IN THE 1980s I had an opportunity to study at Harvard in the US. Having studied only at an ethnic college for Indians, at Salisbury Island in Durban, I chose the history of South Africa as one of my first semester courses. My colleagues were amused. Why come all the way to a foreign country to learn your own history?
A fair question, I suppose, for a foreigner, but what they didn’t understand was that the history shoved down my throat at school was propaganda.
White heroes like Jan van Riebeeck, Simon van der Stel and Theophilus Shepstone were glorified in our textbooks while leaders such as King Shaka, Pixley ka Isaka Seme, Chief Albert Luthuli and Mahatma Gandhi were airbrushed out.
So, studying African history under Leroy Vail at Harvard helped fill a critical gap in my understanding. Which probably explains why I was in such a huff when Western Cape Premier Helen Zille tried to tell South Africans colonialism wasn’t all that bad. After all, colonialism did deliver positive things like “our independent judiciary, transport infrastructure, piped water, etc”.
Sorry, Ms Zille, but that’s just whitewashing an evil system that enslaved millions over decades. She subsequently apologised for her remarks, but the damage was done.
This week, another attempt was made to dilute the evil, damaging effects of racism in our country when AfriForum chief executive Kallie Kriel declared apartheid was not a crime against humanity.
His reasoning is that under apartheid, “there was not a mass killing of people”.
According to Kriel’s arithmetic, only 700 people were killed by the apartheid government security forces. This, by his warped thinking, disqualifies apartheid as a crime against humanity.
For a start, as a beneficiary of apartheid, whether directly or otherwise, Kriel should be wary about passing judgment on the damaging effects of apartheid.
Besides, Kriel’s thumb-sucked body count of 700 ignores the fact that thousands lost their lives from racial prejudice and discrimination, widespread poverty and mal- nutrition and state-sponsored violence. He cannot be allowed to rewrite our country’s history to salve his own conscience.