The Beauty of South Africa

South Africa is probably a beautiful country. I only got to see Johannesburg, but I have heard so many nice things about Cape Town, Kruger National Park, and other areas.

But to me, it wasn’t a very beautiful place.

Don’t get me wrong- I loved my time there, especially being with the kids at Nkosi’s Haven. They were wonderful.

But I can’t believe that the country had a policy of apartheid until 1994. I can’t believe that we as a country and we as a people largely stood on the sidelines, allowing this to continue, almost until the very end. It is true that many Americans began a divestment campaign, helping to finally end apartheid, but this only happened in force near the very end.

The place reeked of racism. You have plenty of neighborhoods where only whites or only blacks can enter. We were at risk if we went to a black neighborhood without a black guide (Soweto, for example). Even the nearby church that I went to had racist elements in it.

I listened to several stories from black college students about the blatant racism that still exists. Whites get better service in the country. And I heard many people, especially black South Africans, go on racist rants about Zimbabweans that are flooding their country from the economically and politically unstable dictatorship of Mugabe.

On my bus ride to Botswana, there were three white people besides me. They were first in the line and grabbed the front three rows of seats, one to each row. Black after black got on the bus, asking them if the seat next to them was free. No, they responded. The bus continued to fill, and when it was time to go there were only three open seats- all at the front.

There were bus troubles, and we had to stop. The (white) conductor came out, and spoke to us- in Afrikaans. This is one of the official languages in South Africa, and it also happens to be the language spoken by the whites. Kids have to take Afrikaans in school, but generally black people don’t know Afrikaans as well. Many people asked the conductor to explain what was happening in English. He refused. When he left, one black woman who can speak Afrikaans stood up and explained what happened. We would need to switch buses.

We switched buses, and as the three white people were in the front, they were the last ones off the bus and onto the new bus. Two of the white people got a seat together. The other one refused to sit next to a black person, even though there were several open seats, and instead stood in the back by the bathroom the whole time. He and the other whites got off in North South Africa.

My experience was different. I was in the back next to a Nigerian who lives in Botswana (on both buses). He was very nice and friendly, and we talked almost the whole trip. When we got off in Gabarone, he and his friend took me to several guest houses to see which one I liked (even though it was 10 pm). We found a good one, and I went to sleep. The next morning he came by to see how I was. If I had stayed another night, I am sure we would have had dinner.

When the apartheid government still existed, even into the 90’s, South Africa deliberately tried to destabilize neighboring countries that were friendly to the African National Congress (this is the largely black political party of Nelson Mandela that was banned in South Africa for 50 years). I saw firsthand what they did in Mozambique. They funded and trained an army, and set them loose in Mozambique, basically manufacturing a ‘civil war’. Hundreds of thousands of people died, and peace was only established in 1995. South Africa signed a treaty with Mozambique, promising not to fund the army any more in the early 90’s (90 or 91?), but they continued to do so anyway.

The scars remain, as many building in the north are still destroyed. Little by little Mozambique is improving. Thousands of land mines still present a very real danger for everyone. I even read about travelers who stopped on the side of the road, and peed into the buses, setting off a landmine.

I know that all South Africans are not racist. I met many wonderful black people who treated me as an equal. The coordinator and founder of Nkosi’s Haven is white. She has adopted black children and she works her butt off for the mothers and kids at the orphanage- not a single one of whom is white.

I also know that the USA has racism, some of which is very close to me (even in my own Lutheran congregation and multiracial town exists blatant racism).

Racism is stupid. Its unbiblical, inhumane, and hateful. And it makes people ugly.