Is there a South African identity?

I have been following the brouhaha over the proposed schools’ pledge with great interest and it has made me question whether there is such a thing as a South African identity or a South African nation.

Most of the supposed outrage over the pledge comes predictably from white South Africans who have said things like: “I am not going to allow my child to say this pledge while there are so many crooks in power” or “I am not going to pledge allegiance to corrupt politicians”.

Now, I am not a fan of the pledge. I think it is too long and convoluted. But I understand the intentions behind it and I support those wholeheartedly. I also understand, like the Minister of Arts and Culture Dr Pallo Jordan pointed out a media briefing at Parliament this week, that the words to the proposed pledge come from the Constitution.

Yes, those same words that have caused the outcry, about “the injustices of the past” come from our Constitution that has been proclaimed as one of the most progressive in the world. So white South Africans who have a problem with the wording of the pledge have a problem with the Constitution.

It is important to point out too that the pledge is not to politicians individually or collectively but to the country and its Constitution. Surely that cannot be bad: the Americans have been doing it for years.

But back to the South African identity issue. It seems like every time black people talk about the injustices of the past, white people get upset. It seems that they do not want to be reminded of the injustices of the past.

Yet we cannot get away from these injustices because in many ways, they are still with us today. We have a skewed economy — where most poor people are black and most rich people are white — because of the injustices of the past. We have sprawling dormitory townships where there is little else for people to do but sleep because of the injustices of the past.

We have a huge unemployment rate and a skills shortage in certain areas because of the injustices of the past.

The only way we will be able to deal with these problems is if we recognise them.

It sometimes seems to me that many white South Africans wanted us to become a so-called rainbow nation overnight -– after more than 300 years of colonialism and other forms of oppression and more than 50 years of apartheid — without dealing with the effects of these years of colonialism and apartheid.

It also seems that many white people feel guilty whenever black people speak about the injustices of the past. They seem to think that black people are pointing fingers at them directly.

I don’t think that that is the intention of black people when we harp on about the injustices of the past. It is not meant to point fingers or apportion blame on anyone. It is meant as a way of looking for the root of many of the problems in our society so that we can deal with them

Of course, not all our problems are rooted in this unjust past. There are many problems that have their roots in democratic South Africa and I would be the first to acknowledge this. But it seems that many white South Africans are quick to pounce on the “new” problems while wanting to wish away the problems that have a long history.

I believe the way to deal with this is to acknowledge where we come from and agree on what we need to do — as South Africans — to move forward.

We all have a stake in the success of this country. I do not intend to move to any other country and I am sure that the vast majority of South Africans also have no intention of emigrating.

Those of who have decided to stay owe it to future generations to sort out the many problems we have, but it needs to start with an acknowledgement of where many of these problems come from.

Failure to do so will mean we will continue to have tension between whites and blacks and we will then probably never be able to become one South African nation. That would be a pity.