10 years away and the changes I came back to.
I was overseas for 10 years and returned back to South Africa for medical reasons at the time. I was boarded from work because of my back. I had no choice really and had to return back to South Africa. I am not someone who relies on handouts and selling up and getting more for your buck as such seemed the smart thing to do.
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There were plenty of changes since I had left in 1994.The biggest thing I noticed was the number of whites that had left. This was noticeable just by walking around. Firstly the government had been in power for 10 years and not much had changed. Yes the laws had changed and businesses were told to support the Black Empowerment initiative which was a law at the time. This act forced employers to hire according to the list. I will touch on that shortly as it is important to understand how many communities there actually are. Companies got extra credits from the government for doing this and helped them get government contracts. This didn't really work as contracts were being handed out amongst themselves and they were the like agents handing out contracts in industries where they had no experience. They didn't care as long as the backhanders were coming their way.
There are a couple of communities I haven't mentioned as yet and that was the Coloreds and Indians. One comment the other night said he was confused and didn't realize there was a difference between coloreds and blacks.A colored in South Africa means you are of mixed race and were not privileged in the Apartheid government or now under the new government. It sounds crazy I know and maybe I should show you what I mean. You were in between and classified as such.The form that I was looking for is nowhere to be found on the internet an has been scrapped, but in reality is still used today.
Affirmative action was big and still is and it was jobs by classification of race which is highly degrading and racist.This was a priority of how you had to employ at this time anyway and this will give you an idea of how the list was made up.This is not something you could make up so have a look and it is disgusting. Not by your qualifications or experience but by your skin color.
Black male,Black female,Black disabled male,Black disabled female,Colored/Indian male,colored/ Indian female,Colored Indian disabled etc down to white female. When I say this is still in use today I am referring to government departments mainly. Some big corporate companies will use this as a guide to stay on the right side of the line. This also applied to students wanting to go to university after school. This is why so many white people left the country.
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Even if you are black it is not a shoe in getting a job like the one black lady who applied as cabin crew on the Government run airline. She was refused her position because she wasn't black enough. Now they were discriminating amongst themselves which was a joke.
When I say coloreds and Indians have always had a raw deal is that when the group areas act was in place under the Apartheid government whites would be separated from the Blacks by having buffer communities made up of Coloreds and Indians. If there was unrest at some point the Coloreds and Indians would be affected first sparing the white properties.
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I started to see white beggars on the streets more and more which was something I had never ever seen. Most of them were middle aged Afrikaaners who couldn't get a job. The government jobs that would have guaranteed them work for life now belonged to the black people. This is something I think most of them feared would happen when the change of government happened. There are now white squatter camps dotted around the cities.
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10 years on and there were grumblings by the population as there was still no cheap housing and just broken promises. They wanted this and now they were stuck. An interim government would have been far better. Corruption was rife and the group benefiting was known as the Robben Island old boys club. Whoever did time and their entourage were the ones taking all the money. Mandela was President from 1994 -1999 and his replacement Mbeki, followed by Zuma was a train wreck of total corruption.
It was so bad that prisoners awaiting trial had to stay in jail as there was no fuel to take them to court. Police vehicles were limited on the number of patrols as there was just no money left. The tax money had been spent and new ways of funding were a priority. This is very typical of a government who has a weak opposition and has no accountability for their actions.
A new business opportunity popped up and that was private security firms. These companies offered an armed response and it was very much needed and still is. They became your lifeline and were always there when you needed them. Some residents employed guards on bicycles and set up their own guard huts in their roads. A road where I used to stay had 10 armed guards covering it night and day. The residents paid for this service out their own pockets and it added value to their properties.
Armed guarded housing complexes popped up offering a safe lifestyle but this came at a huge cost. To live in one of these you needed to be fairly wealthy and abide by the estates rules. Stupid things like speeding fines and curfews for parties were enforced. If you wanted to live safely you had to agree to all of these things and I know I would struggle. If you are having a party we used to let our neighbors know and even invite them as part of being courteous and thoughtful. Neighbors couldn't complain at the noise at 2 in the morning if they are at the party.
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A car guard helping a motorist reverse.
Car guards at shopping centers was something new and were there to keep an eye on your car whilst you were busy shopping or at a restaurant. You would tip them some money when you returned and a majority of people did that. It was a new way of life and security was important.
I was all too well of how bad the crime is as I was caught up in a shootout just before I left in 1994. I was driving along the road minding my own business when a car sped past me and got inbetween me and the police car chasing them behind me. The police were shooting out the window of the car over my car at the criminals in front of me. I was ducking down hoping they would be fairly accurate and came out unscathed.
