My country has been democratically free since 1994 when Nelson Mandela was elected as the first black president of South Africa - there was much celebration as this new rainbow nation looked to it's bright furture. Mandela had and still has a fantastica aura about him, drawing in all sorts of people for different backgrounds / colours into into his peaceful presence. Mandela holds no bitterness towards his past imprisonment - he thought it a wast of time to dwell on a violent past. Mandela righted many social wrongs in my country . Black men and women now have the most amazing opportunities open to them. This country was ripe for investment, sanctions were lifted and South Africa prospered and glowed in her new found freedom.
We won the African Cup of Nations (soccer) in 1194, We won the Rugby World Cup in 1995 - Mandela was there backing the boys. He was a great politician, fair and caring. He got the ball roling on reconciliation of the nation. Arch bishop Desmond Tutu led this reconciliation process and many of the horrific crimes were played out again, bringing him and the nation to tears. Apartheid was a horrid thing.
Quick bit of background on me... I never really knew anything about segregation because my family is mixed. I have coloured blood in me and back in 1976 my family made front page newsw as my mother (a pure white) married a man of colour (my dad has "coloured" blood) I was whisked up to Pretoria, our capital at the time, so that the courts could see what colour I turned out - I got white papers. However my mum & dad' marriage was anulled. My family still stood together, though they struggled financially and socially as they had to duck and dive, my aunts and uncle couldn't complete their senior year, as you need your papers - they didn't have any. My uncle, a fanctastic soccer player could not go overseas, even though Manchester United wasnt to sign him. as he did not have his papers. Anyway the thing is I never grew up seeing colour as an issue - to me it was normal. However now I'm made to feel shame for the colour I was born.
Fast forward to 1999 - Mandela doesn't run for presidency again, but Thabu Mbeki takes over the reigns and is still our current president. he lacks Mandelas' flair, is a quite spoken man, but has proven to be a good president of sorts, a little naive to some degree about what his ministers are up too, but a good man. he wants South Africa to succeed. South Africa has been thriving all this time, business has been excellent, black people and people of colour are really prospering - again the opportunites are fabulous. White people now, especially males have no chance of getting a job, one of biggest companies - Eskom have a no white hiring policy. There has been a shocking increase of "hate" crime towards white people.
Our next elections are in 2009 - Thabu cannot run for office for a 3rd time. The next man in line is Jacob Zuma - he is the current president of the ANC (strongest ruling party in South Africa) He stands to be the next president if the ANC win the next election - pretty much a given.
A very sad day that will be !! Zuma is a corrupt individual. He has been accused of rape, He has been involved in a corrupt/fraudulant arms deal and will be going on trial shortly. When questioned about his corrution charges by the BBC he laughed and said it depends on your definition of corruption. He advocates racism,, just very recently he spoke at a "blacks only"" forum. When white journalisted pitched up they were turned away, when asked why, they were told "because you are white" After being questioned about why He - Zuma would attend such a forum he told the press that it's his constituional right to be at a blacks only forum and that if whites watned to do teh same that was fine (thi sis not the case - there would be a national uproar) The black journalists that woalked out of the forum in protest were called Coconuts. This man is uneducated - only went to grade 7 - sure education isn't everything. He has six wifes (this is his culture) but when he is president who will be the first lady? He sings a zulu song at every gathering called "Imshiniwaan" which is a call to black south africans to pick up machine guns.
Violent crime is extremely high in South Africa. You don't just get robbed for things like 2 rand, cell phones - you get killed for them. Our chief of police has no been lined to one of the crime bosses in South Africa. Police men can be bribed to lose paperwork, to release prisoners.
A friend of mine is friends with a black family, they were robbed by their "brothers" and were told quite plainly "you are lucky you are black - otherwise you would be dead". Many white South Africans are afraid that when Mandela dies there is going to be horrific blood shed.
I've written this because I love my country, I love the people - all races. There is so much opportunity here but racism is still very much alive - it's in revers now and full of hate. So many people hope for a brighter furture but when you are afraid to drive home at night, when you have to live in cages, how can it be?