If Nelson Mandela dies

Ninety two year old South African leader, former president Nelson Mandela, was hospitalised yesterday. This created a traffic frenzy at the hospital as journalists flocked to the clinic. The media frenzy accompanying this is actually expected.

Mr Mandela is one of the greatest statesmen and leaders the continent of Africa has produced. Even if he actively participated in an armed struggle, promoting violence against innocent people to liberate South Africa from apartheid, as president he embodied peace and forgiveness. What he lacked in administrative skills, he made up for by his leading South African through a difficult transition period, showing that things can be done differently.


At his age even a simple cold is cause for concern: It is, after all, only a matter of time before we will see the biggest state funeral this continent has ever hosted.

I happen to have family who is preparing for a flight into the South African Bushveld when mr Mandela dies. They bought to the rumors about the "Night of the Long Knives" when all white South Africans will be killed by black people in the event Mandela dies. This will be an orchestrated mass genocide and a group called "Die Suidlanders" (Southlanders) has started to mobilize fearful whites to stock up on bully beef and ammunition.

With mr Mandela's hospitalisation our country seems to have moved into the direction of fear yet again.

Personally, I do not believe the rumor of a mass racist killing. I am convinced white people are creating their own fears and prejudices. Many of us could not escape from the racist doctrines brought to us with compliments of Afrikaner nationalism a la the National Party. Make no mistake, I am a very proud Afrikaner. My identity as African starts with the acknowledgement of my cultural and racial roots.

But I intentionally chose not to be a pseudo-racist. A pseudo-racist is a white person who lives in the new SA and still believes his/her white skin makes him/her better than the rest of the people in this country. They live with the conviction that black people are barbaric, double crossing thieves and they unintentionally interpret every altercation with a black person as evidence that black people has to be mistrusted.

To be honest: There are black racists in our country. I view the way Julius Malema is providing leadership in the name of African nationalism as a new form of racism. Not only is the blatant discrimination against anyone else than ethnic Africans racist, the evidence of black people who believes him starting to actively discriminate against white people and other minorities is mounting. We've read too much of poor white families being driven from squatter camps because they are white, of white people with knowledge and skills being refused promotions or job opportunities on the basis of the whiteness of their skin colour - even if the position is subsequently left vacant.

In my humble opinion there are more white racists than black racists. We have become victims of our own prejudice and history. We need to re script our own stories. We need to actively participate in the move towards intentional non-racism.

If mr Mandela should pass away, a mass outpouring of grief will follow. One of the heroes of our country will be dead, after all. People will probably take to the streets to show their sorrow. The criminal element will try to capitalise on this by common thievery. The police will struggle to restore order, and eventually succeed. The government will most probably show uncharacteristic leadership and (as it was the case with the murder on Eugene Terreblanche) succeed in steering the country through this difficult time. Right-wing groups will rant and rave and predict the genocide they are talking about since 19-who knows. Some families will pack up and flee. Julius Malema will either be kept quiet (I hope) or try to get political points for himself by ranting and raving against white people in general and rich people in particular (to promote his latest get-rich-quick scheme - nationalisation). The rest of us will live in uncertainty and fear until after the state funeral.

Perhaps we, as white Christians, could reach out to black people in this time with condolences and sympathy? We could talk to our black co-workers and colleagues about this sad moment, offering to pray for them and provide comfort in their sorrow. And among ourselves, we could openly choose to not believe the false stories. After all, the rumor of white people being killed en masse (kill all white men, rape the women and strangle the children) has circulated as long ago as 1986. And then mr Mandela wasn't part of the rumor, as he was still in jail at the time. This one really is as old as it gets.

We should also refrain from repeating racist jokes about mr Mandela in particular or black people in general.

And if we are wrong and our country sinks to a Rwanda scenario of intentional genocide ... this actually isn't even an option to consider.