{"id":1387,"date":"2010-03-14T22:00:18","date_gmt":"2010-03-14T20:00:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.jozikids.co.za\/zaparents-blog\/?p=1387"},"modified":"2022-06-08T22:47:14","modified_gmt":"2022-06-08T20:47:14","slug":"however-imperfect-for-most-life-is-better","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.jozikids.co.za\/blog\/lifestyle\/childrens-rights\/however-imperfect-for-most-life-is-better\/","title":{"rendered":"However imperfect, for most, life is better."},"content":{"rendered":"

Sitting outside the Hotel School, I \u00a0watched the kids trickling out\u2026 White, Black, Coloured, Indian, Chinese \u2026all smiling,\u00a0 chatting, \u00a0joking and hugging.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd your point?\u201d, \u00a0you might be saying?<\/h2>\n

What \u00a0really struck me about this scene was that these kids are colour blind \u2013 they are just students pursuing a common goal! And, this makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside. These kids don\u2019t know how lucky they are to be growing up in an integrated, free society, as opposed to the abnormal, sinister society in which my generation was raised.<\/p>\n

As Human Rights Day approaches, I wonder whether people just see March 21 as a day to remember the old Chevrolet ad \u201cBraaivleis, Rugby, Sunny Skies and Chevrolet\u201d, or whether they stop to think of the horrors of Sharpeville, The Soweto Riots, and the appalling human rights abuses that led to South Africa\u2019s economic isolation, sport and entertainment boycotts, rolling mass action \u00a0and countless deaths in exile and detention.<\/p>\n

I think back to a scene in the movie \u201cSarafina\u201d, depicting the sharp contrast between an idyllic Parktown garden full of happy white kids, celebrating the \u201cMadam\u2019s\u201d child\u2019s birthday, laughing and shrieking as they bounced up and down on a jumping castle, while the \u201cmaid\u2019s\u201d black daughter looked on, remembering \u00a0the horrific ordeal she had just been through, at the hands of the SAP.<\/p>\n

I think back to my childhood when my mom employed an amazing black lady who had a \u201cPeri- Urban pass\u201d which didn\u2019t allow her to live or work in Johannesburg.\u00a0 How absurd is that?\u00a0 Whenever we got word that the police would be raiding in our area,\u00a0 Anna would sleep inside the house.\u00a0 But, we would still spend the night in a state of panic, in case we were raided and they found her.<\/p>\n

I also think back to the years I spent at Wits. I was appalled that only Whites students were permitted to study there\u00a0 and joined the picketers, protesting against Detention without Trial, Harsh Pass Laws, and the horrors of Vlakplaas and a host of other human rights abuses.<\/p>\n

Inferior education and poorly paid menial jobs for black people were the order of the day.\u00a0 Black families were split up by the migrant labour system, and black people were forced to live in appalling conditions (both of which will take a long time to rectify) Protesting and striking were banned, shops were prohibited from opening on Sundays, \u201cCommunist literature\u201d and \u201cimmoral movies\u201d were banned.\u00a0 People were arrested and tortured for not carrying their ID with them, detained for no reason and murdered for standing up for what they believed in!<\/p>\n

Suffice it to say those were dark and sinister times for the majority of South Africans, so this March 21st, let\u2019s all remind our kids how lucky they are to be living in post- Apartheid South Africa.\u00a0 Our fledgling democracy may be far from perfect, but it\u2019s a huge improvement on the OLD South Africa!<\/p>\n

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