BLACK DIAMONDS – RACE AND RECONCILIATION; URBAN CHIC/SHEIKS
No-one believed that Apartheid could be lifted without blood in the streets. Fifteen years later, the blood isn’t running but the affluent, black and white are.

If you had to identify one thing that matters most to you about your life what would it be?

Good health?
Great relationships?
Economic security?

Think about your expectations as a North American. Now think South Africa.

Prior to 1994, South Africa was a nation divided by race.  Few believed that Apartheid could be brought to its knees without blood in the streets. Wisdom prevailed.  In 1994 Apartheid officially ended with the democratic election of the African National Congress and the nation formerly divided as whites, blacks and coloureds became the «Rainbow Nation».  As President Nelson Mandela said: "Each of us is as intimately attached to the soil of this beautiful country as are the famous jacaranda trees of Pretoria and the mimosa trees of the bushveld - a rainbow nation at peace with itself and the world" (cited in Manzo 1996, p.71). 

Where is South Africa today?

South Africa has a life expectancy for females of 53; for males, only 49.  In 2006, 18.8% of the adult populations ages 15-49 have HIV/Aids.  Maternal deaths per 100,000 live births in 2000, 230. Black African males have a median annual income of ZAR 14,162 versus ZAR 8,903 for Black African females [for equivalent US/Can divide by 7]. The median annual income of White working adults aged 15-65 is ZAR 65,405. White males have a median annual income of ZAR 81,701 versus ZAR 52,392 for White females. The unemployment rate of the White population aged 15-65 is 4.1%. [Wikipedia]

Take it down to the city level. 

In Johannesburgh, home to over  3,435,000 people, violent crime and the use of guns is rampant, and it has the distinction of having one of the highest rates of rape in the world.  Why do people hang on?  Standard of living, good weather, economics.  The Joburg Tourist Agency reports that the «HDI [Human Development Index] of Johannesburg’s black populace is significantly higher than those living elsewhere in Southern and Sub-Saharan Africa; just 0.24 points below the HDI of the white populace (highest HDI, in the league of high earners in developed countries).»  It is one of the most prosperous places to live in Sub-Saharan Africa (www.joburgtourism.com). 

So some white have stayed.  And they are pinning their hopes on wealthy blacks – those they call «Black Diamonds».  Black Diamonds are the successful black business people, those who have earned and now share with whites a stake in a peaceful South Africa.  Once confined to places like Soweto in Joburg, the lifting the restrictions on movement and property ownership are bringing wealthy blacks into neighbourhoods that were formerly all white. 

Now they are hunkered down together, behind high stone walls, woven with barb wire and crowned by electric fences.  They are protected by automatic iron gates and private patrols.

As one white resident told me, «The most basic of human rights is the right to personal security.  In Joburg we are all living in fear.»  Said another woman, «I’m fearful every time my children leave the house.  I ask them to call as they leave, arrive at their destination, leave and when they return to the gate.»  The hope of all they say rests on the «Black Diamonds».  

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IN THE RED: PROSPERITY AND COLLAPSE

The World Bank reports that rising food prices threaten poverty reduction and malnutrition

Complaining about the cost of fuel at the pump? Think about the cost of a loaf of bread.  

Carbon footprint? Famine? Which way is the right way for the people and the planet?

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