Blaming whites not the way forward

[Nom Chompsky]

White South Africans will have to develop very thick skins in the run-up to the May elections – well, not too thick, because they also need to get the message.

Probably more than during any election campaign since 1994, the trend among several political groupings has been to darkly warn white South Africa about the consequences of continued inequality, poverty and unemployment. Some of these politicians seem to believe that the best way to demonstrate their revolutionary fervour and commitment to a better life for all is to insult and threaten the white minority.

Some otherwise sober-minded commentators have joined the chorus in recent weeks, although with a softer approach.

When do the whites start making a contribution to alleviate the plight of the black poor? Why do the whites who confess their love for Nelson Mandela not also love other black people? Whites need to show their gratitude for a peaceful settlement and the subsequent prosperity by resolving the land issue. And so on.

HONEYMOON IS OVER?

There’s nothing subtle about statements from the Economic Freedom Fighters and the group forming around Numsa: whiteys, your honeymoon is over, we’re coming for your wealth. And they underline these threats by elevating Zimbabwe’s Robert Mugabe to the Great African Liberator.

There is no way one can minimise the historic burden white South Africans have after the centuries of colonialism and decades of apartheid. No white citizen can deny that whites as a group have benefited greatly at the expense of the black majority and still own a disproportionate slice of the economy and occupy more key positions than their numbers would suggest.

It is also true that far too many whites continue to live as if 1994 had never happened. Far too many do not in fact appreciate that they’re much better off after 1994 while so many black South Africans still sit in squalid townships, squatter camps or impoverished rural areas.

SOME PERSPECTIVE

But the point of this column is to bring some perspective, to show that simply insulting and threatening whites as a group 20 years after we became a democracy is not very productive and can be disempowering. We have to find solutions to our problems, and quickly.

I think it is safe to assume that if it hadn’t been for the deep inequalities in our society, this trend to again make white South Africans the common enemy of all black South Africans would not have been possible. Inequality in society is, however, a worldwide phenomenon and most countries struggle to counter it without destroying economic growth.

Look at these figures: the richest 2 percent of the world own more wealth than the rest of the living souls on the planet; the bottom 80 percent of the world’s population own just 6 percent of the wealth while the richest 1 percent own 43 percent. Even more staggering: the richest 300 people in the world own as much wealth as the poorest 3 billion. I do not know if it has been calculated, but I suspect that the richest 500 people in South Africa own more than many millions of the poor; that the top 10 percent own more wealth than the bottom 50 percent. Sure, most of that top 10 percent are probably white and close to all the bottom 50 percent are black.

NOT ALL WHITES ARE RICH

But the way to change this would be the same if they were all the same colour. There seems to be a popular perception among black South Africans that all whites are rich. But if one takes the wealth of the white super-rich, the top 10 percent, out of the equation, the picture looks very different. And then consider the fact that several hundred thousand whites live in abject poverty in virtual squatter camps.

Blaming whites for being well off won’t solve the problem. Blaming white farmers for owning land won’t lead to fairer redistribution. The black Durban couple who bought each other R17 million worth of Rolls-Royces for Christmas aren’t less vulgar than a white industrialist’s R17m yacht.

We will have to devise radical ways of bringing about a fairer, more equal society without harming our economy to such an extent that all would be poorer afterwards. Our elected government should drive and implement this process. Simply blaming one sector of society for our ills emasculates us all. Fixing our education system and eradicating corruption, unproductivity and wastage of public money would be a good start, but won’t be enough in itself.

Big business and the wealthy top echelons, white and black, should join in this quest for a fair society rather than fight it. They have the most to lose if we descend into instability.

http://www.iol.co.za/capetimes/blaming-whites-not-the-way-forward-1.1629241#.UsviPNIW18E

 

[LCBXX]

Sadly it will always be about money, who has and who has not.

 

[Beachless]

I'd rather throw my tons of diamonds and gold into the sea put nuclear waste on all the hectares of land I own all of which I got for free.

