Racism colours the ANC’s thinking

There’s been an elephant in the ANC room for a long time and it has been pointed out publicly now by “top six” member Jessie Duarte.

The issue is racism within the organisation – the sort of racism which tends to be papered over by black nationalist sentiment. This is expressed against non-Africans within its ranks. And the fact that Duarte – who is coloured – pointed it out, is noteworthy because, even at her elevated position with the ANC, she is well aware of it.

That attitude against non-Africans – both in the ANC and broader society – showed itself clearly recently in attacks on Public Enterprises Minister Pravin Gordhan as he tries to clean up the mess in parastatal companies.

“The marginalisation of non-Africans is a challenge in the ANC,” Duarte said over the weekend.

She said coloured people tended to be marginalised by the government when it comes to service delivery because there is a belief that they benefitted from apartheid. Duarte summed up the attitude towards coloureds within the ANC by quoting a senior comrade of hers as saying “coloured people had been eating for a long time under apartheid, now is the time for black Africans to eat”.

“We cannot deny that the Africans are the majority, but there is a deliberate move to exclude people who are black but non-African within the ANC,” she said.

Those are startling admissions from a senior party member and indicate that the ANC’s much-vaunted policy of nonracialism is dying on its feet.

For members of the coloured and Indian communities, there is a reason to feel aggrieved: they were not white enough under apartheid, they are not black enough under the ANC in a “liberated” South Africa.

The ANC cannot claim the moral high ground if it clings to the race distinctions of the past.

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