise."

The pass laws, the inhumane way in which they were treated at work, the pay - all of that doesn't matter when people are at pains to paint a rosy picture of a stinky, shameful, past.

However, even though it pains me to admit it, the reality is that it is the much-hated matchbox houses, that are now considered dignified housing in the township - the three-roomed and four-roomed houses, in which many of us grew up, which our great-grandparents, grandparents and parents were not allowed to renovate or extend because they didn't belong to them.

These matchboxes are now benchmarks for what a government should at least provide for its people.

They are bigger and stronger than the "sim-card" houses being built by the present government.

When it comes to housing, the bar for our government clearly hasn't been set that high.

In November, this newspaper reported that "a total of 40000 defective RDP houses nationwide will be flattened and rebuilt in coming months at a cost of more than R1-billion, about 10% of the national housing department's annual budget".

R1-billion!

So, when the older women ask: "How hard can it be for our democratic government to build at least 'apartheid-quality' houses for it's people?" no one answers.

The argument by the youngest of the women, that the RDP houses, despite their poor quality, are safer than shacks - and therefore people should be grateful that they have a solid structure to live in, is immediately rejected by the older women because one of them knows a few RDP houses that collapsed with last year's summer downpour - whereas the shacks in the yard stood strong.

It might not be possible to create five million jobs in the next 10 years, but it IS possible to build people quality housing - the first time around.

» » » » [Times Live, via SA Sucks]

Over 60% Miss Apartheid! Less Corruption, More Efficient Competent Goverment


'Things were better in the bad old days'

By Andrew Quinn, IOL
December 11 2002 at 04:35PM

Most South Africans, both black and white, believe the country was better run under apartheid and say unemployment and crime are the government's top challenges, according to two new polls released this week (2002).

The polls, part of the "Afrobarometer" series of public opinion surveys, found South Africans had generally positive assessments of how their country was governed, and were growing increasingly optimistic about the future.

But they also revealed a growing sense of "apartheid nostalgia" as South Africa grapples with high crime rates, increasing corruption and rising joblessness following the end of white rule in 1994.

» » » » [Read Further]

Abathembu's Support Secession: Things Much Better Under Apartheid


Why is the Transkei collapsing?

An open letter from Mbulelo Ncedana to Nelson Mandela

Mbulelo Ncedana, Cope
05 February 2010

OPEN LETTER TO TATA OMKHULU MANDELA ON NON-DEVELOPMENT

Non Development in the Community of Nelson Mandela

During the holidays I went to Eastern Cape, our home Qunu, made famous by your stature, tata omkhulu Mandela. For me it was heart breaking to see our people, especially the old, still needing to go to the bush or open fields to relieve themselves. To see that in Qunu there is no water and toilets; and that only those who can afford to install septic tanks had anything resembling basic services.

I subsequently attended a community meeting on 28/12/09 where we received a report of the situation in the area from the headman. He told us there were no real plans to develop the area, and that as the community they've lost trust in their ward councilor who came only once last year to the area during the General Elections. After promising them heaven and earth he disappeared with his name.

I felt morose and embarrassed seating in that meeting listening to old people benching their hopes on food parcels that never materialise as promised during electioneering. I heard things I thought I'll never hear again; old people, with rheumy eyes, saying things were much better under the Bantustan government.

» » » » [Read Further]

Black Zimbabweans say life was better under White Rhodesian Goverment...


Postcard From Zimbabwe

By Nicholas D. Kristof
Published: April 7, 2010, New York Times

HWANGE, Zimbabwe: Here’s a measure of how President Robert Mugabe is destroying this once lush nation of Zimbabwe:

In a week of surreptitious reporting here (committing journalism can be a criminal offense in Zimbabwe), ordinary people said time and again that life had been better under the old, racist, white regime of what was then called Rhodesia.

“When the country changed from Rhodesia to Zimbabwe, we were very excited,” one man, Kizita, told me in a village of mud-walled huts near this town in western Zimbabwe. “But we didn’t realize the ones we chased away were better and the ones we put in power would oppress us.”