 

[Pienats]

I used to feel sorry about the economic divide between the so called "rich whites" and the "poor blacks/non-whites". Then I learned that non-white children at school feel that it's not necessary to perform, because the government will one day give them grants, just like it is doing now for their parents. So they feel they don't need to do anything.

So please tell me why I have to give to someone who doesn't want to earn? Everything I have, I have because I worked for it, not because some apartheid government gave it to me simply because I'm white.

Give a man a fish vs teach a man to fish. Why is it my fault if that man does not want to learn to fish?

 

[Nicodeamus]

I would really like to show people the western and North western side of Pretoria if they were to ever claim that whites are rich.

The gap between east and west in PTA is really sickening even the eastern townships are better than the western ones.

 

[yebocan]

Sadly it will always be about money, who has and who has not.

yep...colour does not matter, long as you have money...

 

[yebocan]

I used to feel sorry about the economic divide between the so called "rich whites" and the "poor blacks/non-whites". Then I learned that non-white children at school feel that it's not necessary to perform, because the government will one day give them grants, just like it is doing now for their parents. So they feel they don't need to do anything.

So please tell me why I have to give to someone who doesn't want to earn? Everything I have, I have because I worked for it, not because some apartheid government gave it to me simply because I'm white.

Give a man a fish vs teach a man to fish. Why is it my fault if that man does not want to learn to fish?

Boils down to this, the education system in this country is ****ed! Education is the one thing, that levels the playing field, that can address every single disparity in our society, that corrects the imbalances in every industry. But until someone puts education front and centre of any developmental framework, we will not get out of this hole.Races will fight among themselves, the rich will get richer and care two ****s, long as a profit is being made.

 

[Humberto]

1. Wealthy people already do share their wealth through the many taxes they pay. People in the top income bracket give around 40 % of their salary to government in the form of income tax.
2. It would be interesting to calculate how much money each black person in South Africa would get if all white wealth were equally distributed among black people. I suspect it would not be all that much for the simple reason that wealthy whites form a very small minority. Redistributing the wealth of millionaires will not turn the masses into millionaires, as some seem to think.

Wealthy people are not wealthy at the expense of the poor.

 

[Pienats]

Boils down to this, the education system in this country is ****ed! Education is the one thing, that levels the playing field, that can address every single disparity in our society, that corrects the imbalances in every industry. But until someone puts education front and centre of any developmental framework, we will not get out of this hole.Races will fight among themselves, the rich will get richer and care two ****s, long as a profit is being made.

While I agree that the education system can be vastly improved, like I said, it's the children themselves who are not interested and their parents don't seem to care either. I learned this because my wife recently did her teaching prac at a government school with mostly non-white children. The teachers there are actually great people who do really try.
Unfortunately we have the situation where the poor (regardless of skin colour) simply want handouts.

 

[Beachless]

1. Wealthy people already do share their wealth through the many taxes they pay. People in the top income bracket give around 40 % of their salary to government in the form of income tax.
2. It would be interesting to calculate how much money each black person in South Africa would get if all white wealth were equally distributed among black people. I suspect it would not be all that much for the simple reason that wealthy whites form a very small minority. Redistributing the wealth of millionaires will not turn the masses into millionaires, as some seem to think.

Wealthy people are not wealthy at the expense of the poor.

Hows the meds going they seem to be working today

 

[Shake&Bake]

When the next revolution comes about:

Blaming blacks not the way forward.

 

[Pienats]

1. Wealthy people already do share their wealth through the many taxes they pay. People in the top income bracket give around 40 % of their salary to government in the form of income tax.
2. It would be interesting to calculate how much money each black person in South Africa would get if all white wealth were equally distributed among black people. I suspect it would not be all that much for the simple reason that wealthy whites form a very small minority. Redistributing the wealth of millionaires will not turn the masses into millionaires, as some seem to think.

