South Africa's colour bar just turned black

I read that the University of Stellenbosch reversed its decision to grant a pupil a place in medical school - after discovering that she was white, and was saddened. Saddened because it reminded me of how things used to be for us as Black people.

Apparently the student had for some reason stated in her online application that she was coloured, and hence was included in the coloured quota.

The 18-year-old learnt in September that the university had accepted her application. But, on October 13, Dr Ronel Retief, the head of academic administration, phoned her to verify her race.

University spokesman Susan van der Merwe said the pupil's selection was reversed after it came to light that the applicant made "a bona fide mistake" on the application form.

"The decision was taken to safeguard the integrity and fairness of the process in terms of the more than 550 candidates who had not been selected and who, based on merit, were ranked higher."

Van der Merwe said Indian candidates, preferably from the Western and Northern Cape and African and coloured candidates from all provinces were selected first.

This story reminded me of what used to happen before 1994 where mainstream universities prioritised white applications. This was not good then, and it is not good now. I think our democracy is mature enough for us to start treating each other as real equals.

The quota laws or requirements were necessitated by mistrust, as Blacks didn’t trust Whites to do the right thing when it came to race. How long are we going to live in a country run along racial lines? When will we all just be citizens of this beautiful country and not racial numbers?

It is my personal belief that it is only when we begin to see each other as equal citizens of this country and pursue the same dream will South Africa prosper. The born-free generation is already 17 years old and about to go to university.

Are to wait until they have entered the workplace before we rule that the playing field has been levelled, or until they reach middle or top management?

The problem with good-intentioned political interventions is that they sometimes handicap the people they intend helping. The born-frees have had no racially-based entry barriers to anything, and they should learn to fight for whatever they want on equal terms.

I don’t want my child to even entertain the thought that he/she needs more help than a white child – because that gives her/him the impression that she/he is inferior intellectually and otherwise. How is this going to liberate him/her from the mental slavery planted by the seeds of apartheid?

With the political interventions we have put in place, we have only served to confirm the apartheid and colonial misconception of our inferiority as African people.

I am not, by any means, saying affirmative action and black economic empowerment were not necessary. We needed political solutions to several shortcomings to get the ball rolling, but how long are we going to keep the Black “crutches” before the African child is allowed to walk on his/her own?

It’s just a question.