EN Motaung / X Nqola

Recently, we had all witnessed what essentially can be termed “treasonous behaviour” by the likes of AfriForum and Solidarity, who have spread misinformation of “white genocide” and are lobbying the President of the United States for the interests of the whiter Afrikaner.

These groups believe, incorrectly, that laws that seek to redress the untold discrimination against the black majority, such as the Expropriation Act, aims to indiscriminately seize or confiscate their land. Laws and policies that are aimed to level the playing fields cannot be seen as oppression considering centuries of systemic exploitation of the black people in every facet of their lives through segregationist laws and practices.

In 2022, the World Bank classified (PDF) South Africa as the most unequal country in the world, and listed race, the legacy of apartheid, a missing middle class and highly unequal land ownership, as the major drivers. About 10 percent of the population controls 80 percent of the wealth. This is an untenable situation.

Democracy may have brought an end to legal apartheid. However, the trauma, effects and the daily lived realities of the majority of the people persist. We cannot leave creating a more just country to the people who were most affected by the injustice. It is not fair; it is not right and it will not work.