THE FIRST ELECTION IN THE NEW MULTIRACIAL SOUTH AFRICA
At the time that Lucky came to stay with us the country was entering its new era and the first multi-racial elections were looming.
The white National Party, having been in power since 1948, having legalized apartheid and having driven the reforms against apartheid (splitting into several right wing parties) and having called a referendum, now had to contest an open election.
No one expected them to really win, but then politicians never agree with a popular view, at least not when the popular view is that their party will not win.
It became a bit of a joke: White Afrikaner politicians, who had their parliament seats because the electorate in the past was white (the English people voted for the National party as hard as the Afrikaners, they just did not say that they did); now had to canvass for votes in the Black areas.
They did not live in the black areas, most of them had never been there in their lives, cannot speak the language of the voters, etc.
In the Old South Africa a Member of Parliament represented a specific constituency, and was supposed to look after the interest of the community that voted him into parliament. This really meant that the Member of Parliament was sort of also looking after the black people in the constituency, but they had no vote so they were not really important to the Member.
What happened in practice was that there always were some very safe seats, constituencies where the party can rely on winning the vote. These were often given to senior party members, who did not necessarily live in the constituency.
Sounds like normal politics? Nothing really changed in South Africa since then in any case, few ANC politicians live where their voters live, in fact they do not represent a specific constituency in any case. The different parties are allocated a number of seats in parliament to be filled from their lists in terms of seniority. Thereby members are relieved from having to worry about the concerns of a specific constituency, and obviously the need to live among the constituents.
It is, of course, an interesting thought that in the New South Africa there is no more racism. This means that anyone can theoretically live in any area they like. In practice the black people of South Africa still live in the mainly black poorer areas that they lived in before. The New South Africa members of parliament live in the affluent areas, which are still predominantly white areas. But, since their constituents can theoretically also live there the politicians cannot be accused of not living in their constituencies.
However, back to the story about the elections and the National Party MPs that had to canvass votes in the black areas inside their constituencies where they have never been, and cannot even speak the language.
These politicians now had to make a show of trying to gain votes in the Black Areas.
We were friends with the Jan and Annette Bredenkamp. Jan Bredenkamp was the Member of Parliament for Florida – where he lived. It now fell on him to go and canvass votes in the Black townships.
Like a good White Afrikaans South African Male, he co-opted his wife.
(In fact, if I left out the words: “White, South African, Afrikaans” in the above sentence and just left the word “Male” the sentence would still be correct. I have discovered that White, South African, Afrikaans males are no different from other males anywhere in the world.)
So it came to pass that Annette was asked by the National Party to attend a rally inside Soweto. Soweto is Johannesburg’s sister city, which contains probably more people that the greater Johannesburg area, all of them black.
Most white people have never been inside Soweto and believe that it looks like some of the slums we see on television, like Harlem in New York. It is in fact not as bad, but it still is not a desirable area to live in.
A common joke in the Old South Africa was that the most suicidal thing a white person can do is to skateboard through Soweto singing “This Land is My Land!”
Many whites worked (and still work) in Soweto, and there was even a nightclub area that was known as “white by night”. I cannot remember any reports about a white person being mugged or treated badly in Soweto. But, for most whites Soweto was an area to be avoided.
So it came to pass that Annette had to go to a political rally for the National Party (what used to be the white apartheid party, and which is now trying to reposition itself as a party for the people) inside Soweto. Hearing about this Mariki, always game for some fun, decided to accompany her, and to take our two sons so they can see the reality of Soweto and politics.
Surprising as it might sound there were a large number of black people supporting the National Party and even were promoting the National Party in the run-up to the election. I cannot speculate as to their reasoning, but I was introduced to some and they were not uneducated or obviously retarded. They must have had their reasons in terms of how they saw the future of the country.
The black National Party politicians met Annette and Mariki at the border of Soweto, with a police escort. A police escort would not have been necessary for any whites in Soweto. Since no one could have guessed that they were representing the National Party it was not necessary to escort them either. The escort was there because this was politics.
After a few miles into Soweto the police started to talk anxiously on the radio in their car, and explained that the National Party convoy of two cars must turn around immediately. There was a political march (riot) on its way and their lives are in danger.
But, by then it was too late.
In South Africa when blacks ‘march for political reasons’ they toy-toy. Toy toying is a sort of dance step that involves jerking the knees high, waving the arms and ululating at a high pitch. This is common to all countries of Africa. This particular crowd was toy-toying to celebrate the expected victories of the ANC over the white National party in the coming elections.
Before Mariki and Annette’s convoy could be turned around the toy-toying mass was upon them. Leaving two white women and two children of whom one was black separated from the police vehicle that was there to protect them.
