Who said it has bid adieu?

A partheid has been officially over, more than one and a half decade back, but in essence, racism is still rampantly practised. For all the big talks about the efficacy of democracy and how it has brought about a paradigm shift, in reality, things still remain as they were. The gruesome murder of John Rampuru in August 2000, who was ruthlessly dragged behind the pick up van of his white boss till death, amply vindicates that apartheid is not just present but is violent too. No wonder John Rampuru was just a one-off example of thousands of such incidents that take place every year over there. In another incident, a black teenage girl was covered in white paint by white shop staff who accused her of theft. Shockingly, law keepers do not even consider these cases as racist. Yet on the contrary, South African human rights groups believe that most of the murders (24,000) and attempt to murders (28,000) are racist in nature.

Several reports clearly state that there has always been a history of unequal distribution of wealth in South Africa, where the white minority holds more than 90% of the land. Moreover, the socio-economic status of black people makes them venerable to infections like TB and HIV/AIDS. These blacks live in destitute settlements and more likely to be poor and unemployed. On the employment front, even if black and whites are given the same job titles, the job responsibility and job profile are not same and equal. Studies show that in 2002, the median net worth of coloured households was $7,932 and that of whites was $88,651. South Africa today is the wealthiest country in Africa, and the credit for its modernity, industry and wealth goes to the inevitable sweat of the blacks as much the innovation of the whites. The construction of a true democracy could be framed only by the social cleansing and resurgence as tolerant and accommodative society.