Dr Sheetal Bhoola
Thirty years post democracy and we continue to be faced with blatant racial profiling. Citizens are treated differently because of dominant societal perceptions which lead to negative stereotypes. This also has a ripple effect on the beliefs on other racial grouping, ancestry, ethnic grouping, place of birth and origin, and religious beliefs.
Racial representation in all spheres of South African life permeate and to a certain extent still dominate social, political, and economic growth and development. The stance that was adopted when the Black Economic Empowerment policy was implemented was that previously disadvantaged South Africans would be a priority in relation to employment and opportunities. The aim was to readdress the injustices of the past. In the 1920’s Afrikanerdom adopted a similar stance to support the impoverished sects of the South African ‘white’ society. At the end of Apartheid, the “white” minority owned 87% of South Africa’s land (Walker & Dubb, 2013), yet this grouping constituted over 10% of South Africa’s population. Despite this stark reality, the intent was that the BEE policy would contribute towards a more just society for all, and its impact has been varied, unjust and has only benefitted a selected class grouping. This process has perpetuated a culture of racial and ethnic profiling and continued discrimination in a new democracy. More importantly, this approach still contributes to continued public disengagement from political debacles in South Africa, exclusion in general as well as continued socio-economic impacts.
The benefits of being a young democracy in this century is a marvelous opportunity, which I think many of us fail to realise. A young democracy in the era of globalisation and international economies gives us the opportunity to compare our initiatives that are intended to build a democracy with longevity. We can also identify the weaknesses and strengths of other democracies around the world and simultaneously review, assess, and evaluate our progress in policy development and implemented programs. The institutional structure of a representative democracy implemented in South Africa has had limited success for majority of our citizens. Many South Africans will argue that this approach has entrenched racial profiling. The representative democratic system has been deemed ineffective by citizens globally. The recent democracy index report of 2024 declared that a number of countries reported that voters in democratic countries have ejected governments that have not delivered, and political parties that remain in power for extended periods of time. Globally, people have realised that representative democratic governments do not always yield the good governance required by democratic principles. In addition, many of these countries that deem themselves as democratic have had minimal freedom of speech and have contributed to sustaining a systematic yet informal approach of racial profiling into their social, political, and economic spheres.
The impact of racial profile citizens has resulted in work ineffectiveness and inefficiencies in all areas, but more importantly it has heavily contributed towards the lack of political participation of people in their democratic states. The recent accusations raised by Donald Trump bring to the fore the impact of racial profiling, that South Africa has become renowned for globally. His accusations insinuate that our government permits the continual murders of ‘white South African” farmers gives the world perceptions of how relevant racial profiling is in our young democracy. Yet the historical background to these incidents that have happened in the past are conflated with the land debacle, amidst historical violence associated with the apartheid era. The other stark reality is that other nationalities have not fully comprehended how wide the economic gaps were between the ‘whites’ and other race groups during the Apartheid era. Given that, South Africa is inherently a violent society and there are numerous other incidents of racial violence that take place daily. For instance, we are now facing increasing incidents of gender-based violence and violence amidst school learners in South Africa. The South African government needs to actively engage with all the variances of violence and inhumane behaviour that South Africans experience and withstand. Amidst accusations of farmer genocides, there has been the continual widespread of home invasions of farmers and other citizens.
In an era where information is easily accessible and knowledge dissemination is no longer a challenge, I do ponder on why these accusations dominate without the correct and verified information being attached. Trumps stance has alerted the world to how inequality and racial profiling co-exist in democratic South Africa. The ideals and purport of democracy are once again redefined and restructured to meet the needs of the South African government that fails to address the number of unjust and inhumane facets that dominate our society. This is the primary reason as to why citizens choose not to participate politically and have often chosen disengagement rather than committed engagement.
The principles of a democracy need to become a compulsory discourse at schools and the concept of racial profiling which has led to entrenched racial and ethnic prejudices need to be fully scrutinized and utilised circumspectly, going forward. These values and principles go against the ideal implementation of a democratic nation.
DAILY NEWS