The last word on apartheid has not been spoken. And, quite frankly, it should never have a final word spoken about it. In various resolutions (1966, 1973, 1976 and 1984) the United Nations declared apartheid a crime against humanity.
The 2002 Rome Statute, which founded the International Criminal Court, defined apartheid as a crime against humanity, stating that it was similar in character to other crimes against humanity.
What astounds me is the ignorance by most of our political parties that apartheid is an internationally declared crime against humanity.
As I review the various online publications of our political parties, I do not read that any of them have this clause in their published documents. I am curious as to why, in the reconstruction of our country, our political parties do not reference this important international declaration.
The Holocaust, an internationally declared genocide, is commemorated annually in several countries. Recently, Holocaust survivors and delegates from 50 countries gathered at Auschwitz to mark the 75th anniversary of the camp’s liberation by Soviet troops.
A black South African, Stan Henkeman, the executive director for the Institute of Justice and Reconciliation, was asked by the German government to speak at a conference on “Painful memories reflecting on apartheid” as part of the commemoration schedule. In the US the dialogues on slavery remain a constant reference point for the treatment of African-Americans and other minority groups.
In Rwanda, some 1 million people died during the genocide in 1994. I was in Rwanda last year during the 25th commemoration of the 1994 tragedy. The genocide is a constant reference point for life in Rwanda today.
How is it then possible that in South Africa we constantly hear people telling us that we have to “move on from talking about apartheid”?
The UN declaration further states: “The States Parties to the present Convention declare criminal those organisations, institutions and individuals committing the crime of apartheid.” How does this clause stand up to scrutiny today when we look at the constant exclusion of the victims of apartheid from progressing economically and educationally?
Are the policies of political parties, the investment practices of companies and the housing practices of municipalities, inadvertently continuing the practices of an internationally recognised crime? Are there municipalities that have found new words to continue the practices of apartheid, leading to the ongoing exclusion of apartheid victims and other currently disadvantaged minorities from extracting justice from the system?
Therefore it must be asked why investment companies that manage billions of rand in pension funds of the workers of this country are allowed to use those funds to invest in infrastructure development of gated communities, entertainment and economic infrastructure in traditionally white areas, but won't risk the same investment in areas that desperately need infrastructural development?
Another question to be pondered is why West Gate Mall in Mitchells Plain or Vangate Mall in Bridgetown do not represent a racially integrated experience?
It is because the infrastructure development practices of investment companies have ensured that privileged communities have the infrastructure within their neighbourhoods, thus ensuring that they never need to migrate into other communities for resources. The same, however, cannot be said for black, coloured and Indian communities in South Africa. The low infrastructure investment in their communities forces their migration - and thus their poverty.
The UN declaration is clear: any act, law or policy that prohibits or restricts groups from participation in the political, social, economic and cultural life of the country, and the deliberate creation of conditions preventing the full development of any group or any measure including legislative measures, designed to divide the population along racial lines or enforces the creation of separate reserves and ghettos for the members of a racial group or groups, are all violations of the declaration.
Our political parties and investment companies will have a lot to answer for if South Africa ever becomes a failed state.
* Lorenzo A Davids is chief executive of the Community Chest.
** The views expressed here are not necessarily those of Independent Media.