So, who’s really a ‘settler’ in SA?

And there is certainly merit in those debates. But the elephant in the room of social engineering which is being ignored is that the racial definitions upon which the National Party constructed its separate development edifice are still very much alive and well in the “New South Africa”.

Glen Snyman was never pale enough to call himself “European”, according to the race rule of apartheid; but now, in a democratic, supposedly nonracial South Africa, he is not dark enough to call himself “African”. The “coloured” Western Cape teacher lived the better part of his life through racial classification, was told who he was during apartheid, but it had never occurred to him that he would relive that humiliation in the democratic South Africa.

He called himself “African” on an official form and was charged with fraud… charges which were later dropped. The case is now before the SA Human Rights Commission, which says it wants to investigate the whole race classification issue.

Ostensibly, defining yourself in race terms is necessary to enable “redress” for “previously disadvantaged” people through policies like employment equity and black economic empowerment. In and of itself, that is a worthy objective… but in practice, all it seems to do is reinforce the boundaries and distinctions between South Africans and creates an “us and them” mindset.

The strict interpretation of “African” as only applying to black people is also absurd. People of varying skin colours have been present in our country for hundreds of years, never mind the fact that Africa was the origin of our species, according to science. So, who is really a “settler” and who is not? The more things change…

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