In any movie produced by Hollywood about Africa this would have been the making for a great slaughter of white women and children. The only thing that could have topped the dramatic potential of this moment would have been if it were white nuns in the car.
The crowd simply continued past the car.
A few noticed Lucky in the car and bent down to shout at him. Presumably that he should not be sitting in the car with a lot of whites. The person that was the most scared at the end of this experience was probably Lucky.
So they arrived at the National Party rally being conducted at a school hall where a lot of potential black supporters were waiting to hear the National Party promises for the coming elections.
Naturally being the only white women – in fact the only whites – they were the guests of honour and introduced to every dignitary at the function.
And this is where we get to the point of this story. Remember that we started of by saying how much grown ups respond positively to Charl and Lucky?
What struck Mariki was that as they were moved down the line being introduced to the dignitaries – first Annette, then Mariki, then Charl and then Lucky – there was enthusiastic hand-shaking by all the dignitaries and very friendly conversation with all except Lucky.
After the speeches there was tea and biscuits for all, where Mariki commented to one of the women (black) that both Charl and Lucky did the right thing: they stepped up to the dignitary they are introduced to, offered a hand to be shaken, and looked them openly in their eyes. But Luckys offer was received with less enthusiasm than Charls.
She explained that Mariki has to understand how difficult it is to change cultures when the person that you are addressing is the same skin colour as yourself, or is obviously of the same culture as yourself.
To the black dignitaries at the meeting Charls behaviour was exactly what they expected and respected. As a result they responded positively to him. However, because Lucky was black they expected a different behaviour from him, and when his behaviour was white rather than black they were ill at ease and even confused.
To me this was an important lesson, and one I believe will stand all of us in good stead. So I will expand on this.
I started my own business back in 1984 and the fifth person that joined the company was Kenny Magobathu in 1985 as the driver. He is still the driver of the company 19 years later. In fact, as part of the company’s BEE Enterprize Development he now is the shareholder and director of a courier business financed by the company.
When he had worked for the company for about a decade I felt that we have sort of mutual respect and friendship – the type that develop when one works with someone for a long time.
It then started to bother me that when he needs the keys to my car to fill it with petrol he will not come and take it of my desk, but always ask someone else to get it.
It also bothered me that when he speaks to me he would seldom look me in the eyes, mostly looking down and occasionally glancing up. To my mind someone with integrity would look you straight in the eye, not deviously look at the ground all the time.
I asked my secretary to have a word with Kenny to change his behaviour because I don’t think he is a devious person, nor do I see the need for him to ask other people to speak on his behalf, or collect the car keys on his behalf for that matter. I was quite upset.
Kenny told my secretary to explain to me that he absolutely respects and love me. In fact he sees me as his father. In his culture however the body language is different from ours.
To look a person straight in the yes is a challenge, not a sign of respect. Similarly to stick out your hand and have a firm handshake is a challenge of power. Even to make a request directly to a person that you respect, and have the power to grant this wish to you is disrespectful – rather ask via another person that has his ear.
In fact this African custom is much closer to nature than our westernized custom of looking people straight in the eye. In nature when two males of a species (say dogs) meet then one will look away. If they both look each other straight in the eye they are issuing a challenge. Even with dogs you can demonstrate your dominance of a dog by looking him straight in the eye, but if it is a strange dog with a bad temperament then dog trainers advise you to look down and avoid prolonged eye contact.
It is the culture of black Africans that when they offer you something and you accept, they will thank you for accepting it. Black Africans do not stick their hands out aggressively to be shaken, they do not try to issue a challenge by giving you a firm grip, and they are not aggressively looking you straight in the eye when they do all these other aggressive things. The white Africans have not learned about this culture of the blacks.
This is a little anthropological lesson. But Charl and Luckys meeting with the black dignitaries in Soweto have a more profound lesson.
The dignitaries were expecting Charl to stick his hand out, look them in the eye and give a firm handshake, speak to them first saying ‘hello’ because he is white and that is the way that whites behave.
The dignitaries were expecting Lucky to not stick out his hand, to not say anything until spoken to, to not have a firm aggressive handshake, to not challenge them by looking them straight in the eye because he is black and this is how black children behave.
Black people have learned how to respond to white people by behaving like white people in terms of handshakes and eye contact. They understand the cultural differences, and adapt as and when required. White people have been slow at learning these things in South Africa – largely because they had no need to. They ascribed these things to customs rather than culture.
Lucky, at that stage, did not have a black culture, and was only starting to be introduced into a culture of sorts – white.
The dignitaries, even knowing that Lucky came to the meeting with whites, and that he lives with Mariki and Charl who behaved like whites could not adapt to a black child exhibiting a white culture. This, to my mind is again a form of racism – i.e. generalizing from the outward appearance what the behaviours would be like.
