Ever since I came to Cape Town, I have been staying in white areas... well, areas that belonged to white people during the oppression times. I mean Muizenberg, Rondebosch, Claremont etc. At the moment I am staying in Pinelands, which is still dominated by white people.
What bothers me most is the fact that I pay thousands of rands to stay there but when ever I pass white folks on the streets, I can see that the "poor people" are scared of me. We have been in a democratic country for the past 14 years but still we blacks we are seen as thugs. The other day, I came late from work and I was walking slowly to my place and one old white lady was waiting for her kids to come out of the house and she parked the car outside the yard. You wont believe what she did, as soon as she saw me she came out of her car, pressed the immobilizer then jumped at the gate and while she was doing this, she was looking at me and I could see she was terrified.
As if that is not enough, when I was unpacking my stuff after moving in the complex, I was in the kitchen putting cutleries away. I was listening to my favorite radio station MetroFM.
All of a sudden I hear a knock, me thinking well, here comes this nice white lady to welcome me, then without greeting me she claims that I am disturbing the area with my loud music, mind you my radio was not loud. Ga ke motho wa diploto gore ke tshamikise Radio ka volume e kogodimo, unless if I was half deaf. I switched it off completely. Before she left she ogled the flat. I think she wanted to see if I have something illegal so that she can call the cops on me.
Later that day, her neighbor was watching Cricket and the racket he caused was not objected. Then I said to myself, it is a white thing. The next day, I am going to the shopping center to buy bread then I meet up with the white guy staying opposite to my duplex. He greeted me and I was saying to myself, wow, I got greeted by a white dude, to spoil my mood he said,"...so you are the person who will be staying here? How many of you will be occupying the duplex?". I nearly punched him, I calmed myself and told him I will be sharing with one of my colleague, then he left. Ooh by the way, my flat mate is white, and he came late that day. Remember we are new in the area, then he goes and do the washing at night and he hanged them in his room on a curtain rail. How stupid is that?
The following day coming back from work, we get a 70 pages document full of rules and regulations and a note that said, do not hang your clothes on your curtain rails otherwise you will have to deal with the board of trustee. Since my neighbors didn't notice that I was staying with a white lad, they thought I am turning their beautiful area into a township.
Well, the white people aren't to be blamed for their behavior. All I can say is gaaah sis for the Darkies, thinking their all that. Well, the black guys staying tin the area they will look at you as if you are trying to steal the 15 minutes of fame away from them. If they can afford to stay in that area so can I, and so can you motho o montsho. I get to be looked like I stole something or I stink like hell, after all the barbecue happening at Daddy Satan's place.
When I do my washing, I am mostly helped by white folks in the area, I don't know if they are being polite or just scared of me, when I have a R5 change and need a single R5 coin, they are happy to help, but ask your fellow black lady or monna, they reply with this fake American accent. They don't even greet when they find you at the laundromat.
As if that is all, staying in the suburbs is a curse in disguise, when I am with my white friends, I get to be looked at strangely by my black brothers and sisters, in a way of making me feel like a sell out. I get to be looked from head to toe, and I end up felling out of place.
Just for that, a rainbow nation to me in order to be experienced we still have a long way to go, I mean even at work, most of your white counterparts become nice to you just to avoid being labeled racists or whatever, unfriendly maybe.
Just imaging what are white people saying when they see a black man like me joking on what used to be their territory? That is worse I tell you. I am not going to get to it anyway. All I can say is that, we have to try to live with one another without looking t our skin color nor hair textures, in that way, we will have peace of mind.
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