If you disagree, you're the devil

This is a letter I wrote to a guy about the question of whether black South Africans were better off under Apartheid. I added his response below.

Hi,

(This turned into an essay, please read it - I'm not trying to convince you that Apartheid was wonderful, I'm just giving you the info and you can make up your own mind)

I'm not the kind of guy who's going to force my opinion down on anybody. We've got a potential disaster on the horizon in SA. Rising food prices all by itself could trigger a revolution. And with all the crap the ANC feeds the blacks, they will find a way to turn them to us, the whites, first when the revolution happens. To give you an idea: I once spoke to a black guy who worked for me about politics. I told him they should thank FW de Klerk for their freedom, not Mandela, as he gave the country to them on a silver platter. (that's the truth.) He told me that he'd heard that De Klerk used to ride into parliament on the back of a black man. I kid you not. You've got to remember that the masses are still very ignorant. They believe in witch doctors and all kinds of other crap. One of the black guys who works for me (I'd take a bullet for this guy) has on a few occasions had to sleep over at my house. He would go out and get bricks to put under the bed, because they believe the Tokoloshe (some kind of evil monster) will come after them if the bed is on the floor.

So, whether blacks were better off under Apartheid is a very complicated question with a very complicated answer.

Of course, the new rich blacks are much better off. I'm in the construction industry and I know how things work with Black Economic Empowerment. One civil engineer that I know, who's been in the business for 30 odd years has a black partner, who used to work for him at the beginning. He had to establish a company for this guy. He pays him a salary of R40 000. They tender together on jobs, two different companies. One has an engineer as a CEO and hundreds of employees, equipment, a fleet etc. The other has a black guy with no qualifications and a pick up truck. (His partner). The partner always gets the job. And then he subcontracts the job to the white engineer. Even if the tender price was higher. So, for this guy (who is a really nice guy by the way), of course he's better off now. 

There are millions of these BEE 'business men' who I've worked for. My uncle is a lawyer and their law firm had to take on a black partner for the same reason. He does NOTHING. He's not allowed to sign anything. He's just living somewhere on the coast and raking in a huge salary for having his name in the company logo. So I'm sure this guy is better off under Democracy.

Civil servants, on the whole are better off now. Because they are now part of the white middle class, they live in previous white neighborhoods etc. My neighbor is a black guy and we get along just fine.

BUT

From the last census in 1996, the black population increased by almost 10 million. And there's anywhere between 5 and 10 million illegal immigrants in SA since the ANC flung the borders open. Of the 42 000 000 blacks in South Africa (excluding the illegal ones) how many of them would you say were as lucky as the two guys I mentioned above? How many of them got jobs with the government? I've heard that the middle class and upper class are pretty much 50/50 white and black now. And there are 4.5 million whites in SA. So, say that's true. Then we've got 10 million people who now live comfortable lives in SA (minus the whites who now live in squatter camps and plus the indians and coloureds.) 

With a population of 52 million plus, let's say, 5 million illegals, that comes to 57 million. So roughly 17.5% of the population are living comfortably. 

If you don't live in Africa, I doubt that you know what poverty looks like. As I mentioned, I'm in the construction industry. I regularly go into 'townships' and I see the conditions in the squatter camps. I also regularly go to municipal dump sites where people storm your pick up like flies and old women go through trash to find something they can pawn to buy food for the day. These people now actually live in the dump sites. 

The unemployment rate in SA was 30% in 2011. But for the age group of 15-19 it was 65%, for 20-24 it was 48% and for 25-29 it was 27%. Now, if you were 29 years old in 2011, you were 12 when the first democratic elections took place, so whether you were better off under Apartheid or not doesn't really matter. There are just over 30 000 000 people under the age of 30 in SA. Let me break it down for you:

- 15-19 = 5 003 477 * 65% = 3 252 260
- 20-24 = 5 374 542 * 48% = 2 579 780
- 25-29 = 5 059 317 * 27% = 1 366 015

Thus a total of 7 198 055 out of the 15 437 336 people who never lived their adult lives under Apartheid are unemployed. I'm not sure what the government grants are for them, but from what I've heard you get something like R200 per month per child. Which is $20, so they're just sitting at home and having children to survive.

I agree that black people's rights were stripped away under Apartheid and that couldn't have been very nice. I sure as shit would've been right up there with the ANC at every rally and march and lynching. 

But if you're sifting through rubbish to make a living, or sitting at home making babies in a corrugated iron (if you're lucky) shack, would you feel good about yourself? If you're begging at a traffic light (there's at least one at every intersection in Gauteng) what human dignity have you got anyway? The question is, if you're struggling to survive, are you really free? Do you even care about the system of governance if you're hungry every day?

The 7 million people I mentioned above and the ones younger than them have no future under the corrupt ANC. The quality of our education system was ranked 146 out of 148 countries in the 2013 Global Competitiveness Index. We ranked 148 out of 148 countries for the quality of our maths and science education. The government no longer has apprenticeship programs like they did under Apartheid.

My father worked for the wheat board (which no longer exists). They (and the maize board) used to regulate the price of flour and bread. They protected farmers against international cartels who wanted to dump their over-subsidized grain in Africa. The government even subsidized brown bread. This may sound irrelevant to you, but if you're poor and you just need to get a bread every day, the price really matters.

South Africa is now a net importer of food. Our inflation is showing the first signs of going the way of Zimbabwe. 

