South Africa's Coloureds: Better Off Under

Apartheid?

"The ANC is Not for US, Say Coloured Voters."

Fadela Slamdien, All Africa

Cape Town — Much has been said about the 'coloured vote' in the Western Cape being the ANC's Achilles heel. Being the one province in the country that does not have a majority black population - the ANC's traditional voter base - and the ANC's inability to woo coloured voters to provide them with an outright win has seen Cape Town swing between the DA and ANC until the DA gathered strength with winning the province.

Not even Nelson Mandela's reign in the early days of democracy was able to grant the ANC an outright majority vote in the province. West Cape News hit the streets of Grassy Park in an effort to obtain insight into the mood ahead of upcoming local government elections.

Among the tens of coloured people canvassed during a day in Grassy Park, most elderly people said a lack of jobs and high levels of crime reflected badly on the ANC. Leaning toward the right, a number of people said their lifestyles were better under apartheid, despite the fact of forced removals.

"They should have left things as they were. Before, there was very little crime, the death penalty was in, and one could send your children to the shop at night. Everybody had jobs. People were given houses and not put out on the streets like now. In 1994," said a resident who did not want to be identified.

She said despite the Group Areas Act, the apartheid government provided for them. "People who were kicked out of Constantia were put in council flats. Look at the way people are living now. People are not put into flats. Now there is crime and drugs. Why vote for the ANC if all of this is happening?" she said. Read on...

‘Democracy? It was better under

 Apartheid’ - Helen Suzman

Helen Suzman at one of her last political rallies.

By Jane Flanagan, Telegraph

Helen Suzman, for years the lone anti-apartheid voice in the South African parliament, has turned her fire on the country's ANC government for being "anti-white" and for abandoning the country's poorest blacks.

As South Africa celebrates the passing of a decade since its first free elections, Mrs Suzman has cast an unexpected shadow over the party - declaring that parliamentary democracy was healthier under the apartheid regime.

As she sat in the study of her home in one of Johannesburg's smartest white suburbs last week, the veteran human rights campaigner confessed that she was disappointed by the African National Congress government which she had worked so tirelessly to get into power.

"I had hoped for something much better," said Mrs Suzman, 86. "The poor in this country have not benefited at all from the ANC. This government spends 'like a drunken sailor'. Instead of investing in projects to give people jobs, they spend millions buying weapons and private jets, and sending gifts to Haiti."

Dressed in a blue blouse, trousers and matching jewellery, Mrs Suzman's tiny frame became powerfully animated as she discussed the subject of Zimbabwe. Read on...

Walter Williams on Mandela-Day: Blacks were better off Under Apartheid; Africans were better off Under Colonialism...

Walter Williams on Mandela-Day: Blacks were better off Under Apartheid; Africans were better off Under Colonialism...

Were blacks better off under apartheid? 

The tragic fact of business is that ordinary Africans were better off under colonialism. Colonial masters never committed anything near the murder and genocide seen under black rule in Rwanda, Burundi, Uganda, Nigeria, Mozambique, Somalia and other countries, where millions of blacks have been slaughtered in unspeakable ways, which include: hacking to death, boiling in oil, setting on fire and dismemberment. If as many elephants, zebras and lions had been as ruthlessly slaughtered, the world's leftists would be in a tizzy.

During South Africa's apartheid era, I visited several times and lectured at just about every university. Read on...