[6]
When I entered Kwa Thema township, I offered a lift to two men in their early thirties who had missed a mini-bus. They turned out to be teachers on their way home.
These were the guys that programme the minds of black kids. I tried to get them to talk about this, but to no avail. I drove each of them to his home. They lived in typical suburban small villas, standing apart, with well-tended gardens, trees and shrubs. ‘Our teachers belong to our higher-income group,’ mayor Matilda Mothlaping told me later. ‘We have in Kwa Thema a wide cross-section of people: a higher-income group, a middle-income group and a lower-income group. And we have, of course, people not working at all, who have no income. But, we do have a beautiful suburb, where you brought those teachers. The majority of the people belong, however, to the lower-income group and the unemployed. Here lie our most serious problems. We have no housing for them. About 50 percent of our people are clearly unable to purchase their own homes. We are having to go to the private sector to find a developer and raise the necessary funds. We are, for instance, in touch with the South African Housing Authority, which in turn is helping the government. But the houses they offer cost approximately R20 000. Most of our people are unable to raise such an amount of money.’ I asked whether perhaps soft loans were available. ‘That is no easy matter,’ replied the mayor. ‘People must qualify for a substantial loan. This means they have to be employed for a longer period of time, in order to obtain the necessary funds.’
As in most conversations with blacks, who in turn are in daily contact with people in the townships, Matilda opposed disinvestment. In her region, there are mines as well as a glass industry. ‘Some companies have closed down as a direct result of the boycott,’ she said. ‘Others have retrenched workers. South Africa is a nation of apartheid. True, we don't like it. But, we are all blacks, including us, who serve the community in the town councils. At times, I wonder whether people overseas are actually aware of what they are really doing. They might aim their disinvestment, or intend to aim it, at the whites in this country. But whites are not the first to suffer from unemployment or poverty. It is here, in the townships, where the real suffering takes place. Since these campaigns against South Africa began, blacks have been punished twice. We are victimized by the system of apartheid, and next, we become victims in the first line of defence as a result of these boycotts.’
Auteursrechtelijk beschermd