At the time that Lucky came to stay with us the country was entering its new era and the first multi-racial elections were looming.
The white National Party, having been in power since 1948, having legalized apartheid and having driven the reforms against apartheid (splitting into several right wing parties) and having called a referendum, now had to contest an open election.
No one expected them to really win, but then politicians never agree with a popular view, at least not when the popular view is that their party will not win.
It became a bit of a joke: White Afrikaner politicians, who had their parliament seats because the electorate in the past was white (the English people voted for the National party as hard as the Afrikaners, they just did not say that they did); now had to canvass for votes in the Black areas.
They did not live in the black areas, most of them had never been there in their lives, cannot speak the language of the voters, etc.
In the Old South Africa a Member of Parliament represented a specific constituency, and was supposed to look after the interest of the community that voted him into parliament. This really meant that the Member of Parliament was sort of also looking after the black people in the constituency, but they had no vote so they were not really important to the Member.
What happened in practice was that there always were some very safe seats, constituencies where the party can rely on winning the vote. These were often given to senior party members, who did not necessarily live in the constituency.
Sounds like normal politics? Nothing really changed in South Africa since then in any case, few ANC politicians live where their voters live, in fact they do not represent a specific constituency in any case. The different parties are allocated a number of seats in parliament to be filled from their lists in terms of seniority. Thereby members are relieved from having to worry about the concerns of a specific constituency, and obviously the need to live among the constituents.
It is, of course, an interesting thought that in the New South Africa there is no more racism. This means that anyone can theoretically live in any area they like. In practice the black people of South Africa still live in the mainly black poorer areas that they lived in before. The New South Africa members of parliament live in the affluent areas, which are still predominantly white areas. But, since their constituents can theoretically also live there the politicians cannot be accused of not living in their constituencies.
However, back to the story about the elections and the National Party MPs that had to canvass votes in the black areas inside their constituencies where they have never been, and cannot even speak the language.
These politicians now had to make a show of trying to gain votes in the Black Areas.
We were friends with the Jan and Annette Bredenkamp. Jan Bredenkamp was the Member of Parliament for Florida – where he lived. It now fell on him to go and canvass votes in the Black townships.
Like a good White Afrikaans South African Male, he co-opted his wife.
(In fact, if I left out the words: “White, South African, Afrikaans” in the above sentence and just left the word “Male” the sentence would still be correct. I have discovered that White, South African, Afrikaans males are no different from other males anywhere in the world.)
So it came to pass that Annette was asked by the National Party to attend a rally inside Soweto. Soweto is Johannesburg’s sister city, which contains probably more people that the greater Johannesburg area, all of them black.
Most white people have never been inside Soweto and believe that it looks like some of the slums we see on television, like Harlem in New York. It is in fact not as bad, but it still is not a desirable area to live in.
A common joke in the Old South Africa was that the most suicidal thing a white person can do is to skateboard through Soweto singing “This Land is My Land!”
Many whites worked (and still work) in Soweto, and there was even a nightclub area that was known as “white by night”. I cannot remember any reports about a white person being mugged or treated badly in Soweto. But, for most whites Soweto was an area to be avoided.
So it came to pass that Annette had to go to a political rally for the National Party (what used to be the white apartheid party, and which is now trying to reposition itself as a party for the people) inside Soweto. Hearing about this Mariki, always game for some fun, decided to accompany her, and to take our two sons so they can see the reality of Soweto and politics.
Surprising as it might sound there were a large number of black people supporting the National Party and even were promoting the National Party in the run-up to the election. I cannot speculate as to their reasoning, but I was introduced to some and they were not uneducated or obviously retarded. They must have had their reasons in terms of how they saw the future of the country.
The black National Party politicians met Annette and Mariki at the border of Soweto, with a police escort. A police escort would not have been necessary for any whites in Soweto. Since no one could have guessed that they were representing the National Party it was not necessary to escort them either. The escort was there because this was politics.
After a few miles into Soweto the police started to talk anxiously on the radio in their car, and explained that the National Party convoy of two cars must turn around immediately. There was a political march (riot) on its way and their lives are in danger.
But, by then it was too late.
In South Africa when blacks ‘march for political reasons’ they toy-toy. Toy toying is a sort of dance step that involves jerking the knees high, waving the arms and ululating at a high pitch. This is common to all countries of Africa. This particular crowd was toy-toying to celebrate the expected victories of the ANC over the white National party in the coming elections.
Before Mariki and Annette’s convoy could be turned around the toy-toying mass was upon them. Leaving two white women and two children of whom one was black separated from the police vehicle that was there to protect them.
