OPINION | To honestly answer your question Jonathan Jansen, yes I am better off now than under apartheid

Against my will, I had to read an opinion piece by former University of the Free State vice-chancellor Jonathan Jansen titled: Are you better off now than under Apartheid? after a colleague challenged me to read the piece before I rebut it. So here I am, having gone against my principles of African consciousness, to set out my bone of contention with the professor’s remarks.

There is a danger when professionals almost force people to compare a government that was not only oppressive but deliberately partook in crimes against humanity by killing, raping and excluding Africans from getting an education and meaningfully participating in the economy with a democratic and inclusive government.

Granted, the ruling ANC is failing spectacularly in delivering services to the masses, however, with all its faults, no-one living in our country is being discriminated against or stopped from accessing various public facilities just because they have more melanin in their skin than the next person.

The premise of the professor’s argument is that public services were delivered more efficiently by the apartheid regime than they are now.

And of course, professor, the apartheid regime could easily achieve a 100% pass mark from you for its stellar service delivery because it was only catering to a minority of white people while the Africans had to scavenge for themselves.

Remember the Bantu Self Government Act which brazenly dispossessed Africans, taking away their homes, removing them from the economic hub and displacing them to go live in underdeveloped parts of the country, where black people could only rent and not own property, because ownership of land was the prerogative of white people only?

Fact-finding organisation Africa Check found that about 34% of households had access to electricity between 1990 and 1991. “Such a level of access left the majority of black South Africans without electricity for cooking, heating and lighting,” the organisation said.

Though Jansen doesn’t outrightly say the apartheid government managed state affairs far better than the current dispensation, he makes an example of then-US president Jimmy Carter who was going head-to-head with political rival Ronald Reagan in 1980 for the presidency. Jansen cites that Carter told an American audience: “Are you better off today than you were four years ago?” 

“To cut a long story short, the Hollywood actor went on to wipe out the sitting president in the elections and spend two (in my view, disastrous) terms in the White House,” Jansen wrote.

Essentially, the ruling ANC took over from the oppressive regime promising the citizens a better life for all, only to provide substandard services. I agree the governing party’s track record is less than impressive, however let us neither romanticise nor bask in apartheid-nostalgia about a regime that committed horrendous and heinous crimes against black people.

In retrospect, I can’t say I am surprised by the professor’s borderline racially insensitive comments because it was under his leadership at the UFS where the Reitz Four humiliated five of the university’s black caretaker staff, Mothibedi Molete, Mankoe Naomi Phororo, Emmah Koko, Nkgapeng Adams, and Sebuasengwe Mittah Ntlatseng by making them drink their urine and eat contaminated food while on their knees.

The good prof then announced the four were pardoned and allowed to continue with their studies at the institution in the name of good old reconciliation.

I can’t help but somewhat feel resentment towards the liberation movement for its sub-par service delivery performance because it is going to embolden apartheid apologists to utter racist vitriol disguised as constructive criticism towards an incompetent government like ours. I am also convinced that we can criticise the new dispensation without comparing it to the old, oppressive regime.

But to honestly answer your question, prof, yes, I and my people remain better off now than under apartheid.