In 1981 world-acclaimed South African novelist and liberal political activist Alan Paton wrote a heartfelt, patriotism-inspired novel about the socio/ political situation in South Africa and aptly named it “Ah…But Your Land Is Beautiful.”
In the novel Paton laments black-on-black violence, white-on-black violence, Indian-on-black violence, Coloured on black violence and black-on-white violence etc.
In a nutshell, he highlights the human costs that arise in a situation whereby a racially divided society is being entrenched at all costs.
Now the false rumours spread by lobby groups like AfriForum and Solidarity, as well as political parties like the DA are achieving nothing except to create a ” them and us” situation along racial lines in this country.
The white man is portrayed as a victim whose land and possessions have been taken away and far worse things have been perpetrated against his wife and children.
Yet the truth of the matter is that the Expropriation Bill is a humble, compromised law which begs the owner of any property to sell their property to the government at a market-related price if there is a real need for the government to acquire that land, and in the event that the owner of the property and the government can’t agree on the sales price, then the court of law shall be the final arbiter.
Does this kind of law warrant a situation whereby the United States of America should retaliate by vengefully withdrawing the financial help it has been rendering to the fight against HIV/ AIDS, thus hitting hard the most vulnerable among us?
This Expropriation Act in actual fact falls far from the expectations of black South Africans who were disposessed of their land.
But we don’t see the disposessed black people running amok to America or anywhere else to report that their own black government is refusing to take away land from the white man and give it back to them as the original and rightful owners.
Why is this the case?
The answer is that the disposessed black people respect the Constitution of this country and don’t want to see the anarchy that ensued in Zimbabwe regarding land grabs repeating itself here.
The disposessed black person wants racial harmony in this country because this is the only country that he has, unlike AfriForum, DA and Solidarity who have the option of running away to the United States of America and stay there as “Afrikaaner- Amerikaaners.”
The BELA Bill, which the aforesaid Afrikaanerdom- inspired entities will be contesting in court, is not biased in favour of black South Africans either, this as there are clauses therein which stipulate that a child of an undocumented foreigner has a right to be admitted to a school of their choice ahead of a South African-born child.
But parents of South African-born learners are not burning down schools in protest against the BELA Bill but have accepted it as as government policy and are trying to get on with their lives.
Another issue which the DA/Solidarity/AfriForum is moaning about is the National Health Insurance Scheme, this as a way of merely trying to protect medical insurance companies and also to make sure that they as monied and privileged white folks continue to receive health treatment at facilities that are separate from those of poor black people.
NHI aims to cover for all ailments all the time, while medical aid schemes stop funding a patient once their contributions to the medical aid fund are depleted.
Why insist on allowing medical aid schemes to make profit from a service which the government can provide for freely?
All these negative efforts emanating from the DA/AfriForum and Solidarity are symptoms of a group of people who don’t care whether this country goes to the dogs or hyenas; whether this country goes to heaven or hell, or whether this country comes up against hell or high water in the long run.
There is so much that the disposessed black South Africans are going through, but they don’t throw tantrums like the aforesaid organisations are doing.
There is so much nonsense they have to put up with from their own government, yet they are not calling for a civil war to redress the injustices that are being meted out to them.
At the moment those who are unemployed among them are paid a mere R350 a month which in the case of others was withdrawn as their relatives were giving them some money on the side.
But these cheated beneficiaries of R350 didn’t go and burn down SASSA headquarters in demand of reinstatement of their already inadequate grants.
Instead, they are trying their damnedest to make ends meet against all odds.
Let me remind DA leader John Steenhuisen that during electioneering last year he kept on harping on the so-called Doomsday partnership between the ANC/ EFF/ MK Party.
But now it has turned out that DA/AfriForum and Solidarity are the real doomsday danger and cultists that have befallen this country.
South Africa is the most tolerant country in the whole world and everything goes here, including calling for the demise of an elected government and this are privileges which the DA/ Solidarity/ AfriForum chaps won’t enjoy once they are in the United States of America.
South Africa is, generally speaking a beautiful country geographically, weather-wise and most importantly Constitutionally.
That’s why renowned scribe Alan Paton was compelled to write in awe “Ah…But Your Land Is Beautiful!”