A South African wine worker rests on the corner of a trailer during the annual harvest
© AFP/File Gianluigi GuerciaPretoria, Oct. 3: What happens when you mix black with white? Well, it certainly is grey, but of a different kind. Grey, as in nebulae that are still to be unravelled.
Twelve years after the country dismantled the apartheid structure, the physical segregation may have been consigned to the trash-bin of infamy, but the psychological distinctiveness is very much a part of the undercurrent of tension between the blacks and the whites in South Africa.
No, it's not like racial riots are going to break out anytime soon - the blacks make up more than 70 per cent of the country's population. And that is too brute a majority to be messed around with by a minority that is increasingly becoming insecure about its future.
Whites, for too long used to living under legal pampering, are finding out just how tough life can be when the tables are turned. But to be fair, it's the younger generation that is paying for the sins of their forefathers. Take Annelie, a 21 year old hotel executive in her final term at college.
"I was too young back in 1994 to realise the enormity of the changes taking place around me. But if you ask my father, well, he still believes in the doctrine that all blacks are criminals. In fact, during the apartheid era, he underwent special training conducted by the government which taught whites how to kill black people," she reveals.
Annelie however does not share her paternalistic world view of her dark skinned compatriots. And she's not alone. Many among the black community say that the younger generation of whites is far more liberal and welcoming in its interaction with the black people than their parents.
"It was a like a brainwahsing done by the government. Unfortunately for the elder generation of whites, the new dispensation which came to power in 1994 forgot to debrief them - that racial segragtion was out of fashion," opines Essau, a middle aged black security guard.
Given Essau's age, I am tempted to ask - did he...? He reads my mind. "Yes, I suffered my share of humiliation and atrocities. But no, there's no anger," he reveals. And he is telling the truth - for he is at an age where there's not much future left for him. So carrying any bad vibes to the grave - for him - is just not on.
But then, that's not how the government sees things. Despite Nelson Mandela's public proclamation of forgiving the whites, whites are finding it increasingly difficult to land a government job. The reason: South Africa's own version of the quota system, which is encouraging the blacks at the cost of the whites. Those already working in the government suddenly found themselves demoted to accommodate a more politically correct candidate. Inverse rascism, some say.
The problem is that many blacks are economically deprived - the economy and large business establishments are still white controlled. The white collar positions are still dominated by people of the same skin tone while a majority of the blue collared jobs are carried out by the blacks. Annelie's father lost his government contract after 1994 because of his close association with the aparthied regime.
"Nobody is against the blacks attending the same schools and colleges as the whites, but must they destroy our culture?" asks an anguished Annelie. She says the government introduced a legislation that all whites only schools - from the pre-1994 era - were to teach in English, instead of Afrikaans, which is the traditional language of the Whites.
Mind you, the whites are fiercely protective of their way of life, and are scared their culture is being pushed towards oblivion. "I don't like President Mbeki. His government is very corrupt. Nelson Mandela, we all respect - he's a genuine article," says Annelie.
But is all this black and white 'thing' mere paranoia hyped up several times over? "Yes and no," says Essau. "When a white person appraoches a black person, he is under the apprehension that all blacks are muggers or robbers or rapists. And the black guy knows what the white guy is thinking. And that affects their interaction, when neither had any malintention towards the other," he finishes.
Yes, Essau says, things have changed or are are changing, proof of which one saw in a restaurant, where both sides sat in close proximity to each other - a tacit acknowledgement of the other's existence. And there was even a mixed race couple - the girl white and the boy black. But these instances are very few and such outings are likely to raise more than just eyebrows from either side. "My father would kill me if I even invited a black guy home - leave alone date him," shudders Annelie.
Well, maybe inter-racial relationships may be still some time away from becoming no great shakes, but as Sibusiso Joel Nolebele, Premier or the Kwazulu Natal province says, "The light has dawned, it is the dawn of another day. Should we then continue to live in the memory of a dark night?"
Point to ponder, and move on! (ANI)