RESPONSE TO THE OPEN LETTER TO THE ANC BY THE AFRIKANERBOND
Dear Mr. Vorster,
After 17 years of freedom all South Africans must celebrate what has been achieved over a very short period. We must celebrate the extension of basic services and rights to all the Citizens across the historic racial divide. Organisations like the Afrikanerbond must be part of the efforts to deepen this democracy rather than seeking to blame the victim. We must uphold and defend our Constitution to ensure that ideals enshrined therein become reality. This cannot be achieved by defending privileges that historically accrued to certain sections of Society.
The open letter by the Afrikanerbond is falling into the common mistake committed by the Oppressor and Colonisers, that of equating their fears to be constitutional rights. In their eyes there are no black aspirations. Those who were oppressed for years must not have the desire to be equal Citizens. They should celebrate their views being subjugated to the views of the minorities. The Afrikanerbond sees that as non-racialism.
Any intervention that seeks to instil confidence among the Black majority poses a threat. Affirmative action, BEE and the term transformation are seen as derogatory by the Afrikanerbond. Their wish is that we must forget that JOB RESERVATION was specifically meant to deprive Blacks in general and African in particular any access to any work that required basic skills. In the workplace any technical work was reserved for "Scheduled Persons".
When I joined mining in 1975 with Matric, I could not access a blasting certificate. The "Scheduled Persons" had unhindered access to this basic qualification purely on the basis of the colour of their skin, irrespective of their education level. Many of the miners were literally illiterate but had an overriding qualification, the fairer complexion.