By: Miranda Weinstein & Gaby Gretz
We’ve
had an amazing, busy, invigorating, educational, and eye-opening first week in
Johannesburg. We did so much in only 168 hours (7 days). We have seen so many
different things, ranging from an art exhibition on hair, speaking to a human
rights advice center, driving around Soweto and seeing the hostels, going to
different history museums, and much more. There were two events that stood out during
our first week, and it is those that we thought we would share with you more so
you could feel as though you were in Johannesburg yourself! The first is the
politics of South Africa.
This year marks the 20th
anniversary of the establishment of the non-discriminatory and equal democratic
country of South Africa and the ending of the apartheid era. One motif that we kept
seeing as we drove around Johannesburg was that while the segregation of the
blacks and whites had ended, there is still a great amount of improvement
in reintegrating the different ethnicities and cultures needed in order to make one cohesive
country. In driving around the city, we have seen that the suburbs are still
inhabited by the white community and the blacks still live in the townships. Another
thing that stood out is the incredibly unequal distribution of wealth between
the people. Since the end of the apartheid government, the income inequality
has increased substantially. The people living in the townships are still being
overlooked and their needs are not being addressed.
When we met with representatives
of the different political parties, both representatives talked about the problem that South Africa is facing and how they plan on fixing it. We talked
to Dale McKinley, a former member of the South African Communist Party, a
representative of the African National Congress (ANC) and the Democratic
Alliance (DA) [1]. When talking with Dale, he kept stressing that South Africa has
a long way to go before it can be considered the great country everyone wants
it to be. He also kept stressing that even though the state of South Africa has
the most socially progressive constitution in place, there is a serious flaw in the implementation of the constitution and the protection that it offers. Women still
face inequality, as do homosexuals, even though the constitution states that all men and
women should be created equally and that you should not be discriminated
against based on your sexual orientation. This lack of implementation is seen
in this economic inequality that many people face.
As Dale stated, even though the
ANC has taken over the government, the inequality has gotten worse, land
redistribution has not really occurred (only 15%), the intelligence and
security forces are beginning to act like the old apartheid state. People are
fed up with what the government is doing (or not doing), but they do not know
where to turn. People either tend to vote for the ANC, or not vote. This is
because they do not want to vote for the opposition party, the DA, because they
are still perceived as the ‘white’ party.
During our meeting with the DA (which
coincidentally happened right after our meeting with Dale), our representative
kept stressing that the DA and the ANC have the same ideas on paper [2]. They both
want the same thing for the country, but they tend to implement it differently.
I think it was interesting to hear the different representatives
talk and give their views on how the political situation is in South Africa,
because without a balanced overview, we would have been very biased against the
government. This being said, there is still a great deal of improvement that
needs to happen in South Africa. There is a large amount of corruption in
government, the income inequality is drastically rising, sanitation, health and
education are often overlooked and the constitution is not followed.
The students after meeting with a representative from the Democratic Alliance. |
The other interesting aspect of our time in Johannesburg was our home stays in Soweto. Soweto stands for South West Township and is a suburb of Johannesburg made up of 34 townships. The
home stay in Soweto was very relaxing. When Nikala and I (Gaby) arrived in front of their home on Friday
evening, we received a warm welcome from our host family. As soon as we sat
down in their living room, our host mother told us that we were part of the
family and that we could come back to stay the next time we were in South
Africa. She then offered us a blanket and some tea and biscuits. It did not
take long for our host brother to cling on to us and invite us to play his
video games.
I
only noticed a few differences while staying with my host family. The one that
was most striking was that our host mother was in the kitchen most of the time
cooking, or doing other chores around the house. From what she told us it
didn’t seem like she had much time to sit and relax during the weekend.
Although our host family had big dining room table, they ate their meals in the
living room in front of their large flat screen television. I noticed that when
mealtime came around, our host father would be served his food on a tray, while
everyone else had to dish up their own food. The first night for dinner, we
were served pap, creamed spinach, gizzards, and chicken feet. Our host mother
suggested that we go to the mall to buy some fried chicken from a restaurant
equivalent to KFC, in case we didn’t like the chicken feet and gizzards. While
we were waiting in line, I noticed how a lot of people were wearing their
slippers. Our host mother told us that it’s common for people to go to the mall
on Friday nights and order take out from fast food restaurants since they want
to take a break from cooking.
On
Saturday, we visited the Johannesburg Zoo, and on Sunday we visited a China
Mall, following a soccer game at FNB stadium, which is were the opening of the
2010 FIFA World Cup was held. Later Sunday evening, we visited parent’s house and her father spoke to us
about what it was like growing up during apartheid. It was very intense
listening to a personal experience and imagining what is like for him. It will
be interesting hearing other people’s stories as well as we move forward this semester.
This blog is the work of our students. To learn more about Center for Global Education programming, visit us at www.centerforglobaleducation.org.
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[1] Dale McKinley, political activist and theorists; Conversation on 20 August 2014, Johannesburg, South Africa.
[2] Representative from the Democratic Alliance; Conversation on 20 August 2014, Johannesburg, South Africa.
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