Johannesburg - It will take a great amount of effort and time to combat racism in South Africa, owing to the racial structure left behind by apartheid. And criminalising racism won't combat the scourge.
This was the view of Unisa chancellor Judge Bernard Ngoepe at a seminar on racism in Joburg on Tuesday, hosted by the Institute for the Advancement of Journalism.
A panel of thinkers and decision-makers led the discussion on whether racism should be criminalised.
Many speakers agreed that there should be punishment for racist behaviour, but they raised concerns if this would be a viable solution to combat it.
Judge Ngoepe was sceptical, saying it could only cause danger to national unity. "Criminalisation of racism will depend on our level of abhorrence of that particular conduct."
Racism remained a sensitive issue bubbling beneath the surface and all it took was an incident like road rage involving a black and white person to trigger a civil strife, he said.
However, Deputy Justice Minister John Jeffery held a different view, arguing that the intention of the hate crime legislation was to ensure a serious punishment.
"If a person throws a brick at a mosque, we will see that as damage to property but if someone throws a brick at the mosque because he hates Muslims that is a serious hate crime and serious offence."
It was important for hate speech to be criminalised because people could keep getting away witbh it by just saying they had black friends, he said. "Criminalising racism should be looked at because South Africa was structured on race for more than 300 years. That structure is generally that whites are rich and blacks poor."
A lecturer and researcher at the University of Pretoria, Joel Modiri, agreed. The government should focus on issues about the economy, universities and service delivery, he said. This would help determine issues around racism and tackle them better.
"We cannot try to combat racism without first addressing the social structure. Black people will continue to be called monkeys because they live like that in dirty shacks with no water, no electricity and no toilets."
The government's responsibility was not to criminalise racism but to deliver to the blacks what they promised - education and jobs, he said. "Why is it that blacks need protection from whites?"
A counselling psychologist, Jeremy Bayer, said that criminalising racism would be half a battle. "You can stop someone from being racist but you cannot stop them from having that mindset."
Canada's High Commissioner to South Africa, Sandra McCardell, said she was impressed with how South Africans were able to address racism openly.
The Star