Whilst apartheid has been abolished many years ago, racism in South Africa is still rearing its ugly head. A few days ago I was having a conversation with an elderly white Afrikaans speaking woman. I asked her about her origins and where she grew up. Quite casually she replied stating that she was born in the Nelspruit region of South Africa on a farm that was surrounded by many plantations. There was apparently only one supermarket along with three " coolie" shops. I was quite surprised that she actually chose to use the derogatory word "coolie". As she was an old woman I did not lash out at her and her overall demeanour and mannerism with me was quite a pleasant one. Whilst in the company of friends recently, a gentleman in our company related a story to me that totally disgusted me. At a birthday party, the birthday girl was gifted with a substantial amount of money. One of the family members took the money and hid it away in a safe place. However, when it was time to leave the venue, they could not remember where they placed the money. Hence they started accusing the waiters on duty of stealing the money. After a few minutes of moaning and groaning eventually the money was found. The manager of the venue then asked the family to kindly apologize to all the staff members. In quite a rude manner, the mother of the family said that she will not apologize to black people. In other words it is below her to apologize to a black person. What kind of a sick mentality is that? And then we have the GUPTA FAMILY who think as though they own South Africa. Businessman Mr. Atul Gupta says that South Africans should be thankful for the investment the Gupta family is bringing to the country.He did not understand why there was a concern about the landing of an aircraft chartered by the family at Waterkloof Air Force. Well I guess with excessive amounts of wealth, it is easy to bribe anyone to get anything that is desired. After all bribery and corruption is the order of the day in South Africa. There are new reports surfacing stating that the Gupta family insisted on being served by either White or Indian chefs and waiters only. They refused to have black waiters serving them. These reports have apparently quoted a member of the management team at the Lost City Hotel. If these reports are true and I'm sure, very soon the truth will prevail, I do not think that we as South Africans need to welcome such despicable people into our country. It is a shame that they hail from the very same country as the great Mahatma Gandhi, who came to South Africa to fight for the rights of Asians in this country and to liberate Asians from the clutches of apartheid and to bring about equality between all people irrespective of race, colour or creed.
