Sir
Social inequalities were intentionally or accidentally caused by the apartheid state to benefit some groups in society and leave out some based on economic logic. This impacted negatively on the provision of basic and essential services to most of the society while the majority benefited.
Double mandating is how I describe a private set of state services that, after apartheid, allowed wealthy white people to opt out of the public sector, a system that causes even more inequality than apartheid did. Examples of this are in education and healthcare. There are private and public education and health institutions as a result.
Access to private schooling is exclusive because of the exorbitant school fees payable. Some cost R200 000 per year, an amount that few can afford. Children from rich families go to these schools to receive advanced education as compared to the inadequate education public schools offer.
These children are prepared for advanced careers in life. They are advantaged because they have a wider choice of where they can further their studies even abroad, while learners from public schools, freedom of choice is limited due economic factor. They struggle to get into the local Universities because of low scores. Private education places people in advanced positions over the others and thus increases the gap between members of the society by pushing the poor further to the bottom of the economic spectrum. The system dictates that poor remain poor and the rich get richer.
The solution could be the standardisation of education in the country. There should be a common curriculum in all the schools and universities for all the qualifications. Teaching should be professionalised by undergoing a professional test that is going to assess content and methodology knowledge. South African Council for Educators should conduct such assessments. The health department is trying to mitigate this area of inequality by piloting National Health Insurance. Most blacks cannot afford premiums needed by medical aid companies.
Pre-1994, South Africa was dominated by “White Supremacy” an injustice that ideally ended post 1994 because most whites were employers of the time. Blacks were forced to submit to them because they relied on them to support their families.
Blacks behaved just as the whites instructed even if it meant engaging in brutal activities. The inhumane Chisale saga is still vivid in our memories. He was assaulted by a white farmer with the assistance of the black employees, loaded onto a bakkie headed to the White Lion Project and was thrown into the camp to be devoured by lions whilst alive. A video of a black guy put into a coffin by whites because he allegedly walked on the farm, the Penny Sparrow monkey utterances frankly demonstrate that some whites have not subscribed to racial equality.
Women are abused and even killed by their partners. Some stay in abusive relationships because they cannot fend for themselves and thus men take advantage of that. We just learned from the media that two girls who terminated their relationships with their boyfriends were killed as a result. Commission of Gender Equality, one of chapter 9 institutions was enacted to promote gender equality and the protection and attainment of gender equality as its core function. South Africa also introduced Equality Courts to address this problem. But their impact seems to be insignificant and one doubts their success because the killing of women is still rife.
The commission of gender equality must reach out to women and educate them about the steps they need to take if they are abused.
One wonders if the state or government have the adequate capacity to address social inequalities that have an adverse impact on the community considering that it shows great reluctance in the implementation of the solutions it (Government) proposed, e.g. Government Employees Housing Scheme and minimum wage bill. Let us wait and see the rolling out the National Health Insurance.
Sipho Nkabinde
Senior Education Specialist
