I would like to adres an article which popped up. Under normal circumstance this would just be thrown out and ignored, due to the pure ignorance and opinionated statements. Unfortunately, this time was different. The article was in the New York Times and written by an award winning journalist, with self proclaimed knowledge and experience in Africa.

The article: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/23/world/africa/in-cape-town-many-black-south-africans-feel-unwelcome.html?ref=lydiapolgreen

I do not feel like criticizing the writer, seeing that I do not even come close to her record in journalism, but I am a very thorough and logical person. I will therefore merely comment on the lack of insight and false statements of her article by giving actual facts! Also, just to top it off nicely, indicate the assumptions she makes and how flawed it is, together with the conveniently left out facts about South African culture.

Starting with the spat between Helen Zille and what ended up to be a massive list of ANC supporters saying how horribly racist Cape Town is, because there are not many black people living there. Yes, old Zille’s chose some bad words, such as “refugee” for people being displaced within their own country, which is an incorrect understanding of the word. But somehow, critics of her translates it as being racist, although no race is even mentioned nor implied. Which points into a little feature of modern South African “ANC” mentality that needs understanding, racism is defined as you being of a certain race, not the actual meaning of making a comment discriminating about a certain race.

“This is the only major metropolis in South Africa where black people are not the majority, and it remains deeply divided.”

This is half true. Yes, it is the only metropolis and province in South Africa, that does not and has historically never had a majority black people living there. Democracy, the core of the new South Africa, therefore favors the majority of the area they stay in. If a political party (ANC) openly discriminates against the population of that area, obviously they will not vote for that political party. Yes, there are still issues to sort out regarding some areas being poor and some areas that has more of certain race groups, but it shows an utter lack of understanding to imply that it is purely because of racism. These places are also largely influenced by the cultural, financial and linguistic preferences. Any person can live in any area they desire, that is a constitutional right, why would you move to an area where nobody speaks your language?

“The particularly harsh legacy of apartheid as it was carried out here has left especially deep scars that still demarcate the geography: whites in the city center and its mountainside inner suburbs, nonwhites in the distant townships on the Cape Flats.”

Largely false. True, that a large sections inside the city bowl were demarcated for whites only, but a large section also for non-white people in apartheid South Africa, such as the ‘Bo-Kaap’ [1]. Yes, most people were moved from district 6 to distant suburbs, but many (300 ownership claims) has been moved back to the areas where they were removed from [2]. The city center does not have “whites in the city” and any person with eyes can see this if you actually go to the places such as Woodstock, Bo-Kaap, Zonnebloem and Observatory, or even just hanging out in Long Street. “Whites in the city” is additionally false due to large Afrikaans speaking “white” and mixed populations found more than 40km away (equal distance as the townships from the city) in Durbanville, Blouberg, Kraaifontein, etc.

“It is run by Ms. Zille’s Democratic Alliance, which grew out of the white anti-apartheid movement but ultimately came to include remnants of the old National Party that created apartheid.”

Not even this simple statement is true! Yes, the DA came from an ANTI-apartheid movement. The apartheid government was called “National Party” (NP), and renamed themselves “The New National Party” (NNP). Contradictory to what she claims, the NNP joined and became part of the ANC, hence the ANC has remnants of the old apartheid, not the DA [3].

“Many of the more exclusive Atlantic coast beaches, which used to prohibit blacks, still tend to attract almost entirely whites, reinforcing the divide.““I hate going to Camps Bay because everyone there is white,”;“You don’t get the perception that this is an integrated country.” said Yoliswa Dwane

There are no “exclusive” beaches, all beaches are publicly accessible. Camps bay is also the beach that has the highest concentration of European tourists, they are mostly white, so if you go there during the day you will find them. But, the statement is completely false if you go there on a public holiday, the place is then crowded with all races. This also points to my previous comment, about ANC mentality: Refusing to go to a beach because of the race of the people on the beach is acceptable, it is in fact that race groups fault (if they are white) if you do not want to go there. Added to that, it is not poorly “integrated” if there are only black people on the beach (as per most large beaches in South Africa), it is only poorly “integrated” if they are not black, even if black people is a minority in the province and area. Are you seeing the logic?

The so called “reports” are mostly individual rambling. I think 1 report was in fact correct in which a gay club refused entry to a someone. I have lived in Cape Town for only two and a half years, and visited the night clubs and bars many times. I could honestly say that I have not been in Asoka once without there being black people inside, if I remember correctly, even the bouncers are black…I DO remember rowdy and drunk people being prohibited entry at many night clubs, some of them black, some of them white, it seems it’s only the one group that considered it a racist attack of some kind. YES, some of them has ridiculously strict dress codes and does engage in class selection (which I hate), I have been turned away many times, because my shoes or shirt is not fassionable enough, should I yell racism?

Oh well, that is all I have the patience for. My basic summary is that the facts are mostly false and that the commentators “feel” unwelcome, mostly because they do not like white people and find it uncomfortable to be somewhere where there are “too many” white people, racism in its essence, although not recognized due to the orientation thereof. Cape Town is divided in many ways, largely through finance and culture, claiming that it is race specific and racist because of it, is ignorant and immature. Worst of all, it is POOR journalism. All in all, Cape Town is the most enjoyable and diverse city in South Africa, despite the false ramblings of a few.

LINKS

[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bo-Kaap

[2] http://www.internafrica.org/2009/09/progress-on-district-six-land-claims.html

[3] http://www.sahistory.org.za/dated-event/nnp-joins-anc