Black is the new bling

SO, Zuma is shocked 'by white poverty' ? No one has noticed, but whites in southern Africa have been living with poverty for some years now.

During war years many entrepreneurs capitalise on the means to make money. When WW2 ended in 1945, the rich were the richest of all, whereas the man in the street was war torn and struggling. Out of this situation a new age proverb evolved that read something like: "In every generation, the great grandparents save like hell. When they die, their kids wisely invest that inheritance but when the grandchildren come of age or automatically on the death of their parents, they inherit and that inheritance from their great grandparents is often spent as quickly as it is received – like there is no tomorrow!" This is just one side of the coin, and Zuma should not be surprised that not too many whites are rich anymore. The other side of the coin is that, as with many cultures, the rich marry their offspring into other rich families and thus dynasties are created.

Perhaps imprinted by images of others grappling for their lives when colonialism was being smashed to the ground, wars from Colombia to Iraq, from Mozambique to Tibet and environmental disasters from the Arctic to the Antarctic, today’s generations has been coerced by circumstances into hedonistic lifestyles. These negative facets changed attitudes toward traditional values and created a new generation, combined with fast living for today in the fast lane, fast foods, fast cars, fast relationships, knives, drugs and guns because “Instant gratuities creates instant satisfaction and as tomorrow is promised to no one we’ve got nothing to lose!” This fast way of life amongst whites has become ‘the norm’, to our own detriment.

It is not only the Bantustan who have migrated through southern Africa down to South Africa. Once the Mau Mau disrupted East Africa between 1950-1956, and after Ian Smith declared UDI (1965) in Rhodesia and Mozambique gained its Independence (1975), many whites left Africa for the antipodeans, UK, EU and the Americas. As each black state throughout Africa gained Independence and jobs were no longer the preserve of white governments, the whites too, moved southwards in anticipation of finding greener pastures. With all its gold mines and De Beers diamonds, there had to be a way in South Africa to make money and survive!

However, for latent, disillusioned immigrants to South Africa, and for those who could afford it, there has always been only one way to go – overseas. A handful, however, have refused to leave the land of their birth. They know no other culture. They stay put, determined to weather out the storms, because if the blacks can do it, so can they!

Then there are the others, those who are able to travel and live abroad, who have refused to do so. They have dug in their heels. These are a separate entity to those who have no recourse to foreign passports and benefits because their births were restricted to the black state they were born in but, having been overseas on holiday, these individuals have decided they would prefer to make the most of it rather than claim asylum or enter as refugees into foreign lands.

Inevitably with Independence, Africanisation and Affirmative Action, the whites are finding it more and more difficult to secure jobs. Another factor here is that blacks are no longer illiterate and unqualified. So much so, that many who cannot secure jobs in a black man’s world can no longer afford servants. As a result desperate house-husbands are now found slaving over hot stoves and looking after the kids, while their pregnant and barefoot wives toil at kitchen sinks, previously the domain of cooks and maids. In some quarters this is referred to as karma.

Upheaval is expensive and it has been a costly exercise for those not wanting to forsake Africa but who have instead moved southwards from country to country, from East Africa down to Zambia, then onto Zimbabwe and eventually into South Africa.

Often in white communities, these migrants are referred to as “When-wees”, because they inevitably begin to reminisce about their days of yore in East Africa, with the familiar words, “When we were in …”

Since 1652, Africa’s playing field has finally been levelled and is no longer the preserve of rich white colonials, who have mostly died out. For those whites who have chosen to remain it is a marriage of convenience - be it for better for worse, for richer for poorer, in health and in sickness... ‘til death do us part.

Donette Read Kruger is sub-editor for The Zimbabwe Guardian