White people have much to learn from Eugene de Kock

By Natasha Skoryk

In the past few days, Eugene de Kock’s presence at the Franschhoek Literary Festival caused a popular furore. “He had no right to be there,” people have insisted, “He should have known better.”

I understand what black South Africans mean when they say this. I can only imagine the unspeakable pain of seeing De Kock out in public. I understand that a man who was responsible for upholding white supremacy, who was responsible for unspeakable atrocities in the name of the apartheid government, inflicts psychological violence on people of colour with his mere presence. That pain is wholly justified and all expressions of it are valid. But coming from the mouths of white people, voicing dismay at De Kock’s actions sounds hollow. Sure, De Kock had no right to be there – but did you? Do you?

When De Kock was told that he was making other festivalgoers uncomfortable, he left immediately. He did not try to justify his continued presence. He did the right thing and walked out. That is far more than most white South Africans have been willing to do.

Matthew Theunissen, of the K-word scandal on social media, recently insisted he wasn’t racist because, well, he has black friends. People have risen loudly to Judge Mabel Jansen’s defence, insisting that she cannot be racist because she speaks isiZulu and raised a black daughter. Black-only spaces, such as student movement meetings and the series of #ForBlackGirlsOnly events, have been met with (white) cries of racism and discrimination.

When these white people have been told they are making black people uncomfortable, that their presence is harmful, that their voices and opinions are hurtful, they have chosen to defend themselves rather than walk away, and their decisions have been backed forcefully by legions of supporters.

To a degree, I understand this overwhelming desire to prove that you are not racist or complicit in racism. After all, we have been told that being “racist” is just about the worst thing anyone can be. If you are “racist”, the logic goes, you may as well be Eugene de Kock, Prime Evil himself. Of course you would do your best to prevent that. So the racism denials fly. The insistence that somehow your words were twisted, misunderstood, or misrepresented. But such insistences are empty and foolish. They are just words, and worse still, they are unnecessary. They contribute nothing new to the conversation – we’ve heard all manner of racism denial before, dating back to speeches by apartheid’s leaders.

Instead of trying to prove that somehow we are different to De Kock, I wish that, as white people, we would push aside our pride and our pervasive insistences that we are good at heart, and learn from him. De Kock has served his time in prison. He has been consistently repentant. He has co-operated with law enforcement and helped many families find closure. He has tried to atone. He will never achieve total atonement, obviously. I do not believe he thinks he will. De Kock committed heinous crimes, and that should not be taken lightly. Again, I do not believe he takes them lightly. I do not think he should ever be forgiven and I’m not sure he forgives himself.

The average white person has not committed such crimes. Ultimately, though, De Kock was little more than a foot soldier for the apartheid government. He executed orders from above. He maintained a system that he did not create. Didn’t the rest of us white people in South Africa, maintain that system too? Don’t we continue to maintain that system in our white suburbs, as we give benevolent handouts to the domestic worker and send our children to predominantly white schools? Doesn’t Judge Jansen maintain that system when she claims rape is an integral part of “black culture” and foreign to white culture? Doesn’t Theunissen maintain that system when he unthinkingly uses racial slurs? Doesn’t every single person who gets “outraged” when black women (the most oppressed members of our society) demand a space for themselves for an afternoon?

Middle-class dinner parties often feature at least one white person claiming they “pay their taxes” and that is why they are angry about corruption scandals, or the present state of South Africa at large. So riddle me this: did you not pay your taxes to the apartheid government? And if you were too young, didn’t your family? Well, then, you and/or your family paid De Kock’s salary. You are, by all intents and purposes, as complicit in the apartheid government’s doings as he is. And when you get told that you are making people uncomfortable, that your presence is unwanted, that your opinions and actions are hurtful: I wish you would be willing to consider the reasons for this, and then do as De Kock: smile politely and walk away.

Natasha Skoryk is currently completing her honours in English Studies at the University of Cape Town.