Race relations in South Africa: who is African?

I was talking to a colored lady in a cafe in Cape town the other day. She was really laid back, as you would expect from a proper Capetonian. After some small talk she told me that she had German and Khoi-San (the indigenous population of the cape region) blood running through her veins. Her boss, also colored, on the other hand, had Indonesian and German ancestors.

Origin matters.

In the South Africa of today this is truer than in other countries. One could rephrase this statement: the color of your skin matters. Of course, this is a truism in a country which has experienced slavery, aphartheid and despicable discrimination against so called “non-whites”. However, the “rain bow nation” has not materialized as Nelson Mandela has wished and the fighters for freedom and equality have turned their 101 year old movement, the ANC into a corrupt nexus between big black business and politics. “Non-blacks” have rarely a chance to shape the policy of South Africa, even though white South Africans are still influential owners of South Africa`s most prosperous businesses and try to bargain behind the political stage.

The ANC has no absolute majority to change South Africa’s constitution, the most advanced constitution of Africa, and the Democratic Alliance with Zille as well as the first “black” opposition party do offer the first real alternative for a decade. Yet, the ANC has the sovereignty of interpretation about one of the most important resources of legitimacy in South Africa: “Africaness”. 

Whereas it was formally understood that South Africa is a rainbow nation, this consensus is slowly disappearing. Nowadays Africaness is often equated with blackness. This interpretation is politically motivated and can be traced back to decolonialization and freedom struggles all over Africa. Thus, black Africans are perceived as the indigenous inhabitants of the continent. However, this is not only wrong in North Africa but also in South Africa. 

Migration has defined the better part of the human history and there are scientists who want to rename the human species from homo homo sapiens to “homo migrans”. South Africa’s indigenous inhabitants have lived in South Africa for 10000 years as hunters and gatherers. But the Dutch settlers which came with the Dutch East India Company (VOC) were not the only migrants who contested the Sans (the politically correct word for the indigenous population in South Africa, even though this is today the politically correct term they prefer the Dutch name for them: Bosjesman/Buschmänner) territory. In addition to that Bantu tribes took their land and fought against them. As the San were reluctant servants the Dutch settlers brought Indian and Malayian slaves from their colonies to get a sufficiently sized workforce. As there was also a lack of Dutch ladies at the beginning the settlers “intermingled” with their slaves and the indigenous population, that is to say they raped them or used them as sexual objects. This lead to a blend of races and cultures which can still be seen in the Cape region today. 

The English interference in South Africa and the Boer wars let to a distinct AfriKan identity and the white AfriKans speaking population began to think of themselves as “Afri(k/c)an”. All identities are somehow crafted and shaped by distinction and difference. In South Africa there is no encompassing trait which links all of its inhabitants, they are rather linked by animosities, hatred and war against each other. This is not only the case for Boers, the English and “non-whites” but also for the Zulu Kingdom under Shaka Zulu, the Xhosa, the Khoi Khoi and last but not least the San. All of these tribes have fought against each other and one point in South Africa’s history. 

Thus, the question of identity has become one of the most important questions for the nation that was born in 1994. There is no easy solution to the problem and endemic crime such as distrust has continued to worsen the race relations in South Africa. 

Yesterday I was surprised to meet a white and black South African in a bar in Cape Town. We had just seen a football game of the Bafana Bafana (South Africa’s national team) against Norway and that was my first time to see the full South African variety sitting to each other, even though they were not really talking to each other. We were talking about the game. The Boer was constantly pulling the Xhosa’s leg as he made jokes about him stealing my wallet. The Xhosa was not amused and neither was I as his remarks were full of stereotypes and bitter prejudice. Real friendship between the races is rare in South Africa and everyone is full of prejudice. 

The colored are in-between: neither are they black, nor are they white. In the Apartheid regime they were classified as non-whites, but not as badly treated as blacks. Today they are not seen as “real Africans” by the black majority because their ancestors were black AND white. Their behavior is also a combination of these two. Even though it might not help them entirely out of their existential dilemma they should recall that they are part of a species called “homo migrans”, they are quintessentially South African as they are a genetic and cultural blend of all of South Africa’s ingredients and anyone can relate to them as they are not one or another but everything that defines the South Africa of today.