Equality in South Africa

Human rights are those essential rights that every human being is supposed to have. During apartheid the majority of South Africans were denied these rights and were treated inhuman. These rights are embedded in the South African Constitution but since 1994 the realisations of these rights have been minimal.

The Gini - coefficient is a statistical tool to measure the equality in a particular country. The South African Gini - coefficient is one of the highest in the world and makes South Africa one of the most unequal societies in the world. In South Africa the rich is getting richer and the poor is getting poorer. For example, in 2009 more than 13 million people received a social grant (Taipei Times) and in 2011 the Mail & Guardian report that about 50 percent of South African is living below the poverty line. A poverty line is based on the minimum food needs for daily energy requirements. South Africa’s is currently are measured at R500 per person per month (National Treasury).

In South Africa you find that the majority is living in conditions that are not suitable for humans; many lives in shacks without running water, electricity or proper sanitation. The plight of the poor in South Africa was created by a system of systematic discrimination of blacks (used as a generic term to describe the previously discriminated) during colonialism and apartheid.

Dr Chinweizu argues that African states have failed to gain independence because they are still “… still held captive within the economic and cultural structures of the … [colonisers]”. This explains a lot with regards to the current situation in South Africa. The majority of black South Africans are still living the way they used to under apartheid.

Black people are still your waitresses, domestic workers, gardeners, construction workers and farm workers something that Bantu Education ensured. The father (Hendrik Verwoerd) of Bantu Education believed that black people must get an education that will make them pretty much a farm animal.

The apartheid ideology created a situation where black people were enslaved in their own minds; they believed that they were not more than any farm animal. This is what Dr Chinweizu is talking about: the black people of South Africa are still held captive since 1994 within the economic and cultural structures of apartheid.

This raises the question whether all South Africans are treated equally and like human beings. This question is not an easy one to answer, especially if one considers the South Africa Constitution. In terms of section 9 of the Constitution everyone has the right to be treated equally. No one can be discriminated against race, sexual orientation, gender, ethnicity, religion, etc. The Constitution also states that everyone has the right to life and a right to human dignity. In addition to this, the Constitution even went as far as embedded some socio-economic rights such as healthcare, housing, education, food, water and sanitation. However, the Constitution put a limitation to these rights because it states that the state must ensure the progressive realisation of these rights within its available resources.

This limitation on socio-economic rights has prevented the majority of South Africans demanding for radical realisation of these rights; radical in the sense that they demand government to give them houses and give it to them now. From the time the new Constitution came into effect and 2000 it seemed that citizens would have to wait for the state to provide resources whenever they have it and whenever they had the money for it.

But then the Grootboom case happened. Irene Grootboom was part of a number of people who were squatting in the Wallacedene informal settlement near Kraaifontein in the Western Cape. When the informal settlement became overcrowded she amongst other decided to occupy a piece of land next to the informal settlement. However, the land owner got an eviction order and the people were forcefully removed and their belongings were destroyed in the process. They were stuck because they could not anymore go back to Wallacedene as other squatters took their spaces and they decided to settle at the local sport field.

They informed the local municipality about their situation and demanded temporary accommodation but when they did not received any communication from the municipality they took the municipality to the Cape High Court. The Cape High Court ruled in favour of Grootboom in terms of considering children. The Cape High Court took this decision to the Constitutional Court who indicated that the state did not fulfil its obligation in cases of people living in extreme conditions. The ruling also encourages obliges the state to plan properly for the realisation of socio-economic rights.

This case created a big debate as to the state of equality in South Africa and whether the state is doing everything its power to create an equal society for all. Another watershed case in this regard was the Treatment Action Campaign vs the Minister of Health and others. The TAC also took the state to the Constitutional Courts with regards to providing HIV positive citizens with anti-retroviral treatment. The Constitutional Court ruled in favour of the TAC and obliges the state to provide citizens that could not afford anti-retroviral treatment with ARVs.

Even though these cases signal a positive stance from the courts to bring about equality and the realisation of human rights, it does not mean that citizens are treated equally. The law recognises citizens as equal but it does not mean that in practice equality is achieve. Let me give you practical examples. Just look at Constantia and Khayelitsha. More people per capita square metre is staying in Khayelitsha than in Constantia. Constantia is a previous ‘white’ area and Khayelitsha a previous ‘black’ area, in terms of race these areas stays the same. If we focus on per capita income in terms of race it is clear that ‘white’ people are richer than ‘black’ people.

However, if you take a trip to Gugulethu you might be surprised by the inequality in a black neighbourhood. In Gugs you will find some very rich and some extremely poor black people. The same can be said about Kraaifontein and other places in South Africa. Even though ‘white’ people still largely enjoy the fruits of the economy, we also notice that more and more black people are joining them. This signals a class division among black people. Sadly but true most of the black beneficiaries is somehow connected to the National Executive Committee of the ANC.

In term of education we also notice the same trends. The Sunday Times (27 May 2012) have reported that there is a primary school in Limpopo without any class rooms. It also reported that Limpopo schools will write exams without the necessary textbooks. This is the sad reality of the state of education in South Africa. Furthermore, whilst ‘white’ people still largely get better education than black people, there is an emergence of a black middleclass that is able to afford private or really good education. In the future no one will be able to get a decent job without a university degree, and if quality education is accessible to the middleclass and the rich it will create a situation where the poor majority will have to settle for inhuman work and will be trapped in their current situation. We are noticing this already because only last more than twenty illegal miners were killed in two separate mining accidents. For these ‘miners’ it was their last resort to risk their lives to put food on the table for their families.

If we consider all of this it paints a scary picture for the poor black majority. If this particular situation continues the poor will become more impatient and will resort to other measures of realising their rights such as violence. Since 2000 the number of protest marches had increase and this is clearly a symptom of a nation that fed-up of waiting. The poor have waited for too long. The ‘arab spring’ (the popular uprising in Tunisia, Egypt, Libya, etc.) was not predicted or even anticipated. If I am the rich and the National Executive Committee of the ANC this would send shivers down my spine.

29 May 2012