Far too much has been in happening in this country in a really short space of time.
In reverse:
- Julius Malema (Juju) angrily kicks out a foreign journo from a press conference when he merely points out that Juju lives in Sandton after Juju condemned the Zimbabwe opposition for operating out of airconditioned offices in Sandton.
- Spokesperson for the AWB storms out of an interview that was broadcasted live.
- Eugene Terreblance (former AWB leader) gruesomely murdered on his farm by two of his workers who admitted to killing him.
- Juju sings a struggle song at a University of Johannesburg campus where he addressed students 'Kill the boer, kill the farmer.'
Most rational South Africans think these events are interlinked despite there being denials from the people on top.
Juju claims a whole lot and then some and is largely non-sensical. All he does is cause public outcry; yet nothing visibly happens.
The singing of the struggle song - that's subsequently been banned - was condemned by many South Africans. Not just white South Africans, not just opposition parties; but by blacks and whites alike.
What happened - nothing? He wasn't silenced by either the ruling party and of course the youth league will support him in all he does.
I've been reading numerous opinions - some people support him. A lot don't. There's a whole lot else surrounding Juju and many people are of the opinion that singing struggles songs and visiting Zimbabwe and all the other inexplicable things he does is merely diversionary tactics.
Unfortunately, it's working.
What upsets me most is that Juju firstly gets way too much air time.
Secondly - he insights violence, denies insighting it, attempts to portray that he's one with the poor people (there've been violent service delivery protests in parts of South Africa) and the people believe him.
Why?
I can merely speculate.
A month or so after the song was sung a well-known white supremacist gets murdered.
Violence never has been the answer. More so when it would appear a man was killed without being able to defend himself (he had been asleep and it's been reported that his house was broken in to and he was woken by the two workers who've been arrested for his murder. One a minor, another in his twenties).
I am in my twenties.
It's surreal to think that I was born and was raised when Apartheid was still very real.
It's surreal because at the age of 8 I went to a private school, with people of mixed race and can state that I experienced no discrimination based on the colour of my skin.
I am fortunate. More fortunate than most as many people couldn't afford private schools (and still can't).
I went on to attend a mixed race high school where black, white, coloured all got along. I attended university and we all got along.
Race is a big thing in South Africa. It has been and it will continue to be for a long, long time to come.
We now all (mostly) live in the same areas, frequent the same malls, and live together in relative calm.
This was of course until the underlying racial tension that we as a country have never been rid of was so thoroughly exposed.
A fair percentage of South Africans don't look at skin colour. People are people and this has been recognised.
However, there's the minority (and possibly a hidden part of the majority) for whom race is still a huge issue.
It's been said that what the killing of Terreblanche has done is expose that South Africans have not dealt with the past adequately.
This is not new information. Anyone who cares to look a little deeper and merely observe interactions (or lack of) will have realised this.
Apartheid is rarely spoken about by local South Africans...except if yet another movie is made about it. No-one speaks of what happened during the time when so many people were wrongly accused just because of the colour of their skin.
Yes, we have the apartheid museum - how many South Africans have visited it?
Yes, there are some memorials. Again, how many of us have visited them?
What about the man who lives out in a deep rural area, who knows someone who knows someone who was personally persecuted?
Yes, there's been escalating racial tension; more so in areas where there's still a definite divide between black and white.
But at the same time there are black and white South Africans alike who are condemning all that's been happening in the last two months or so. Many of us felt that Juju was trying to cause unnecessary trouble by singing a song calling for the death of farmers. There've been way too many farm murders without him inciting violence (yet denying it).
This racial tension that's been exposed (mere months before the kick-off of the soccer world cup) can be compared to a festering wound. A wound that's not been allowed to heal; the scab picked at and picked at, then covered in plaster with no further care.
Amidst this, and all else that's been happening in my beloved home country...is it still alive with possibilities?
I would like to think so. Cautious optimism. And the belief that there are enough sensible South Africans - of all races - who know better. South Africans who realise Juju should largely be left to his own devices and ignored. South Africans who know that being of a different skin tone doesn't mean they are any more (or less) human than the man next to him.
An example of this would be Juju and AWB spokesperson both lashing out at journalists who were merely doing their job.
What am I you might wonder?
I am a South African.
Then I am female.
And if you must know, I am coloured (for the rest of the world that would be mixed race...with mixed race parents).
Not that it matters.
PS. An excellent opinion on the death of Terreblanche and what it means:
http://www.news24.com/Columnists/Khaya-Dlanga/TerreBlanche-death-a-wakeup-call-20100406
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