It is no surprise that Race, Colour, Gender-based Violence (GBV), Femicide, Disability, and recently even Neurodiversity keeps resurfacing in the South African socio-political discourse.
Three decades after the onset of democracy in 1994, preceded by centuries of colonial-cum-apartheid rule, the above metrics inevitably tend to evoke near cathartic emotions, for race and colour especially are so ingrained in the South African psyche that they never fail to rear their heads, especially when they are exploited by radical elements across the political spectrum for their own nefarious motives.
Short of a national pastime, it is still what defines us as South Africans and will probably persist for a couple of generations more, as our socio-political culture grows up and “normalises”.
When the above metrics are mixed by some bad actors with populist sentiments, xenophobia, jingoism, misogyny, ideology and a misplaced sense of entitlement, aided and abetted by social media, then the toxicity quotient only serves to undermine the country’s remarkable social cohesion, forged by the vision of Madiba and his comrades and underpinned by a commitment to truth and reconciliation, freedom and prosperity for all, and the inherent community-based ethos of Ubuntuism.
But then the moral compass of South African society in general, despite being clobbered over the last decade through state capture, corruption, a cost-of-living crisis and a range of metrics of shame, has always loomed much higher than its detractors.
When Mia le Roux was recently crowned Miss South Africa and stressed in her acceptance speech that “I never thought someone like me could become Miss South Africa”, she was not alluding to the fact that she is white and of Afrikaner descent, but to the fact that she is the first deaf woman to be crowned as such, and that her achievement would help those who felt excluded from society.
Not that the prevalence of race in law is receding in democratic South Africa. According to the Index of Race Law in South Africa, monitored by the Institute of Race Relations, 313 racial Acts of Parliament have been adopted since 1910, of which 116 have been adopted since 1994, and 141 are operative today.
“Most of the world assumes Racial Acts of Parliament came to an end in the 1990s. Race law has continued, utilising the same racial categories that were formally defined during the 20th century,” added the IRR.
It is bad enough for disability and its potentially oft associated neurodiversity to be societal metrics of marginalisation especially in the workplace.
It just adds another thread of inequality, of which South Africa is widely regarded by the World Bank and the OECD as the most unequal society in the world in terms of wealth, income, employment and gender balance disparities.
While deafness is a disability and not regarded as an example of neurodiversity, both deafness and neurodiverse conditions such as autism and attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) can have a significant impact on communication and language, social learning and impulsivity, and mental well-being. According to Peter Hamilton, Head of Market Engagement at insurance giant Zurich, and UK Government Ambassador for Disability and Access for the Insurance Industry, autistic people, for instance, have so much to offer the workplace, which includes a remarkable attention to detail that supports a high level of accuracy; and excellent concentration levels and a narrow focus meaning they are not satisfied until a task is completed.
“One of the most saddening statistics is that only 22% of autistic adults are in any form of employment. And of those able to find a job, most are underemployed working part-time or in roles that do not utilise their many skills and talents,” he added.
While the judges at the Miss South Africa jamboree should be commended for their perspicacity, the precursor to the very process was steeped in an ugly race and nationality controversy driven by a social media campaign which forced 23-year-old law student Chidimma Adetshina, born in South Africa to a Nigerian father and a Mozambican mother, to pull out of the competition following allegations that her mother may have stolen the identity of a South African woman.
Even a cabinet minister questioned her right to represent the country. Never mind the fact that Ms Adetshina was an infant at the time of the alleged identity fraud.
All these developments coalesced around the time when the country observed Women’s Day on August 9.
President Ramaphosa was very eloquent in his address to the nation in Pofadder eulogising the status of women under the Freedom Charter in its 70th year, the achievements under 30 years of ANC rule in enhancing gender parity and the ongoing effects of the country’s colonial-cum-apartheid legacy.
The president cited the results of the first-ever national survey conducted by The Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC) on GBV prevalence in a democratic South Africa measuring metrics such as physical, sexual, emotional and economic abuse, as well as controlling behaviour between intimate partners.
The findings are sobering:
◆ Over 7% of women aged 18 and older experienced physical or sexual violence in the past 12 months, which translates into the equivalent of 1.5 million women.
◆ Around 13% of women who had ever been in an intimate relationship reported that they had experienced economic abuse at the hands of their partner.
◆ Some 4% of men in the survey reported having perpetrated physical violence against a woman in the preceding 12 months, which translates to over 600 000 men.
President Ramaphosa is right in reminding that South African women have a right to vote, to equal pay for equal work, and to equality before the law under both the Freedom Charter and the Constitution.
But surely equally they have the inalienable right not to be abused, harassed, exploited, subjected to GBV and femicide?
A modus vivendi which seems to have worsened under the last two decades of ANC stewardship fuelled by a sense of entitlement, coercive behaviour, misogyny, some customs, traditions and attitudes especially relating to sex with adolescent girls, and therefore perpetuating the further marginalisation of women, who after all form almost half of the population.
The clarion call is that South African men must change their behaviour and their attitudes towards their female compatriots.
President Ramaphosa has called on South African men to make a pledge to be part of the solution to end GBV and femicide and to take responsibility for their actions.
The GNU’s initiative smacks more of men given the right to self-regulate their behaviour towards women, whereas the track record suggests that they have stubbornly failed to change their attitudes and this issue alas may be a multi-generational challenge going forward!
* Parker is a writer based in London
Cape Times