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“I don’t know. These could just be the white trash of South Africa.”

I recently spent about three hours sitting next to a South African guy in a restaurant. He was a professional person, not “white trash.” He had not returned to South Africa in 8 years. He said it is now extremely dangerous for a white person to visit South Africa. After reflecting for a while, he finally mentioned that Durban might be ok, but Jo-Burg, definitely not. Cape Town, no, no, no.

Racism? Yes. But not whites against blacks, the reverse. And not with words only; with clubs, knives and guns.

As bad as South Africa is now, Zimbabwe is much, much worse for all the same reasons.

Once upon a time (1940’s, 1950’s I think, born in 1956 so I know this merely as history), although there was job reservation for Afrikaners in Government administration positions, many were not so fortunate. Many went into “trades” like plumbers, electricians, boilermakers, sheetmetal workers, etc - the sorts of jobs where one could earn some sort of very basic salary while doing an apprenticeship, ie learning on the job and doing trade tests at various levels. In my working experience in the Cape Town area even in the 1980’s I came across non-white people who had also gone this route. Some battled to pass the tests based on previous poor education history (just not used to examination situations and many tried over and over again), but were recognised for their skills acquired during apprenticeships, and earned accordingly.

Since 1994 and the new Government, these apprenticeship programs have been either discontinued or “dumbed down” with the result that there is now a major shortage. Many of those pictured in the article could have done one of the original apprenticeships and been highly skilled in their chosen area, whether attached to an employer, or, even better, self-employed. Nowadays they don’t even have that chance.

Now, we are told that one MUST have, preferably, a post-graduate degree to enter the job market. This has resulted in even those who can afford such an education tending to go for the “soft” social sciences” like Human Resources (now, there we have a glut)- result lots of women and feminised men. The majority cannot afford it and are subsidised by a low percentage of tax payers.

My plumber is unusual in that he is white guy in his late 20’s. His Dad is a retired electrician (married and had kids later in life) and wanted his sons (the other one also an electrician) to be left with a viable business when he retires or dies. It’s paid off. The plumber gets lots of big jobs, but is also available when I get home from work, if I need a job done. Sometimes I have to wait if it’s not an emergency, but I don’t have a problem with that - at least I don’t have to take time off work. Both have arrived at about 7:00 pm and left about 9:00pm when I had a geyser problem a couple of years ago - normal rates, not after-hours rate. He is never going to be short of work!

This is an eaxmple of what those depicted in the article could have been doing given the (now non-existant) opportunites. Although I am writing from a South African context, I suspect that applies to some extent everywhere in the world.