Martha, like Tsholo and Dre, was someone else who shared some thoughts in the comments section of the ‘What about Bob?’ conversation and i didn’t want her words to be missed so i asked her to expand it into a longer post and here it is:
[I am a young Black South African lady, working in a male dominant industry and studying towards my Bcom Degree. Very much active member of the society and believing in transformation.]
How It All Feels
When I first read Bob’s letter I thought he is actually whining but then again I thought that is the problem with people today, when you raising your thought, opinions is either you are an idiot, racist, illiterate or you are just too lazy. What I am about to write might upset few people but then again I know there are certain people who are going to understand my thoughts and please note this is what I AM thinking and feeling, what is familiar with me.
South Africa today is still the same as South Africa long time ago, the difference is that things are not done publicly like before instead it is all in the shadows, take note of the few points below:
1. Majority of them ‘’think they are helping us by giving us jobs’’ true that but just because you are black you should earn less than your white colleague who does the same job as you. (white privilege)
2. Where is the respect as fellow humans, every time I go into a salon dominated by white folks, I get those looks, I might interpret them in my own way ‘’Can she afford it? Is she here to rob us?’’ those are the kind of faces I get and every time it makes me wonder should I somaar leave or stay and hold my head up mos I am here to do my business. The at the corner we have old tannies whispering and holding their purses too tight, is this how we need to behave towards each other?
3. Some people rather drive to North gate Mall where as the have Westgate mall just 5 mins away, I have this chat with all my friends(black & white), fellow white South Africans believe some black people love to live like animals, but then correct me if I am wrong, all races we all have people who are rather ‘’out of their lanes’’ as I may call it. Not all black people are bad as much as not all white people are bad.
4. On several occasions I have witnessed black brothers and sisters treated so unhuman but as a citizen I am allowed to call to order such behaviours. They are being shouted at, called names, working without lunch, some of them have more 10 years experience though they are being lead by a fresh graduate form school who from my thinking and his actions he was taught he is more superior than his fellow human beings, what do we call that? Is this the rainbow nation we always telling people about, then you wonder why black people have unions and they are striking
5. On the striking matter, please correct me and make me aware as I am still learning and I am very much open to criticism, not a lot of white people engage in striking, is it because they are privileged? In a sense that most things they need, they have them?
6. South Africa introduce some BBBEE, is it working to benefit black people I don’t think so, white people still finds a way to open businesses with names familiar to black population…I know white people need to make a living and most of them got some nice lekker R50 000 SAVED some where…can they please live in a location, or a rural area just a month to see what black people really go through daily because of the apartheid that insisted black people to have limited resources.
7. Our black brothers also are not helping this whole situation by being corrupt,To be honest these days we are living for the sake of we have been granted lifes, other than that we have no spirit of fighting and being together, I know some people need us to be equal but how? How do we move on from this time?
8. I believe the is a bunch out there who believes we shall have peace in South Africa, but when? My white friend cannot walk in Ekasi without being exposed to some idiots who think the world belongs to them, I cannot walk in the suburbs without being stopped by the blockwatchers and searching me, how do we move on?
9. Fact is majority of black people are suffering and the minority of white people are suffering, I have concluded but not yet given up, we will never reach common ground with our modern mentality…as much as we are going to dispute this whole race issue, it’s a very long journey of finding the common human behaviors of how we relate. I have not forgotten we have other races in our country, I read about their ordeals and I am familiar with them.
Above are just few things, I actually could write 20 pages about my experience, but I believe in hearing other people’s thoughts.
[…] Martha Mmebe weighs in with how a lot of this conversation makes her feel as a black woman […]
Thanks so much for sharing this, Martha. It was really powerful.
I want to say thanks too.
Dear Martha,
As a young successful black man in South Africa, I have a bone to pick here. You see I have many white friends and I find this type of thinking to be counter nation building. Look at the arguments from white people and see their side as well. I write this not against you, but just so you can see from the other side as well.
Is Apartheid dead or did South Africa just switched drivers…
Would black people object if there was a WHITES ONLY counterpart for each of these organisations…..or would that be racism?
Black Business Chamber
Black Association of Travel Agents
Black Business Council
Association for the Advancement of Black Accountants of Southern Africa (ABASA)
Association of Black Securities and Investment Professionals (ABSIP)
Black Business Executive Circle (BBEC)
Black Conveyancers Association (BCA)
Black Information Technology Forum (BITF)
Black Lawyers Association (BLA)
Black Management Forum (BMF)
National Black Business Caucus (NBBC)
South African Black Technical and Allied Careers Organisation (SABTACO)
South African Institute of Black Property Practitioners (SAIBPP)
South African Black Entrepreneurs Forum (SABEF)
I am gobsmacked!
How dare I mention “race” when telling the world about the FACT that 7 WHITE women were raped, tortured and murdered by BLACK men in the very same period that 7 foreigners were murdered by BLACK South Africans.We shouldn’t see race, you say.
