I would like to respond to Thabile Mange’s letter published in the news dated 28 March.
I also attended the Social Cohesion meeting conducted by the Department of Arts and Culture on Saturday 8 March. Two other people attended were mentioned by him, why not me?
I think it is time for South Africans to take responsibility, each one for his or her own life. Apartheid and racism are being blamed for everything. Very funny, whites are racists; people from other cultures are not. Any person can be a racist. The meaning of the word racism is: a belief in innate superiority of a particular race. If wé are responsible people, wé will change our own lives and stop blaming others.
As I said that day, everybody, all races, have the same privileges in South Africa today. Do we work hard and use the opportunities that are available to us? Some of us are so arrogant, we think things have to fall into our laps and we want everything for free. I work with young students daily. Some use the opportunities available and prosper, other are, to say the least, lazy and expect the government to give them everything for free.
It was mentioned that wealth are still in the hands of the whites. I do not know of any white person who did not work hard for what they own today, me included. I did not inherit anything from my parents. They did not have money for any of our eight siblings to study after school. We all had to study while working and we all succeeded in life. I do not understand why and how people want to prosper without working for it.
President Zuma, when appointed as president, mentioned in his opening speech that white people were very poor after the 1932 recession. They were willing to work hard, even working with spades and pickaxes making roads, because there was no machinery available to do it. Whites worked hard to be where they are today. He said all people could prosper by working hard and that whites were an example of what could be accomplished. I never will forget that.
At the Social Cohesion meeting I said that owing wealth will be sorted out with time. People from other cultures are prospering, but owning wealth will not change overnight. It took us our whole life to get where we are today. Nobody can expect to have things within a few years. It will take time.
I want to end by saying stop blaming, take responsibility and nothing will be impossible to accomplish. People will cohere when being respected by their fellow man, no matter their culture.