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I didn't have the money to purchase in a secure estate but I am security conscious so I knew we would be okay. I purchased a house and set to work ensuring the families safety. My house would be more difficult than all the others in the street hoping a crook would look for an easier option. This worked and still to this day they have never had a break in at that house. This is quite rare for the area we lived in. What was reassuring is that when the house alarm went off in error you would have response vehicles queuing outside your gate within a few minutes. These guys were on the ball as competition was fierce and you could chop and change if the service wasn't very good.
Again I have written quite a bit and will try and complete this tomorrow in a final post. If there any areas you want to know more about please ask. I will answer on the reply or do another post on that specific topic.
Living in Texas, I am no stranger to racism. Here the division is black, white and Hispanic. It has been my observation that it has been getting better every year. It still exists but it is no longer socially acceptable to be or speak that way openly in large cities. The rural areas still insist on being ignorant but even they can see that change is coming.
I wish i could say the same as I see it getting worse here. The new generations have no reason to see color but the government keeps bringing in rules that creates hatred. Interfering in how schools select their sports teams etc shouldn't be allowed as you are either good enough or you aren't. The general public doesn't care if you are there on merit.
Old, deep wounds are hard to heal. I hope for everyone's sake that everybody can take a step back and see the other person's perspective. Our problem in USA is we have a president who is playing the race game and we now have a resurgence of white supremists making a lot of noise. Thankfully their numbers are small but technology allows them to make a lot of noise in our society. I wish South Africa the best of luck.
It’s really not a great time to return to South Africa 🇿🇦 we’re really in a state at the moment! As resilient as the people are, I can see first hand how people are struggling to survive!
South Africa is in a pretty unique position where we’re not first world but we’re far ahead of the rest on Africa, so when we shit the bed there’s not much support if any from neighbours!
Yes previously advantaged people have left and continue to leave because our skills are undervalued here! Yes the government is incompetent, yes we’re a welfare state, yes we’re still in the shadow of racism it’s really a lot for a nation to deal with!
As a so called “coloured” I don’t like to subscribe to identity politics! It just gives people another excuse to feel victimized!
I just feel like instead of subscribing to all these distractions like race we’re focus less of our energies on constructive e means of improving the economy which will benefit all!
We’ve taken the concept of equality and bastardized it into something almost unrecognizable
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I agree with you. I just want everyone to get past the color and fix the issues but they cant seem to do that. I was hoping that the new millennium generation would not see racism at all but it is still round. I hate classifications as well and it is just another excuse. People are really struggling as I have noticed as well. It is as though the money just dried up. We used to have extra and now don't so I hate to know what everyone else is doing.
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It's a little weird hearing vocabulary that's considered racially offensive used in a way that suggests that's like the normal way to talk in another country...
I always thought it was a little dumb to use race as a determining factor for hiring or acceptance to a university. We're actually now having a problem with universities discriminating again Asian students because they think they have too many of them.
Perhaps such requirements should only be levied against people and organizations shown to discriminate.
Discrimination is a huge problem though...in many ways. Many people are even subconsciously discriminatory in various ways. I just don't think perhaps requiring people to hire based on race is the solution to certain people hiring based on race. That's kind of...stupid.
I hope South Africa can move forward and continue to work on their problems and improve themselves.
Hey geek. I hope so too. To think Universities used to accept students on their grades and not by race. I think it is tragic the road they have traveled down and is seriously wrong. I have no issue hiring the best candidate for whatever job it is for whether they are green, pink or whatever color it doesn't matter. By doing this they are keeping racism alive and educating the next generation thinking it's okay.
For all good Boer, I would so much like to see you in my country. There are countless deserted villages waiting for hard working, honest men. Prices are incredibly low, the climate is nice, and its in Europe - Yugoslavia
Wow, that is crazy and really too bad. Thanks for the explanation of the racial groups. That clears things up for me a lot. Very nice post!
Sometimes you need to adapt with the change.
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I totally agree and most have had to.
Earlier you wrote how relations between the English and Afrikaners were bad. Were white people’s housing areas segregated along those lines to any degree?
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Not really. In Cape Town the English speaking were more likely to be found in the Southern suburbs and the Afrikaans in the Northern suburbs. There would be more schooling catering for the languages spoken in those particular areas. English schools would have first language as English and the opposite in Afrikaans schools.
I wouldn't say the relations between the two were openly bad, but their was a dislike especially with the staunch ones.
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Ah thats what I was thinking of. Who the coloured people vote for in the election. They woted for the whites because with the blacks coming to power , they would be the lowest on the foodchain. Turns out from your post that the whites ended up there. Tell me this. What do the white middle age south african think of Mandela? Was he corrupt or the legend that the world knows.
Depends what generation you are talking to regarding Mandela. The younger generation knows no better, but we lived through the bombings.
He was behind them yeah? Its amazing how the IRA are now members of government here also!
Same thing I suppose as they were fighting for change. Could I blow people up? I don't know. I suppose if I was fighting an enemy I would, but not civilians.