From Johannesburg : 1981/1982

From Johannesburg

Dear Mum, it is unusual to see such an optimistic apolitical article in an Australian newspaper. It ignores a lot and says nothing about the people or politics. Soweto is completely separate from Joberg. There are several man arterial roads and a buffer of gum trees. It’s very easy to isolate the place and a couple of weeks ago this was done as the army searched every car leaving the town resulting in traffic jams.

                The place is a cross between 1^st and 3^rd world and very few whites go there and the whites know nothing about blacks and this ignorance leads to fear and racism.  There is an absolute and complete lack of communication and understanding between blacks and whites.

                From what I know Black Consciousness and pride peaked in 1977 with the death of Steve Biko. Since then it has waned. This is concomitant with an increased building activity. New schools, police stations and houses. This half-hearted reform is the most dangerous of all. It builds up the people’s hopes  that change is going to occur. The place is a paradox. One nurse tells you how since the riots of 1976 they have achieved a lot and it was worth it. Another will say that “one day we will get revenge on these people who shot us down like flies and that nothing ever changes”. A lot of bitterness.

                The city is not a city in the classic sense. No social stratification as homes are allotted randomly according to tribes. All homes are rented which leads to a sense of transitoriness, neglect and is a major grievance of the blacks.   Soweto breaks all the geographic rules and principals that are used when planning a city.

                No factories or places of employment. No central meeting places. No gardens etc. Just row after row of houses with dirt roads and occasional schools and police stations. The blacks do all their shopping in Johannesburg mainly because it’s cheaper. 20% of homes have electricity. The rest use paraffin and coal.  Most have no running water in the house. There is an aver of 10/15 person/house and most houses are two or four very small rooms. One of the nurses boards in a house. Her husband and ten kids sleep, live, eat in the one room. Some of the blacks are very rich. Because they have to live in a township and pay rent of $30/40 per month they spend their money on cars, education and clothes.

                The nurses are often saying they want to marry a white man. You ask why and they say because white men are rich and have cars. They are unashamedly and openly materialistic and love money. At the same time they will talk about some of the rich blacks with condemnation. They say that they live like whites in their separate houses, with TV and won’t help their neighbors.

                You can drive around and you will see a Mercedes passing a horse and cart. The place is a paradox. The older people go to witchdoctors, take herbs and medicines for good luck etc. The younger person is more likely to go to the hospital as well a go to a witch doctor and then tell you she doesn’t believe all this black magic.

                The biggest mistake in the article is when it says there are seven beer halls. There are literally hundreds and hundreds. They are illegal and are constantly raided. If there is going to be any trouble in the immediate future it will be sparked off by the governments’ heavy-handed handling of the legalizing of beer halls. Alcoholism is predictable endemic. Conversely the non-drinkers are very numerous and fanatical in a way you don’t see amongst whites. Some of the blacks are very religious, hard working. Many with biblical names and many were educated in mission schools and quote large passages of the bible.

                You can talk about hope all you want but the place is incredible violent and crime-infested. Last year there were 100 murders/month. Most related to alcohol.

                In the early 70s the black areas were seen as temporary until the people could be shifted back to the homelands. In 1976   with riots the whites realised they had been caught in their own rhetoric and the blacks were here to stay. All the building since then is to make up for decades of neglect and to replace buildings burnt down. After 1976 the whites wanted the image of being compassionate and the world to think they were doing something. This year white politics has been dominated by a dramatic swing away from reform with the right-wing Afrikaaners gaining in confidence with the election of Ron Reagan.

                Anyway all this is irrelevant to me. What is relevant is the incredible shortage of white skilled labor of all kinds. Because of this I start work at a hospital at night and I hope to shift nearer there.

                                                                                Regards Alan

P.S. The first separate area for blacks or townships began in about 1901 from what I know. The blacks were kicked out of the inner city areas of Cape Town with the excuse being that they were spreading diseases. Sanitary reasons. So the townships have been around a long time. The fact that they live in separate areas doesn’t worry the blacks one bit. What they hate is that their area is demonstrable worse off.