The contention by a black academic, Pumlani Majavu, of North-West University (The Mercury, February 9) that disregard for black lives in post-apartheid South Africa is the direct result of centuries of white rule, must rate as a new low in the list of excuses made by some blacks for the failed governance that now prevails.
In providing an extensive list of the ills that prevail – from lawless taxi drivers, malfunctioning hospitals, townships where there are no regulations, violence and chaos – Majuvu insists that the situation reflects an “historical racial script… entrenched in the polity” of South Africa, institutionalized by centuries of anti-black rule.”
How Majavu is qualified to hold an academic post by writing such deplorable nonsense beggars belief. Before the ANC’s destabilization started in the 1980s, the townships were regulated and orderly, as were hospitals. Violence did occur in 1960 and 1976, but it was not ongoing, as is the case toda,y where in KZN alone 121 political assassinations occurred in 2024/25.
The number of deaths per thousand declined steadily from 1950 to 1990, but has increased since 1994. The murder rate of 84 per day was unheard of during apartheid times.
Since blacks constitute 80% of the population, it should be obvious that statistically, they will feature prominently in death rates and in tragic and unfortunate occurrences.
While Majavu evades the obvious conclusion that the apparent disregard for black lives is self-inflicted because, since 1994, blacks have been in power, the unstated conclusion of Majavu’s inverted thinking is that in spite of apartheid, life was safer and more orderly then.
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