“It would have been better if whites had continued to rule because the money would have continued to come,” added a neighbor, a 58-year-old farmer named Isaac. “It was better under Rhodesia. Then we could get jobs. Things were cheaper in stores. Now we have no money, no food.”

Over and over, I cringed as I heard Africans wax nostalgic about a nasty, oppressive regime run by a tiny white elite. Black Zimbabweans responded that at least that regime was more competent than today’s nasty, oppressive regime run by the tiny black elite that surrounds Mr. Mugabe.

» » » » [Read Further]

Blacks don't Want Black Rule; Liberals: Blacks Must Have Black Rule; Even if they Don't Want It!


Racism, Guilt, Self-Hatred and Self Deceipt: A Philosophers Hard Headed Look at the Dark Continent

by Gedaliah Braun
Excerpts

Racism, Guilt, Self-Hatred and Self-Deceit: A Philosophers Hard-Headed Look at the Dark Continent, by Gedahlia Braun [AmRen]

Defining a Liberal: a conservative is someone who dislikes blacks as a group but likes them as individuals, and a liberal is someone who likes blacks as a group (i.e. vote-fodder for the welfare state) but dislikes them as individuals.

***

Horror At ‘Whites Only’ Sign

In 1987 I spoke with a Canadian academic (in Papua New Guinea) who had excoriated the govern-ment for doing business with South Africa. He mentioned how ‘horrified’ he had been to see a ‘Whites Only’ sign in a South African train station. (I had seen the same signs and confess that I was not hor-rified.)

He was more ‘savvy’ than your typical liberal and agreed that if blacks took power in South Africa they would sooner or later create ‘a fascist’ regime. Nevertheless there must be black rule because ‘even-tually’ they would progress in the way whites have.

But Africa cannot go through the same historical process of development as Europe, because the cul-ture Europe de¬veloped into already exists; and you cannot reinvent the wheel – especially when you know it’s already been invented! Western technology has, it is true, been copied by Orientals, but that is not happening in Africa and there’s not a scin¬tilla of evidence that it ever will.

This guy seemed to be asserting that no matter what South Africa must be ruled by blacks, end of story. But this presented a dilemma, for we both agreed that universal franchise eventually meant zero franchise. Given this, would he still insist blacks must run the country? Yes. Even if blacks them¬selves don’t want it? Well, if that were true it might make a difference; but he didn’t think it was.

***

‘Blacks Must Have Black Rule Even If They Don’t Want It!’

A few minutes later, however, he changed his mind. Even if they didn’t want it they must have it. In other words, for whites to deny blacks the vote is absolutely wrong, but for blacks to do the same is all right. Why does something become acceptable just because perpetrators and victims are of the same race?

Given the premise that black rule means oppression, such an absolute prin¬ciple of democracy means it is perfectly all right for blacks to oppress blacks yet profoundly wrong for whites to treat them de-cently –but with¬out suffrage. The idea that a ‘democracy’ guaranteed to become repressive must be supported at all costs, strikes me as paradoxical in the extreme.

***

Apartheid Is Not ‘One Single Thing’

Out of America: A Black Man Confronts Africa, by Keith B. Richburg [*Amazon*]

Ben is a Zulu, about 60, and works at a garage where I bought a used car; he’s been working there for 26 years and is a South African citizen. Ladybrand is in South Africa, across the border from Mas-eru, the capital of Lesotho (pronounced ‘Lesoothoo’), a small mountainous country completely sur-rounded by South Africa and where I taught from 1987-88.

As we drove to the border I asked what he thought about the trouble in South Africa. Did he want to see blacks take over? His an¬swer was straightforward: No, he did not. ‘Our nation [i.e., blacks] is bad’. Why were they bad? I asked. Because they kill anyone who disagrees with them. Blacks could not run things; if they were in charge, nothing would work.