South Africa's staple food is maize. The price of maize meal went up by 4.3% between August and September this year. If you're living off less than 2 dollars a day (like 30% of our population) then this is cause for alarm. And why? Because our commercial farmers are seen as the enemy and not the feeders of the nation. They are being killed off and driven off their farms. 15 years ago there were 100 000 commercial farmers, today there's 36 000. And 99% of the farms that have been handed over to blacks are producing NOTHING.

http://m.news24.com/fin24/Economy/Exodus-of-farmers-worries-Ramphele-20130325

For all their faults, the National Party had the country's interests at heart. Unemployment was almost on European standards before the sanctions started in the 1980's. They protected our small economy from the international predators. And I would go as far as saying that if you were a poor, uneducated black in 1970 you probably would've been better off (on average) than a poor, uneducated black today. Sure, today you have the right to vote. But that means absolutely nothing to you if you are hungry NOW. And if you need to feed your kids NOW. Just remember, the vast majority of blacks were oblivious of the form of governance during Apartheid. Most of them never even saw a white man. 99.9% of blacks never had police breaking down their doors or beating them up. That's just in the movies. Most of them couldn't care less who ruled the country.

The ANC mobilized these people violently in the 1980's. A guy called Steve Biko told them that they were being treated unfairly with his 'black consciousness movement'. I always say, it was a bit like a rat that was free coming to tell the rats who had grown up in a cage and were none the wiser and happy, that they were not free. (I'm not comparing them to rats, just using it as an example)

You talk to any poor old black who lived in SA under Apartheid and most of them will tell you it was better then.

But I can't make the call, because it's a very complicated subject.

What I can tell you with certainty is that the ANC is turning SA into Zimbabwe.

PS: watch this video if you have time http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I-60MZnc2dY



This is his response:

The devil has no conscience, if he did he wouldn’t be the devil. Who do you think you are talking to, you white racist bigoted pig? I am a historian, an educated PROUD BLACK MAN with a Master’s degree. And I see your racist point of view spew through your words like venom from a snakes mouth. Oh I just don’t know where to begin with you. Let’s start with the so-called illegal aliens. As far as I am concerned you white people in SA are the only ILLEGAL ALIENS there. How did you come to SA? Where you invited by the people? Or did you invade? What does that make you? A nationalized citizen? You piece of filth. You are just a person who is upset that Blacks are now trying to rule THEIR OWN DAMNED COUNTRY. Tell me something, how did Steven Biko die? Do you condone his death? What kind of crap is the African National Congress feeding people? That is it not okay to gun down innocent school children? That this was your land until the white man came and stole it from you? I had to pull myself off the floor when you mentioned that white police breaking into people’s homes were just in the movies. That right there let me know what you are really all about and just blew away any possible validity of everything else you said. LIES, ALL LIES! All your stats and figures, are all just LIES to justify what you all trying to do. I’m sure you would love to change Zimbabwe back into rhodesia  (small caps intended).

That is just like some whites here saying that Black were better under slavery. And to say that Apartheid was not very nice, ARE YOU KIDDING? Apartheid was spun by the devil himself and you held the thread.


Oh sure they (the white government) gave a few Blacks some opportunity to convince the world that they were making progress. Moved some into white neighborhoods to fools some people to take off the pressure. You mentioned that you are in the construction industry, so why haven’t you tried to make a difference in the poor Black communities? Why haven’t you contracted with the government to build better houses for the people so that their living conditions can improve? I’ll tell you why, BECAUSE YOU DON’T GIVE A RATS ASS ABOUT POOR NIGGERS, RIGHT!  De klerk did not give the Blacks in SA a damned thing. Why! BECAUSE IT WAS THERIS IN THE FIRST PLACE! You stole it from them. Let’s go back to Apartheid not being “very nice.” You fucking idiot, stealing cookies from a cookie jar is “NOT VERY NICE.” Apartheid is a despicable EVIL. I say is because as far as I am concerned, it still exist. You murdered innocent school children in June of 1969. Imagine, cowardly cops, armed with pistols, rifles and machine guns, open fire on innocent unarmed school children who were peacefully protesting a school curriculum that was not in their best interest. “ The police then began to shoot directly at the children.” Is that what you call not being “ very nice?” Police vans and armored vehicles patrolled the streets throughout the night shooting and killing children on the spot”. Emergency clinics were swamped with injured and bloody children.”

Maybe this should have been your child’s bullet ridden body being carried instead of
Hector Pieterson.

How about this one. The Sharpeville massacre. Once again unarmed citizen, peaceful protest and armed cowardly cops. 70 people dead.

In  regard to this: “One civil engineer that I know, who's been in the business for 30 odd years has a black partner, who used to work for him at the beginning. He had to establish a company for this guy. He pays him a salary of R40 000. They tender together on jobs, two different companies. One has an engineer as a CEO and hundreds of employees, equipment, a fleet etc. The other has a black guy with no qualifications and a pick up truck. (His partner). The partner always gets the job. And then he subcontracts the job to the white engineer. Even if the tender price was higher. So, for this guy (who is a really nice guy by the way), of course he's better off now.” I have no sympathy. It’s payback time for all the years you stole from the true SOUTH AFRICANS. The BLACK SOUTH AFRICANS. And yes I read the farm report. “Ramphele said inequality in South Africa was structurally created, and therefore “needs structural remedies.”


Any problems that South Africa is having today is still a result of colonization from the european powers. I’m going to be watching every move you make and everything you say and will have a response waiting for you.


So, do you think I deserved that kind of response? Was I  being racist? Please enlighten me.