Race is a no-go zone in Cape Town: iLIVE

Phylicia Oppelt’s article on racism seems quite complex from the vantage point of a mere SA white citizen like myself who moved to Cape Town from Gauteng a few years ago.

Dealing with the ongoing question of whether or not Cape Town and the Western Cape is racist (compared to Pretoria and Johannesburg for instance) remains intriguing.

For the past four years since having moved to Cape Town from Pretoria I've been trying to figure out a definitive answer, which - at a gut rather than an intellectual level – turns out to be a resounding "yes".

Why do I say this?

Probably for no other reason than the fact that I live and experience most of my interaction with others in the "boerewors gordyn" area which I'm told by a local varsity student, means the suburbs to the north of the city, towards  Paarl.  

What is probably most intriguing is the quiet resentment between black and coloured people of Cape Town. A respected black entrepreneur cautions me against going to Mitchell's Plain with a sort of "you-know-what-I-mean" look while my coloured friend pronounces – to my shock -  that the highly dedicated black domestic worker whom we share in our respective homes, is "cheeky".

A coloured car driver tells a derogatory and factually incorrect joke about government grants when I suggest that the strings of tired, unemployed black men beside the road suffer in the heat of the day as they wait for even the smallest odd job to bring in some cash – if only for one day's bread and basic food for a hungry child at home.

I'm not even mentioning the vast number of whites who we all know historically cautions everyone prepared to listen to NOT allow ANY black person into ones home, buy property here or there because it is "still white", etc.

This doesn't differ from Pretoria in any way.

But yes, sadly, I do find Cape Town – despite its very well run services and very polite drivers of all races on the roads – tense, when it comes to race. It's as though there are more marked divisions (than in Pretoria) between residential areas and races that live in those areas.