The South African contemporary issues on Human Rights began the day compromises were made by the ones who were already compromised, ie; Africans. For the longest time, since 1652 upon the arrival of Jan van Riebeeck, the Human Rights of Africans have been confiscated.
Throughout the centuries, Africans lived a compromised life in the country of their birth. The wars of the resistance between the oppressors and the oppressed were inspired by the call for equal Human Rights, even though it was not coined as such, our African forefathers fought for the Right to own their land, livestock and the minerals beneath the soil (this in my view constitute human rights in its true sense).
Remember, between 1652 to the falsified and orchestrated collapse of the white regime in 1994, Africans were not just
physically abused but they were also pushed to the less fruitful regions of this land where they were subjected to poverty and social illnesses.
Remember, post-1910 after the birth of the Union of South Africa between Afrikaaners and the British, a series of laws that were aimed at intensifying the process of dehumanising Africans were passed and the most detrimental one was The Natives Land Act of 1913. Through this piece of law, Africans were forcefully removed from their fruitful land to the concentration camps called Bantustans, these were also known as
cheap labour reserves. At this stage, Africans were systematically forced to go work in urban areas (to be “garden boys” housemaids”) or to the mining industry to work for companies owned by their oppressors. Oppressors like Mr. Potchefstroom were at the forefront of establishing pass laws, that made the movement of Africans to be monitored easier. This also, facilitated the process of dehumanising Africans, stripping them their Human Rights. It was through these systems that Africans were forcefully removed from their land, subjected to abusive ridiculous
forms of taxation, they were not allowed to buy land outside these designated areas and these pass laws also made them be employable for domestic jobs.
Sadly, as they fulfilled the demands of their oppressors, their social units “families” were becoming disoriented because a household would not have a father because he works far away at the mines and stays in a hostel for a year. Or a household would not have a mother, because she stays at the backyard of “Madam”, these breadwinners were deprived of their families.
The oppressors were systematically setting-up African societies for failure. It was expected that illegitimacy and an
uncultured, clueless & apolitical generation will rise.
As a result of this dehumanising arrangement, Africans were in the cities and others established themselves there, the oppressors were then forced to re-answer the “black problem” question as Jan Smut would phrase it. Remember that these blacks were well educated and had become professional agitators of the oppressive system in
the 1940s and 1950s. It is the consciousness of the black urbanised Africans that shook the oppressors to a point of coming up with Bantu Education. A narrow and objective education that
was supposed to give rise to obedient black citizens.
Do note that it is these elite Africans who advanced the struggle to the language and the system of the oppressors. Their resistance was in the form of organising and public demonstrations, this generation was not only continuing with the wars of their forefathers but they were explicitly fighting for Human Rights, the Right to vote, the Right to access to the economy and to government, the Right for equal treatment in the world created by their oppressors. Africans never stopped resisting oppression, in the advance war led by the black elites, they were violated, imprisoned if not killed in their public demonstrations.
For example the Treason Trial 1954 Sharpeville Massacre 1960, the Soweto UpRising 1976 the 1980s riots leading to early 1990s. Then #feesmustfall of 2015/2016. In all these waves, the leadership that remained loyal to the call to equal Human Rights suffered the most even in their graves (those who have died) they still do. For instance, what is happening to the history of Robert Sobukwe? Winnie Mandela, Steve Biko, Tsietsi Mashinini, Criss Hani, Harry
Gwala, Moses Mabhida?
It has been 25 years into the democratic dispensation and we are still not human enough as Africans. Primarily because our Human Rights are not back! Our request for the materialisation of Rights still needs to be substantiated even though they are enshrined in the Constitution of the Republic. In the Bill of Rights, section 10 states that we have a right to dignity. Then tell me, does a landless African from the squatter camp have the same dignity as a white farmer or a white owner of a property in urban areas? How about the dignity of the children who still get their schooling under a tree? Section 29 says we have the right to education. Explain to me, how did the #feesmustfall protest came about? Is the tertiary sector not providing education? Section 25 the property clause, systematically and legally deprives Africans the land that rightfully belongs to them. As a result, we are subjected to countrywide public hearings, while
those who are in its possession took it without hesitation or consultation of the public.
Sixty years of Human Rights and twenty-Five years into democracy the face of a landless human, of a shack dweller, of a human who sells next to the traffic lights, of a human who does the actual digging at the construction site, of a student leader who is most likely to start a protest, of a security guard who enters night shift. The face of a cleaner, a gardener, of a child without proper school uniform is BLACK. In brief, the face of poverty and struggle in South Africa is BLACK. Then I ask, did 1994 give us what we were fighting for hundreds of years as? Are Africans suppose to celebrate Human Rights Day? Or on this day we should remind one another of our disheartening social status, by asking a simple question: Are Black, African South Africans also human?
Mzamo Try Ngobese is the Branch Chairperson of SASCO University of Pretoria Branch