HOW DO WE GET SOUTH AFRICANS TO THINK BEYOND RACE LINES?

Gabriela Mackay – Politics and government analyst at the Institute of Race Relations Guest: Proffessor Tinyiko Maluleke - Policy and Political analyst based at The University of PretoriaWhy are there racial problems in South Africa? Are they in fact racial problems? And the answer is positively yes, and they have assumed proportions which have become almost impossible to contain within reason. They are genuine racial problems. They present themselves as racial antagonism and attitudes of dislike towards a person who belongs to a group which is outside of your own group. It starts with recognising yourself as a member of a particular group, sharing several common characteristics with other members of that group. And that is the form in which this racial antagonism presents itself. Its causes are various; but before I enumerate these it would be interesting to go back a little on this problem of racial antagonism. South Africans still find racial identity a major issue and a cause of conflict, that's despite nearly 20 years on from the first democratic elections.