Our group gathered in Brussels and flew over Africa through the night to Johannesburg arriving early in the morning. Since it was the middle of November, 1984, it was the spring of the year. When we returned several weeks later, it was a few days from the longest day of the year. The whole country was suffering from lack of water and in most places we were told people were awaiting the spring rains before planting.

As our plane left Belgium about 50% of the passengers were “black.” We use the word hesitantly since we were informed in South Africa that in the Cape area there are no “blacks,” only coloreds. In other areas of the country when we used the word colored we were informed that most of the non-whites were “blacks” and not colored. In South Africa everyone is very race conscious. We made one stop enroute and here most of the “black” passengers disembarked. On arrival in Johannesburg the plane had few non-white on board. One wondered why so few dark skinned persons went to South Africa.

We spent much of our time, including evenings and weekends in the downtown areas . Most of the people we saw in the huge malls, which went several floors below the hotels and streets, were non-whites. Shopping in the malls was very limited since all shops closed at 5:00P.M. We were told this was partly to accommodate the workers who lived in the suburbs, sometimes as much as an hour away via bus. Store owners or managers were often persons from India, but we met many from Rhodesia. These people were of many nationalities who had been forced out of business or had moved for personal reasons. The buyers in these mall areas were also primarily non-whites. We were told by our guide that she seldom bought anything in a downtown mall. Ninety percent of the buyers were non-whites, wives and husbands of the many workers in the downtown area.

We visited a gold mine and a diamond mine in the Johannesburg area. Almost exclusively the workers were non-whites. I suspect, in most cases, they were blacks and not colored. We could not distinguish. The engineers, administrators were white. One, who spoke with a heavy brogue, said he hoped to visit his mother in Italy during Christmas. In the shops where semi-precious stones were cut and polished the workers were mostly female and nonwhite. On one weekend we saw a group of dancers who were mine workers during the week. Apparently they had a 5-day week. In all South Africa stores, business closed abruptly Saturday noon to reopen Monday morning. In the big hotels only the coffee shop remained open. The native dances originally were a concession of the government to the people who needed an outlet of activity for the long weekend. Now they are a tourist attraction, including a way of getting a meal at a cook-out that invariably is a part of the activity.

   

We liked what we saw. Food places in the big hotels were open to all races. There were no “Blankes Alleen” signs on the beaches of any of the places we visited. In church we saw both whites and non-whites (we attended various Reformed churches). They have tremendous problems, many of them unsolvable. We visited the shanty towns, as did Kennedy. We saw the homes of the coloreds and the Indians.

We visited a new addition, that was fast being completed, of government housing. We saw Souwestern Township (Soweto) from a “koppje” above the town (we had no permit to enter), but the newer units at the outskirts were fully equal to any of the new housing units for Indians that we visited earlier. Government subsidy provided a tremendous amount of housing at extremely low rental for blacks.

When one reads Times (January, 1984) one gets a picture, often biased, of the problems the African countries have. South Africa, then, looms as a giant in that it has very few of the problems of the other 29 so-called independent countries. The comparison is more like that of comparing the United States or Canada with Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic or one of the Central American “independents.” People of all nationalities expressed this to us. They realize they are living in a land of milk and honey when compared to most of the 29 nations north of them. Everybody has, at least, ugali (cooked maize meal) and many get a bit of meat and vegetables once a week. This is part of the South African problem. Imagine having a border of several thousand miles with food on one side and nothing on the other. We in the United States look at our puny problem of regulating our Mexican border and our government essentially gives up. Yet when Nigeria deports 2 million Ghanians we hear very little. When South Africa tries to deport a few 1000 blacks back to their homeland to decrease the congestion in the shanty towns, we bear of the “atrocities” and the “inhumanity” of the central government.

Immediately after the war the government of South Africa set aside several bantustans exclusively for blacks. Today this has been increased to some 14 tracts of land, some quite large, that are essentially separate countries. True, most of them are within the borders of South Africa, there landlocked them are within the borders of South Africa, there landlocked Transkei and Ciskei border the Indian Ocean and Venda borders Zimbabwe. Living in a homeland, blacks have both independence and liberty. To be sure some of the land is not ideal for farming, etc., but it is the land their ancestors have used for many generations. While on the reservations the peoples share in the huge grants given by the South African government. These grants far surpass anything our government ever considered giving to the Indians of our land. Today in Bophuthatswana are large deposits of Uranium awaiting technical and financial aid to develop. These areas are similar to those of many of the other 29 countries in Africa that remain developed due to lack of technical know—how and general education. Until they are willing to obtain white men’s skills they continue to suffer the handicaps. We visited several universities. In all of them we were told that now all races were admitted. However, the numbers are small. We were informed that in the 1960’s less than 5% of blacks completed secondary schooling and now the figure is closer to 30%; that of the coloreds and Indians was much higher (75% or more). These groups are now clamoring for positions formerly held only by the whites. Slowly they are replacing whites in many sectors. One has but to read Blood River by Villet to realize that tremendous strides have taken place. Some of the problems of the land are related to the fact that today many people want only education in the culture of their ancestors. In Soweto most of the riots are between blacks who want education including modern technologies and those who want only what their ancestors had.

Beginning January of 1985, the new constitution will be in effect. Elections were essentially complete when we arrived. These were for seats in the new parliaments. In effect there will be three parliaments. They will act independently of each other for their particular needs. Indians, Colored and Whites will each have their legislatures. Problems overlapping of each group will be handled by a Council made up of members of each parliament. As these problems increase, so will the need to modify the government to meet the needs. People anticipate much modification. Most expressed the intent that blacks will also have their legislature. When such a cumbersome government will be effective and functional remains to be seen. They reveal a willingness to try new ways to satisfy the 4 almost completely different cultures

We knew there were many problems. We read of incidents. We saw happy faces and a willingness to try and work together. We were told many times to thank our government for its tolerance and understanding. Progress is good, said one black man, but it is too slow. Help us eliminate the hurdles.

Ben DeBoer is a retired professor of Physiology and Pharmacology of the University of North Dakota School of Medicine at Grand Forks, North Dakota.