Apartheid: My Father's Cry From the Grave!

We all knew that Apartheid was wrong and that the old government of South Africa was wrong in applying it. Most white people did not even know what was happening in the land and it feels like we are now being punished for our fathers' actions.

The exact opposite apartheid is now happening in South Africa as what was happening in the 1960's.

The white "middle age" male is now the new target and everything is still blamed on Apartheid after 18 years of ANC rule!

This poem is written as a cry for reconciliation and fairness to them that do not have a voice?

From Kuruman with a single pound

Arriving in the big city for work

Suitcase with one clean pair of clothes

His earthly possessions tucked under his arm

Confused, scared, alone and cold

A farm boy arriving on a one way trip

There is nowhere to go but forward

Like a trapped animal roaming the city

Looking for some work or a warm meal

Transnet came to his rescue in 1958

First generation working for Transnet

My father was a desperate man

But worked hard and showed potential

Was sent to college for training

Got top marks and started working on my future

I was born in 1963 and Transnet provided

A steady living my father through his work

Building up a home and providing security

We grew up to be outstanding in our community

Matriculated and became the second generation

After 31 years in Transnet, providing now for my own

Looking back over all the years with its changes

Wondering what the future will bring to this Company

I will be the last in my generation to work for Transnet

Our building up over our generations will end

A new generation has come to Transnet

A new culture is driving this train

Corruption and loss of valuable skills

B.E.E. The enemy of this company’s growth

Like cancer to the experienced,

Killing them slowly

Choking the very life from their bones,

Weeding them out slowly, but surely

Like a dear in a snare, no hope of escape,

Like the generation that was once under Apartheid,

That fought so hard for equality

Hoping for a change, for the promised equality

We cry out. Save knowledge, save experience

Save this beloved Country, this beloved Transnet

A new future awaits Transnet when we open our hearts

Using the skills left to rebuild and improve our train

Not by colour but by ability, by experience and by love

Let’s stop the abuse and the corruption

Together with commitment to Transnet and to each other

Regardless of color of our leaves or the roots of our trees

Let us build a forest together with a place for all

So that the future Transnet can succeed

Transnet has always looked after us

Taking us where we want to be

Come let us stand together taking her hand

Let’s look after her

Our beloved South Africa.

By Louis Fourie.

Apartheid (Afrikaans pronunciation: [ɐˈpɑːrtɦɛit]; from Afrikaans "the state of being apart") was a system of racial segregation enforced through legislation by the National Party (NP) governments, who were the ruling party from 1948 to 1994, of South Africa, under which the rights of the majority black inhabitants of South Africa were curtailed and white supremacy and Afrikaner minority rule was maintained.

Apartheid was developed after World War II by the Afrikaner-dominated National Party and Broederbond organisations and was practised also in South West Africa, which was administered by South Africa under a League of Nations mandate (revoked in 1966 via United Nations Resolution 2145), until it gained independence as Namibia in 1990.

Racial segregation in South Africa began in colonial times under Dutch and British rule. However, apartheid as an official policy was introduced following the general election of 1948.

New legislation classified inhabitants into four racial groups ("native", "white", "coloured", and "Asian"), and residential areas were segregated, sometimes by means of forced removals.

Non-white political representation was completely abolished in 1970, and starting in that year black people were deprived of their citizenship, legally becoming citizens of one of ten tribally based self-governinghomelands called bantustans, four of which became nominally independent states.

The government segregated education, medical care, beaches, and other public services, and provided black people with services inferior to those of white people.

Apartheid sparked significant internal resistance and violence as well as a long arms and trade embargo against South Africa.

Since the 1950s, a series of popular uprisings and protests were met with the banning of opposition and imprisoning of anti-apartheid leaders. As unrest spread and became more effective and militarised, state organisations responded with repression and violence. This, along with the sanctions placed on South Africa by the West made it increasingly difficult for the government to maintain the regime.

Reforms to apartheid in the 1980s failed to quell the mounting opposition, and in 1990 PresidentFrederik Willem de Klerk began negotiations to end apartheid,^[8] culminating in multi-racial democratic elections in 1994, which were won by the African National Congress under Nelson Mandela.

The vestiges of apartheid still shape South African politics and society. Although the official abolishment of Apartheid occurred in 1990 with repeal of the last of the remaining Apartheid laws, the end of Apartheid is widely regarded as arising from the 1994 democratic general elections.