Stealing dignity from the grieving poor

One of the evil characteristics of apartheid – and one many South African non-white people won’t get over easily – was that anyone who was not white was regarded, in law and in treatment, as a lesser being, theuntermensch(subhuman) which was the Nazi label for Jews and any non-Aryan. Essentially, this translated into everyday interactions between the races as a superior and inferior relationship. What black people were seldom accorded was dignity, because many white people simply did not believe they were “human” enough to have dignity.

Black people were humiliated in myriad ways, particularly by apartheid’s civil servants, ranging from cops to municipal officials. Yet, in many parts of our supposedly free South Africa, the new government’s people apparently share the belief poor people do not deserve to be treated with dignity. The Thembisile Hani local municipality in Mpumalanga has been accused of taking revenue desperation to shocking depths, allegedly targeting grieving families with “extortionate” burial tariffs. This, for cemeteries which have been neglected for years, with knee-high grass providing good grazing for local goats.