Segregation and poverty still a fact of life for many in post-apartheid South Africa
Many of their classes are still segregated, not by race, but by language. The white students attend classes taught in Afrikaans, their mother tongue, while the black students, who speak a variety of different languages and dialects, are taught in English. All the teachers are white and they can’t teach or answer questions about black African culture. The team sports offered by the school are field hockey, rugby and cricket — sports black South Africans don’t like to play.
Wealth from diamonds is apparent in the lush gardens, lovely homes and chic restaurants on the town’s main street. But most of the area’s blacks live in the surrounding townships. That doesn’t mean they are unfamiliar with the mine. Many of their relatives, through the generations, have worked underground there.
South Africa has more than 10 million jobless people and half of them are between the ages of 15 and 24. Some estimates put the unemployment rate among township youth at 57 per cent. The South African Reconciliation Barometer, a survey of racial and social attitudes, consistently finds a deeply divided nation.
Less than 40 per cent of South Africans socialize with people of another race, while only 22 per cent of white South Africans and a fifth of black South Africans live in racially integrated neighbourhoods. Just 11 per cent of white children go to integrated schools, and 15 per cent of black children.
A report released last month by South Africa’s Statistician General found huge differences between the lives of black and white South African children. The report found that:
• 94 per cent of white children have access to piped water in their home, whereas only 27 per cent of black children do.
• Only 40.2 per cent of black infants live in a home with a flush toilet, a convenience enjoyed by almost all their white and Indian counterparts.