The “Fighting Against Racism” Conference was held last week (August 16) in preparation for the United Nations’ Conference Against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance in Durban at the end of the month.

Debating racism issues the area of service delivery, Virginia Petersen of the Western Cape Department of Social Welfare released figures illustrating that elderly black people were being marginalised when it came to state care.

“Pre-1994 a lot of money was spent on building old age homes. In fact 138 old age homes were built, but 111 were for whites, 24 for Coloureds and three for African people,” Petersen said.

Despite the large amounts spent, Petersen said the present situation sees old age home beds being occupied by 6 000 white people, 3 000 Coloured people and 300 black people.

“The money still remains in Claremont and Sea Point,” she said.  

Pam Tshwete of the African National Congress Health Desk said it was not coincidental that the infant mortality rate for areas such as Khayelitsha was far higher than the provincial averages.

Tshwete said that when looking at the incidence of Tuberculosis in the metropole region, Khayelitsha and Nyanga were above the average at 1 000 per 100 000 people.

“This is one of the worst incidence rates ever recorded in the world,” Tshwete said.

She said that after seven years, the Western Cape’s health policies still served to provide differential care to the people of the province.

Mzwandile Makwaqiba of the National Education, Health and Allied Workers Union said revolution was the only way to eradicate racism in the province.

He said since “the National Party took over in the province and kicked out Ebrahim Rasool (former ANC Health MEC), services have been cut”.

He said there were almost no health facilities or staff in an area such as Khayelitsha while Groote Schuur had doctors and nurses “doing nothing”.

“They tell us to do to GF Jooste Hospital, but we all know that when five people go there only one will return alive.

“But go to Somerset Hospital and you will see intensive care units and equipment.”

The conference delegates unanimously adopted a conference declaration which noted that the Western Cape’s pursuit of an inclusive South African identity was “bedevilled by black alienation, coloured fears and the persistence of white privilege rooted in historial white ‘baaskap’ and black exclusion.”

The declaration pledged delegates to address the past legacy of material inequality, the present need for tolerance and reconstruction, and the threat of new forms of racism and intolerance in the future. The Democratic Alliance opted to boycott the conference.