Bridgewater Review

Volume 4 | Issue 2 Article 11

Sep-1986 Political Commentary: Apartheid in South Africa: Myths and Realities Vernon A. Domingo Bridgewater State College, [email protected]

Recommended Citation Domingo, Vernon A. (1986). Political Commentary: Apartheid in South Africa: Myths and Realities. Bridgewater Review, 4(2), 19-21. Available at: http://vc.bridgew.edu/br_rev/vol4/iss2/11

This item is available as part of Virtual Commons, the open-access institutional repository of Bridgewater State University, Bridgewater, Massachusetts. Political Commentary-

Apartheid in South Africa: Myths and Realities

Vernon A. Domingo

pARTHEID -- the word con­ there do still exist some myths which different from a democratic formula. jures up a variety of images require carefully reasoned repudiation. The truth of the matter is that apart­ A and emotions as you sit watch­ The first of these involves the argu­ heid is simply an ideological system of ing the evening news. What is this ment that South Africa is just too racial superiority through which. a system? and why are all those people complex for Americans to understand white minority (15%) persists in domi­ protesting against it, even to the extent -- this is a myth presented in the media nating and exploiting the majority of of sacrificing their lives? As we watch through pronouncements by the likes the population who are then denied the unfolding conflict in South Africa, ofPat Buchanan and James Kilpatrick. even basic human rights. it may be important to examine in These writers (and the South African Another misconception (well-mean­ some detail the nature ofthe 'monster' government) wish us to believe that all ing though) is the attempt to frame the called apartheid. While most writing those different 'groupings' of people South African conflict in "civil rights" about South Africa has been accurate, require a political solution very terms and to draw extensive analogies

19 Political Commentary continued

'""~ 15000- -l i(j 14000- E -.I::l 13000- flict. 12000- A familiar contention by those who support the apartheid regime is that 11000- blacks in South Africa are better off than people in the rest of Africa. The 10000- facts easily reveal this to be a distortion 9000- of reality. Perhaps the most tragic indicator ofsocial well-being or "quali­ 8000- ty of life" is the infant mortality rate 7000- --the number of infants statistically ex­ pected to die in the first year of life. 6000- Comparative figures (per 1000) are: 5000- South African Whites: 12 Rural South African Blacks: 282 4000- Kenya: 86 3000- United States: 11 Mali: 153 2000- The quality of life for black South 1000- Africans is substantially lower than for their white counterparts because apart­ heid prevents them from having access to quality health care. In fact it has been 1965 1970 1975 1979 1983 reported that 2.9 million black South Figure 1 African children under the age of fif­ teen suffer from malnutrition; this in a Manufacturing Average Earnings per Year country which has enormous agricul­ for White and Black Workers tural and mineral wealth. An addi­ 1965 - 1983 tional area where black South Africans rank lowest in Africa is in the cohesion between South Africa and the situation investments in South Africa. There are of family life. Through the pass law in the u.S. prior to 1970. While there at present about 300 American com­ system, more than three million fami­ are clearly some similarities, the civil panies in South Africa, with total in­ lies have been torn apart. Black women rights analogy soon breaks down when vestments in the range of $3 billion. and children are restricted to the bar­ confronted by the difference in num­ Arguments for divestment (withdraw­ ren "homelands" away from the urban bers (American blacks account for ing American corporate involvement) areas (figure 2). Black males (officially about 15% of the population) and the point out that these companies aid and designated as 'labor units') can only see real (though often challenged) legal abet the white government by their their families for two weeks per year. If and constitutional protection accorded provision of capital, technology, and, wives and children are caught visiting blacks in America. In South Africa, the in the case of General Motors, military in the city, they are liable for arrest and conflict is primarily about political vehicles. American companies, by a jail sentence. The pass laws represent power, not about civil rights; opening their dominance in strategic sectors the greatest indignity of apartheid. It beaches, restaurants and restrooms to (oil, computers, automobiles) help sus­ crystallizes the stark inhumanity of a all races is largely irrelevant and avoids tain the apartheid regime; without this vicious racist policy which has no place the basic issue of the franchise. Under support, the South African economy in the "civilized" world and which apartheid the majority of South Afri­ would be in worse shape than it is right must be removed. ca's residents are denied full voting now. Proponents of American invest­ With all the talk of change emanat­ rights. They are constitutionally pre­ ment maintain that their presence ing from South Africa, it is important vented from participating as equals in helps black South Africans and that to to examine these much vaunted the country of their birth and from pull out would only "hurt those we are "changes." In common with many making decisions that affect them. The trying to help." The truth ofthe matter other countries, South Africa uses se­ struggle in South Africa is, therefore, is that their presence has mostly helped mantics to win friends and influence not about compelling others to live up white South Africans. As the accompa­ enemies. For most of this century the to a Bill of Rights (nonexistent there), nying graph (figure I) indicates, the white government has resorted to ei­ but rather to change or replace the wage gap between white and black has ther name-calling, branding the opposi­ constitution. In this sense we are wit­ only widened during the period of tion as a bunch of,communists' (remi­ nessing a revolutionary struggle as it is increased American investment. Even niscent of Dr.Martin Luther King's occurring in South Africa, more akin incorporation ofthe "Sullivan" princi­ treatment) or renaming people and to the American Revolution than to ples which favor equal pay scales and groups (as 'Kaffirs,' Natives, Bantu, the civil rights concerns. facilities for black and white, are African, Plurals, Coloureds, and On American campuses, much of doomed to failure because the assump­ Blacks). The government's intent has the discussion of apartheid concerns tion is still that wage concessions and been consistent throughout -- to divide the role of U.S. companies which have better toilet facilities will ease the con- and rule the population and to avoid