Stating the race of the victims and the perpetrators is what is wrong with this country, you say.
Colour of skin shouldn’t matter in South Africa anymore, you say. Most women in South Africa are killed by their intimate partners, you say. People from all races in this country are being murdered, you say. The violent Apartheid regime is to blame, you say. Whites deserve what they are getting, you say…and many, many more statements of utter disgust at the fact that I dare mention race.
Forgive me if I do not agree with you on this. Here is why. We live in South Africa. A country with more race based laws than any other country in the world and more than ever in the history of this country. So it is okay to see Ethnic groups and call it Xenophobia. We can see sexual orientation and call in Homophobia. We can see relationship status and call it Femicide. White people involved in any conflict against a black person of any kind can be called racist. We can see colour when people are appointed in jobs. Broad Based Black Economic Empowerment is fine.
Quotas are fine. Employment Equity is fine. Seeing race when allowing students into university is fine. Having a Black Business Association is fine. Having a Black Consciousness Movement is fine. Calling out White Privilege is fine. …but whatever we do, we must PLEASE not see colour when white people are murdered!!! Still blaming Apartheid and even Jan van Riebeeck is the most pathetic excuse for these murders ever!
So 16, 17, 18, 19, 20 and 21 year old rapists and murderers were born this way? Due to something you perceived happened to your grandfathers? Seriously? More people are murdered in this country in ONE YEAR at the moment that during the entire period of Apartheid. So what are you saying? That future generations, because of the fact that they are growing up in this violent society, are going to be even more violent than the people living here now? If that is your reasoning, then God help us!
In that case the Afrikaner-Boer people should have been the most violent, criminal nation on earth after what happened to them during the Anglo-Boer Wars, but guess what… They’re not.
The murder rate for all South Africans is 38/100 000. The murder rate for white farmers is 120/100 000. There is a massive difference. Why should we keep quiet about that when this group of white people in THIS country happens to be the “most murdered group” in the WORLD!
In 2008, 62 foreigners were killed in South Africa in what was called Xenophobic murders. In that very same year 235 white South Africans were murdered by black attackers and no one seems to think it is a problem. And this is the case EVERY year for white South Africans for more than 20 years now.
As long as this government chooses to see race and make race based laws, race WILL matter.
As long as the president of this country blames all the ills of this country on white South Africans
and their ancestors rather than take responsibility for the complete failure of this government, race WILL matter.
As long as people like Julius Malema is allowed to spew his hatred against whites from public platform, openly advocating for the destruction of white culture and the killing of white people, calling them Settlers, Colonialists and thieves, race WILL matter.
It is true that most women in this country are murdered by their intimate partners… that is, for ALL races in this country EXCEPT white South African women. The only time we are not allowed to mention colour or race in this country is when it comes to black crime. White crime, no problem… A white dude swearing at a black women is a racist, but a black man raping, torturing and killing a white woman is just a criminal. If these arguments had any merit, there should be NO reports about Xenophobic murders, Femicide or Homophobic murders. Fact is, there are. Telling me to shut up about the race of the victims and the race of the perpetrators is utterly ridiculous. It is what it is and keeping quiet about it because some liberal, politically correct individuals don’t like facing the facts, is not going to change anything.
You cannot address a problem until you are willing to admit that there is one… and there IS one! It is called White Genocide or, if you prefer, ethnic cleansing and it is happening. Here, in THIS country RIGHT NOW!
We cannot pass blame onto apartheid or whites. We must take accountability for our own actions. We must not perpetuate the view that blacks are criminals.
Peter
Thank you for your response, as I was reading your post, there were some parts I think adds to another discussion that we need to have in this country, and I believe your response in some parts agrees with what I wrote…what I am simply saying is why should race matter, why cant we all live in harmony as humans. Our skin Colour should not be the base of our livelihood, even though as some might say its just a fantasy, the reason why we are discussing race, apartheid, etc its because we all want to understand and move forward together, and hope you read that I am not blaming apartheid or every white person out there, I am fully aware white people experience more or less the same problems we facing.
as much as white people are racist so as black people, and I have seen and experienced it.
You are right Martha, i think the hope is we will move to a place of being post-racial where it matters less and more and more we just see people. And get to know them. And get involved in each others lives. In the best of ways.
True that…even though I felt like pointing out few things to Peter, but then I thought I will wait until he realises the are reasons behind the whole white genocide and frankly that is not the only problem, this country has lot of problems, I don’t want to make a certain race superior to the others that is why I am asking why should race matter, what happened to seeing each other as humans. After all we cannot change the past, our duty is to make sure the coming generation does not even see race nor live like we are now.
I have been looking for some post I read a while ago, Please read Nkosivumile Gola’s Post, you will learn one or two things…dated 21 October 2014, ”first steps towards a really new South Africa” .
This one: https://brettfish.wordpress.com/2014/10/21/first-steps-towards-a-really-new-south-africa-a-guest-post-by-nkosi-gola/