Wealthy people are not wealthy at the expense of the poor.

This. One thing people need to realise is that you can NOT enrich the poor by impoverishing the rich.
I'd like to see a simulation/prediction of the outcome of an event whereby all rich people (white and black) leave the country and take all their "wealth" with them. Obviously there are limits to what can be taken out, property for example will most likely not be able to be sold etc.

 

[The_Unbeliever]

When do the whites start making a contribution to alleviate the plight of the black poor? Why do the whites who confess their love for Nelson Mandela not also love other black people? Whites need to show their gratitude for a peaceful settlement and the subsequent prosperity by resolving the land issue. And so on.

Ba-psssch. Stop government corruption.

We're taxed to death, and cannot contribute anything more.

 

[Jase]

I would really like to show people the western and North western side of Pretoria if they were to ever claim that whites are rich.

The gap between east and west in PTA is really sickening even the eastern townships are better than the western ones.

I grew up in the west and now live in the east. Hard work and many sacrifices it took (and no, I am not rich by a mile, just your average middle class Jase).

 

[yebocan]

While I agree that the education system can be vastly improved, like I said, it's the children themselves who are not interested and their parents don't seem to care either. I learned this because my wife recently did her teaching prac at a government school with mostly non-white children. The teachers there are actually great people who do really try.
Unfortunately we have the situation where the poor (regardless of skin colour) simply want handouts.

\

Agree, I have a couple of friends, that are teachers in the Mitchell's Plain area. The stories that I have heard,..teachers are no longer just educators, they social workers, mothers, fathers...- in a community were drugs and under-age pregnancies are the a common day occurrence.
A child is the product of its environment, and I do feel sorry for kids in the noted area, hell all across the Cape Flats....something has sullied these communities psyche...There is a sense of entitlement/arrogance,.. gone is the hardwork ethic that use to be the norm. Gone are the dreams for a better tomorrow for my kids...Social grants that use to be safety nets, are now seen a standard income streams....-Why work when you get a grant for having a kid....? Another major contributor, is that kids are having kids...and with no aspirations for the future, this is the environment that a kid has to survive and overcome...very limited futures, and the cycle just continues...

 

[Solarion]

So inept that they need to steal jobs from the tiny 8% minority in order to create jobs for the majority. That's a government that could not organize a booze up in a brewery.

 

[TelkomUseless]

Ba-psssch. Stop government corruption.

We're taxed to death, and cannot contribute anything more.

+1000 billion. I have stopped giving money to charities/beggars etc. Government is ripping me a new one with all these taxes(etols)..

So inept that they need to steal jobs from the tiny 8% minority in order to create jobs for the majority. That's a government that could not organize a booze up in a brewery.

Exactly...

 

[OzzieCapie]

I used to feel sorry about the economic divide between the so called "rich whites" and the "poor blacks/non-whites". Then I learned that non-white children at school feel that it's not necessary to perform, because the government will one day give them grants, just like it is doing now for their parents. So they feel they don't need to do anything.

So please tell me why I have to give to someone who doesn't want to earn? Everything I have, I have because I worked for it, not because some apartheid government gave it to me simply because I'm white.

Give a man a fish vs teach a man to fish. Why is it my fault if that man does not want to learn to fish?

So this is a non white characteristic, or did it apply to whites under apartheid too?

Your wife is a teacher, isn't she there to 'teach the fishing', to change the mindset and contribute to a better future?

 

[])ragon_\/oid]

So this is a non white characteristic, or did it apply to whites under apartheid too?

Your wife is a teacher, isn't she there to 'teach the fishing', to change the mindset and contribute to a better future?

Well, one can take the horse to the water, but one cannot make the horse drink the water. Sadly it's the same in schools. You can't expect them to learn what they don't want to learn.

 

[Ninja'd]

Then I learned that non-white children at school feel that it's not necessary to perform, because the government will one day give them grants, just like it is doing now for their parents.

Your wife teaches all non-whites?