20 sharing political power. The same in­ transigent approach is present today as the Afrikaners (the local name for Dutch-descended whites in South Africa) spend vast sums of money to convince the world that they are 'chang­ ing.' Again, their idea of change is far removed from that which is required to bring about social justice in South Africa. The much heralded "aboli­ tion" of the pass laws is a case in point where the white regime merely replaces one set of discriminatory laws with another, "softer" sounding one. When pass laws become "planned urban­ ization" they still serve to demean and destroy. The white regime has been unable to accept the black view that "apartheid cannot be reformed, it must be eliminated." While some in the white group indicate a willingness to desegregate certain beaches and to in­ volve selected blacks in 'consultive and advisory level' talks, black South Afri­ Figure 2 cans refuse to accept anything less than the extension offull voting rights to all "White" and "African" lands In South Africa, In relation to major Industrial areas. South Africans. The incompatibility of these solutions is inevitable given the fact that true communication between the groups has not been possible since that their monopoly hold on power is include "constructive engagement" 1652 when European settlers beat the fast coming to an end. The watershed with black South Africans and their indigenous population into submis- probably occurred during 1985 when representative leaders, the African Na­ black South Africans challenged the tional Congress. The struggle against system as never before. It is clear now apartheid is a struggle to remove inter­ that South Africa will be changed in the nal injustices; it is not part of an East­ not too distant future, despite, and West conflict as the Reagan admini­ maybe even because of the white shift stration tries so hard to suggest and to the right. freedom-loving people everywhere The government's intent has But what are Americans to do as should not hesitate to support a true these changes occur? The U.S. has a struggle for liberation and dignity. been consistent throughout n to deep interest in South Africa, which is Apartheid in South Africa presents divide and rule the the source of most of its vital strategic the world with a serious moral issue population and to avoid minerals -- cobalt, titanium, platinum, which merits discussion in business, sharing political power. and chromium. From the American church and academic circles. Ameri­ perspective, these sources should be cans, because of their own tortuous maintained, not only in the short but history of race relations, will always be especially in the long run. The way to compelled to consider the implications do this is to align much more closely of racial prejudice and therefore col­ with the majority of South Africans leges and universities would be remiss who have time and history on their if they did not fully participate in side. Friendships established at this analyzing the causes, effects and demise sion. Even today, the Afrikaner govern­ stage of the struggle will bear fruit of apartheid. As Martin Luther King ment, blinded by its sense of racial when a new government comes into reminded us, "injustice anywhere is a superiority, refuses to act in good faith power. Divestment and disinvestment threat to justice everywhere." by releasing authentic black leaders (selling stock in those American com­ such as Nelson Mandela and Walter panies which operate in South Africa) Sisulu and discussing the transition to a are essential features of a position on Vernon A. Domingo is Assistant Professor in democratic and just society. By cling­ the side ofthose who are suffering. But the Earth Sciences & Geography Department. ing to power, white South Africa divestment is not an end in itself; Dr. Domingo was born in South Africa and makes inevitable a bloody confronta­ Americans concerned with social jus­ received his undergraduate training at Uni­ tion. Many studies have shown that tice and freedom for all, should con­ versity of the Western Cape outside Cape psychologically, the Afrikaners realize sider more positive steps which may Town.

21