To stay or leave – a South African dilemma
Amid the breaking news of the Gulf of Mexico oil spill and the new British cabinet, the Globe and Mail has been featuring coverage of Africa and its problems. The paper brought in rock and rollers Bono andf Bob Geldorf, well-known for demanding more Western aid for the developing nations, as special editors.
It’s been a clever public relations ploy and has resulted in many informative stories about the dilemma Canada and other countries face in trying to assist nations ruled by repressive and corrupt governments.
I found especially interesting the Globe’s report on the unavailability of abortion in Africa. At a time when rapid population growth is one of the continent’s main problems, only South Africa allows legal, safe abortion.
This sad fact adds yet another dimension to Canada’s insistence that the global maternal health program proposed by the Harper government go forward without funding for abortion.
I’ve been reading a troubling book that reveals the depth of the social divide between whites and blacks that still grips South Africa.
In Ways of Staying (Portobello Books) journalist Kevin Bloom deals with the struggle of white South Africans over whether to stick with their homeland — despite its rampant crime and insecurity — or to choose to leave for a safer place.
I heard Bloom speak at an author’s gathering a few weeks ago. I was struck by his intensity and commitment.
Reading his book, which he wrote after his cousin and a friend were murdered in an indiscriminate attack by two black men, reminded me that life in a gated ghetto can never be an acceptable alternative to the satisfactions of a peaceable community.
Bloom writes candidly of his Jewish family, seemingly safe in their oak-shaded Johannesburg suburb of Melrose, protected by garden walls, locked gates and padlocked doors. Their belief in their security is only an illusion.
Bloom begins the book by taking us to Fort Mistake at Isandlwana, scene of the horrendous battle between British troops and Zulu warriors in 1879, since commemorated in books and films. In an earlier battle in 1838, 470 Afrikaners had killed 3,000 Zulus at the battle of Blood River. The day was remembered by Afrikaners as the Day of the Covenant, since amended by Nelson Mandela to Day of Reconciliation.
Bloom takes us through the machinations of the African National Congress, Mandela’s liberation movement, and the seizure of power by the current president, Jacob Zuma. A survivor of court battles — having prevailed over charges of rape and corruption — Zuma asserted not long ago that he protected himself against AIDs by showering afer sexual intercourse with a womanwith HIV. A polygamist with several wives, he’s also fathered at least one child with a woman not his wife.
I would like to have seen more in the Globe and Mail about the peculiar problems of African culture.
Bloom sadly recounts how his aunt and uncle accepted a plea bargain to allow the killers of his cousin off with a 27-year jail term. That’s longer than most Canadian murderers will serve. But it underscores the legacy left by more than a century of white colonialism.
In the end, Bloom seems steadfast in his determination to stay in his native land, whatever its problems. And despite the question he asks:
Are we not now uniformly afraid, for the first time with uniformly good reason, that our blood-splattered history will overtake us and swallow us all whole?
Africa’s century? Hardly.