In any movie produced by Hollywood about Africa this would have been the making for a great slaughter of white women and children. The only thing that could have topped the dramatic potential of this moment would have been if it were white nuns in the car.
The crowd simply continued past the car.
A few noticed Lucky in the car and bent down to shout at him. Presumably that he should not be sitting in the car with a lot of whites. The person that was the most scared at the end of this experience was probably Lucky.
So they arrived at the National Party rally being conducted at a school hall where a lot of potential black supporters were waiting to hear the National Party promises for the coming elections.
Naturally being the only white women – in fact the only whites – they were the guests of honour and introduced to every dignitary at the function.
And this is where we get to the point of this story. Remember that we started of by saying how much grown ups respond positively to Charl and Lucky?
What struck Mariki was that as they were moved down the line being introduced to the dignitaries – first Annette, then Mariki, then Charl and then Lucky – there was enthusiastic hand-shaking by all the dignitaries and very friendly conversation with all except Lucky.
After the speeches there was tea and biscuits for all, where Mariki commented to one of the women (black) that both Charl and Lucky did the right thing: they stepped up to the dignitary they are introduced to, offered a hand to be shaken, and looked them openly in their eyes. But Luckys offer was received with less enthusiasm than Charls.
She explained that Mariki has to understand how difficult it is to change cultures when the person that you are addressing is the same skin colour as yourself, or is obviously of the same culture as yourself.
To the black dignitaries at the meeting Charls behaviour was exactly what they expected and respected. As a result they responded positively to him. However, because Lucky was black they expected a different behaviour from him, and when his behaviour was white rather than black they were ill at ease and even confused.
To me this was an important lesson, and one I believe will stand all of us in good stead. So I will expand on this.
I started my own business back in 1984 and the fifth person that joined the company was Kenny Magobathu in 1985 as the driver. He is still the driver of the company 19 years later. In fact, as part of the company’s BEE Enterprize Development he now is the shareholder and director of a courier business financed by the company.
When he had worked for the company for about a decade I felt that we have sort of mutual respect and friendship – the type that develop when one works with someone for a long time.
It then started to bother me that when he needs the keys to my car to fill it with petrol he will not come and take it of my desk, but always ask someone else to get it.
It also bothered me that when he speaks to me he would seldom look me in the eyes, mostly looking down and occasionally glancing up. To my mind someone with integrity would look you straight in the eye, not deviously look at the ground all the time.
I asked my secretary to have a word with Kenny to change his behaviour because I don’t think he is a devious person, nor do I see the need for him to ask other people to speak on his behalf, or collect the car keys on his behalf for that matter. I was quite upset.
Kenny told my secretary to explain to me that he absolutely respects and love me. In fact he sees me as his father. In his culture however the body language is different from ours.
To look a person straight in the yes is a challenge, not a sign of respect. Similarly to stick out your hand and have a firm handshake is a challenge of power. Even to make a request directly to a person that you respect, and have the power to grant this wish to you is disrespectful – rather ask via another person that has his ear.
In fact this African custom is much closer to nature than our westernized custom of looking people straight in the eye. In nature when two males of a species (say dogs) meet then one will look away. If they both look each other straight in the eye they are issuing a challenge. Even with dogs you can demonstrate your dominance of a dog by looking him straight in the eye, but if it is a strange dog with a bad temperament then dog trainers advise you to look down and avoid prolonged eye contact.
It is the culture of black Africans that when they offer you something and you accept, they will thank you for accepting it. Black Africans do not stick their hands out aggressively to be shaken, they do not try to issue a challenge by giving you a firm grip, and they are not aggressively looking you straight in the eye when they do all these other aggressive things. The white Africans have not learned about this culture of the blacks.
This is a little anthropological lesson. But Charl and Luckys meeting with the black dignitaries in Soweto have a more profound lesson.
The dignitaries were expecting Charl to stick his hand out, look them in the eye and give a firm handshake, speak to them first saying ‘hello’ because he is white and that is the way that whites behave.
The dignitaries were expecting Lucky to not stick out his hand, to not say anything until spoken to, to not have a firm aggressive handshake, to not challenge them by looking them straight in the eye because he is black and this is how black children behave.
Black people have learned how to respond to white people by behaving like white people in terms of handshakes and eye contact. They understand the cultural differences, and adapt as and when required. White people have been slow at learning these things in South Africa – largely because they had no need to. They ascribed these things to customs rather than culture.
Lucky, at that stage, did not have a black culture, and was only starting to be introduced into a culture of sorts – white.
The dignitaries, even knowing that Lucky came to the meeting with whites, and that he lives with Mariki and Charl who behaved like whites could not adapt to a black child exhibiting a white culture. This, to my mind is again a form of racism – i.e. generalizing from the outward appearance what the behaviours would be like.
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