Apartheid legacy threatens reconstruction

By Yuli Ismartono

JOHANNESBURG (JP): South Africa is beginning a new era in which its racist policy of apartheid has finally been relegated to the annals of history.

For the first time in South Africa, non-white citizens are exercising their right to vote. This week, they elect a government of their choice to be led, in all likelihood, by the African National Congress (ANC) president Nelson Mandela, who spent 27 years in jail for his struggle to free black and colored South Africans from a segregationist white minority rule.

Amid the euphoria, however, the legacy of apartheid threatens efforts at reconciliation and reconstruction. Excluded from the system, the African people have always fought against it, sometimes peacefully, other times violently.

Now that they will be part of the system, can they change and adapt? "For so long we used pressure tactics to get our way. This is apparent in our political as well as economic lives," said Eugene Nyati, director of the Center for African Studies in Johannesburg.

And therein lies the problem for the new South Africa. Although laws and policies can be changed overnight, decades-old traditions die hard. Long before `separate development,' as was referred to by the old regime, became institutionalized in 1948, acts of resistance were the people's main weapon against the authorities.

Over the years, black South Africans became well-unionized, using strikes, "stay-away's" and boycotts to maximum effect.

But as the new government of national unity takes over next week and begins an ambitious reconstruction and development program costing Rand 39 billion (US$ 11 billion), protest actions are the last thing it needs. The ANC plans to give priority to alleviating the poverty and deprivation suffered by the majority of the country's 23 million Africans under apartheid.

Firstly, it wants to provide housing for seven million people living in squatter settlements, free primary school education and jobs for the unemployed, who comprise 66 percent of the black population.

But economists at the University of South Africa's Bureau of Market Research say that goal will be hard to achieve. It calculates that in order to absorb the annual labor force growth rate of 2.8 percent alone, the economy needs a sustainable yearly growth rate of nine percent.

Most economists are looking at two to four percent of real annual GDP growth over the next two to three years, a marked improvement over the 1990-92 period, which saw a 12 percent decline in per capita GDP. The ANC says it is hopeful of getting massive doses of foreign aid as well as an infusion of much needed foreign investment and capital to bolster sagging local investment and businesses.

Foreign investors, however, are unlikely to rush into the instability and violence, since protest actions are still rampant. Unquestionably, the biggest challenge ahead is how to transform the people's freedom-fighting spirit into one of peaceful coexistence and cooperation.

"Our people ... who should now be addressing the problems of the country and preparing to govern, still think in terms of resistance," said Mandela. He went on to acknowledge the great difficulties of changing old traditions in a recent interview with a local newspaper.

It will not be easy, given the strong presence of unions in South Africa. Despite the low education levels, the number of people joining unions are high, compared with those in many developing countries.

At the end of 1992, there were 194 registered trade unions with a total membership of 2.9 million. The largest trade union in the country is the Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU), with 14 affiliate trade unions, including the two biggest, the National Union of Metalworkers and the National Union of Mineworkers.

Understandably, the ANC lobbied hard for COSATU's cooperation to put a lid on potential strikes, at least in the run-up towards the elections. Hopefully this will also extend through the formative years of South Africa's first multi-racial government. COSATU's general-secretary Sam Shilowa was not averse to halting strikes, but disagreed to the government's call for a moratorium.

"We don't want to encourage anything that could sabotage the dawn of democracy. We are willing to accept our responsibilities, and hope others will do the same," Shilowa told some journalists.

The problem in South Africa is that strikes and boycotts are breeding grounds for violence. And ironically, the level of violence has increased dramatically during the period after Nelson Mandela's release in 1991 and the end of apartheid.

According to the South African Institute of Race Relations, the yearly number of deaths due to political violence during the 1992-93 period was almost double the figures before 1990. It recorded 4,139 deaths since the election date was announced in July 1993.

According to the Human Rights Commission, the worse cases occurred in the current period, directly preceding the elections. A total of 552 people have died in politically related violence last month. The number of injuries more than tripled, from 302 in February to 1,053 last month.

Also, some 645 political arrests were made in March, the highest number in the past 18 months. Sadly, when chaos and confusion prevail, as often the case during a transition period, the line between political and economic violence sometimes becomes blurred.

White farmers in remote areas became victims of black extremists cries of "one bullet per Boer". In turn, black workers were summarily executed as they left their townships for their jobs in the city.

"Structural violence was built into our laws. Just look at our policy of forced removal segregation. Intolerance was legalized, so now that we can compete freely, it's difficult for people to behave properly," said Wilhelm Verwoerd, a philosophy professor at Stellenbocsh University in the Western Cape province.

Although a grandson of the late Prime Minister Henrik Verwoerd, one of the architects of apartheid, Verwoerd has disclaimed his political heritage and joined the ANC.

Analysts seem to agree that endemic violence is the biggest problem in South Africa today. But, they say, where there is a political will, there is a way.

For starters, the government can restrict the purchase of firearms. In 1992, the South African Police seized 7,000 illegal firearms, including Ak-47 automatic rifles, and 25 arms caches. Half of them were obtained by paying Rand 6,000 (US$ 1,715) for each firearm surrendered.

In March 1993, President F.W. de Klerk proposed to Parliament a 10-point plan aimed at combating violence and crime. However, this plan will end up costing Rand 10 million and will require the activation of some 22,500 army reservists to reinforce the already active law and order personnel.

But lasting stability can only be achieved if the problem of poverty is quickly addressed. Since programs to eradicate poverty need stability in order to succeed, South Africa may be caught in a catch-22.

Can the new, democratically elected government in South Africa break this cycle of poverty and violence?

Nelson Mandela, feels that the problem is not an impossible one, although it may take time.

"We are entering a very exciting period and our spirits are high. My feeling is one of hope," he said.

The writer is a correspondent of Tempo magazine, currently covering the historical elections in South Africa.