OPINIONISTA: We must not deny racism, but we must also not exploit it to stop reconciliation

Issues abound and of late, while race-based concerns have risen to global prominence, in South Africa, race has always – more than simmering below the surface – been centre stage of our social, economic and political interactions.

The recent revelations of Makhaya Ntini, the first ethnically black South African to play for the national cricket team, about his experience of loneliness is a reflection of being Othered. A senior black woman in politics – who once confided in me her experience of being Othered and how many of her peers didn’t even know her name – provides another example.

Credit, in the first instance, must go to my parents who had the foresight to send me to a pioneering non-racial school in Swaziland when apartheid was at its zenith, and then to an international college in Wales that championed international understanding and whose stated mission is “to make education a force to unite people, nations and cultures for peace and a sustainable future”. These formative experiences stood me in good stead.

I recount this to illustrate both the reality of feeling Othered and the importance of not allowing yourself to be Othered. While I acknowledge my experience in this regard and understand that this may not be shared by many, I believe that this understanding needs to be internalised universally if we are to have any hope of celebrating our differences, in a society where “we the people” includes all people.

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