Does he ever go to Soweto. Often, he says; his family lives there. What do people there think about the ANC and black rule? Well, while many used to be for the ANC, this has changed because of ‘necklacings’ and suchlike. ‘If they are trying to help the black man, why are they killing so many blacks?’ he asked several times.

But then he began talking about how blacks were ‘oppressed’. I asked for exam¬ples; he said if a white man were to beat up a black employee, the police would do nothing. Suppose the boss was black and this happened under a black government? Would the police do anything then? No, he said; but at least you could fight back.

In South Africa a black man would be in big trouble if he hit his white boss.

He said that apartheid was bad, though it was changing. Before, blacks had always been separated from whites – separate toilets, en¬trances, queues, etc.. Everything should be the same for everyone, he said, since doing things separately meant whites didn’t like blacks.

Did that mean going to the same schools? Yes, he said. But since blacks were 80% of the popula-tion, whites would have to attend schools that were 80% black. Would such schools be very good? No, he quickly agreed. But how can you expect whites, who pay for the education of whites and blacks, to send their children to bad schools? He agreed you couldn’t. If everything should be the same, shouldn’t blacks be allowed to vote? Here he agreed with what he had said earlier: he was happy with whites running things and would not want to live in a country run by blacks.

By this time we were at the border post. He expressed great pleasure at our conversation and said he wished we could talk for two hours. I asked if he’d ever had such a conversation with a white man before and he said emphat¬ically he had not, though he’d worked with them for years.

The upshot was that while against apartheid, he was not in favour of blacks voting and controlling the government, nor did he necessar¬ily think everyone should all go to the same schools. He agreed that apartheid was not ‘one single thing’; some parts might be good and others bad. It is clear that many blacks who’ve been ‘persuaded’ that apartheid is bad and that they are ‘oppressed’ would also say they do not want black rule.

» » » » [Read Further]

Did Black South Africans want Black Rule:

Did ‘Evil Apartheid raise poor black living standards to the highest in Africa?


Boer Volkstaat 10/31/16 Theses

B. Politically Incorrect Truths About Apartheid Conflict

Executive Summary | Excerpts

4. No Proper Authority: Did Black South Africans want Black Rule:

Dr. Gedaliah Braun’s discussions and evidence compiled over 16 years of frank conversations with Africans, are detailed in his book Racism, Guilt, Self-Hatred and Self-Deceipt: A Philosophers Hard Headed Look at the Dark Continent. Dr Braun details his many brutally frank conversations with working class black South Africans from all walks of life; asking them whether they wanted black rule. He could not find one black South African who wanted black rule. He concludes that although many black Africans were very unhappy with particular aspects of Apartheid rule; they most definitely did not want black rule. They feared that black rule would be similar to black rule in the rest of Africa, which was far worse, than life under apartheid. Dr. Braun confirms Rev. John Gogotya’s allegations in ANC: VIP’s of Violence that “the ANC is not the authentic voice of the black people in South Africa.. does not represent the majority of blacks in South Africa”. It confirms that the ANC’s decision to embark on a violent liberation struggle, was to force the black population by means of coercion and terror, to support the ANC’s agenda of overthrowing white rule. Conclusions reached: The ANC lacked Proper Authority, did not have Right Intention in launching the ‘liberation struggle’; had no prospects of success and used disproportionate force against their own people.


5. No Right Intention: Did ‘Evil Apartheid raise poor black living standards to the highest in Africa:

The evidence proves that while Apartheid withheld political suffrage at the national level (not local, or regional) from black Africans, it did provide them with the highest living standards of all Africans on the continent of Africa. In fact Apartheid provided poor black Africans with higher living standards than middle class whites in any communist state, such as the Soviet Union. Consequently the ANC’s alleged outrage to justify waging war on behalf of living standards of poor black South Africans was not sincere, but fraudulent and hypocritical, considering the ANC’s endorsement of the far worse living standards of poor black Africans in African states under the direct political control of the ANC’s ‘liberation struggle’ Marxists political elite friends. Conclusion: The ANC lacked Right Intention.

» » » » [Read Further]