The Neglect of the Children of South Africa

     Today was the trip to Worcestor where we attended a Truth and Reconciliation type hearing. Obviously my recollection of this is a couple of days late as I was too tired after our subsequent Table Mountain visit , but here are some of my best recollections. Our drive down to Worcestor was memorable. Our first stop was the bank where we exchanged our currency. My card initially did not work but Jyler fixed it and we all were soon enroute. Cape Town was such a beautiful city and the streets were architecturally pleasing. Cate Fosl sat right next to our driver, Cipho, and struck a friendly conversation with him. He launched off into how his kids did not listen to him anymore. While these were not his exact words, a conversation with a community-healer, later on in the day, brought out that the apartheid state had followed a deliberate and callous policy of neglect towards the children. This seemed like reprisal against the people of South Africa, but subsequently, during the visit to District-Six museum, I realized that the neglect of the children of South Africa, especially Black and Colored, was an effect, undoubtedly intentional. The apartheid state had deliberately ignored the provision of social services and had precluded the children from being provided with facilities to develop their talents. This seemed similar to what Imperial America had done to the children of Iraq through the genocidal sanctions. The children were conditioned by their historical circumstances to participate in the boycotts and strikes and totally neglected their intellectual development through formal education. This was also raised by Magona’s novel, Mother to Mother. There, Mandisa, the mother of the accused in the trial of the murder of Amy Biehl- an American woman who was murdered by mob violence in South Africa, explained that her son was an outcome of historical and cultural circumstances. This structural system denuded parents of any legitimate power over their children. The state is the primogenitor of certain basic features of development and in its absence children find it extremely difficult to develop their skills and talents. In fact, Cipho was concerned his son had left his job because he was not interested in the job. 
     Anyway, back to our story- we proceeded to the IJR hearings. We stopped briefly enroute to take in the breathtaking views of the Table Mountain. It really seems like Cape Town is the Land of the Mountains. I was introduced to the concept of “community healing” at the hearings. Here was a group of people who had suffered from a massive historical oppression. They had embraced ‘community healing’ to resolve the issues and the issue of discussion on the table today, was the farmer’s strike that was going on in South Africa then. Apparently, all wage laborers had gone on a strike. I did not initially get why laborers would want to go on a strike as they had everything to lose, as they possessed no bargaining power. Subsequently, Dr. Fosl explained it when she said that political parties probably organized the strike and supported the laborers. Anyway, as a result of the strike, a lot of laborers and especially their children had suffered from arbitrary police brutality. One farmer recounted how her son had been shot right in his eye by a police officer. She explained that the police still functioned as though they were under the apartheid state and that was my greatest insight. Despite dismantling the structures of oppression, the instrumentalities of the state behaved like they were under apartheid. Hence, the police’s totally apathy towards the little boy they had injured. I was shocked and surprised to discover that there were no human rights commissions in South Africa, as there was in India! At least in India, this issue would have been addressed, albeit marginally, by the human rights commissions 
     Next we took part in small group discussions where a healer from the IJR conducted a direct dialogue with the farmers and this was the most revealing experience I had ever had. Here we were in a meeting that directly asked the people who had been affected, their views on reconciliation. And the farmers were quite ready with their responses. Some of them had traveled 30 km just to attend the meeting. They thought it was extremely important for them to present their views at the meeting. I was deeply impressed by the meeting which seemed like an anti-confrontational method of resolving the issue. It struck a chord deep down in my heart! 
     We then had an awesome dinner at a place called “High Street Lodge.” It strongly reminded me of a former white stronghold, which had undoubtedly seen pleasant and purely ‘White” evenings. I could almost recall a White father and son having dinner, with a horse carriage parked outside, enroute to their destination in the interior “Free Country.” However, the place was really charming. I will also write about Ivy Dean, another equally charming place a little later. More on the Cape of Good Hope and the Table Mountain tomorrow and the Satygraha against Vasco Da Gama tomorrow.