Sabinet | Die Afrikaner se belewing van transformasie en nasiebou in 'n postapartheid Suid-Afrika : navorsings- en oorsigartikels
n Tydskrif vir Geesteswetenskappe - Die Afrikaner se belewing van transformasie en nasiebou in 'n postapartheid Suid-Afrika : navorsings- en oorsigartikels
Author J.P. Van Der Merwe
Source : Tydskrif vir Geesteswetenskappe, Volume 50 Number 3, Sep 2010, p. 313 - 327
Keyword(s) : Acculturation, Afrikaner, Akkulturasie, Culture, Enkulturasie, Kultuur, Leadership, Leierskap, Nasiebou, Nation building, New beginning, New South Africa, Nuwe begin, Nuwe Suid-Afrika, Post apartheid, Postapartheid, Transformasie, Transformation and Universiteit van die Vrystaat
Baie Afrikaners ervaar nasiebou en transformasie traumaties. Vir hulle is dit omgekeerde rassisme en blatante diskriminasie. Op die oog af het Suid-Afrikaners sedert 1994 (en moontlik selfs al vanaf 1990) vordering met spontane nasiewording gemaak. Die verdwyning van gedwonge rasseskeiding, die vreedsame oorgang na demokratiese regering, President Nelson Mandela se versoeningspogings en die prestasies van nasionale sportspanne het alles hiertoe bygedra. Desnieteenstaande is die ANC na sestien jaar van regeer nog steeds vasbeslote om nasiebou van bo af op sentralistiese wyse, te dryf. Die rede, wil 'n mens aflei, is dat die natuurlike roete veels te lank sal duur en dat sukses nie noodwendig verseker is nie. Professor Francois Venter, oudvoorsitter van die Afrikanerbond, meld dat die uiteinde van hierdie transformasie en nasiebou inisiatiewe is dat daar vandag onder Afrikaners, en veral denkende Afrikaners, 'n wydlopende kulturele malaise is, wat manifesteer in onttrekking, politieke onbetrokkenheid, swartgalligheid, sinisme, en so meer. In hierdie artikel word die voorspelling gemaak, dat ondanks al hierdie moontlike bedreigings van transformasie, Afrikaner-etnisiteit oor die volgende tien jaar baie sterk na vore gaan tree. Die ironie is dat dit juis hierdie geforseerde prosesse van nasiebou en transformasie is wat opnuut weer momentum aan Afrikaners gee om hulle kultuurinhoud en -waardes as 'n kleinood op te pas en te beskerm. Die feit dat die ANC-regering voortdurend in nuwe wetgewing bly fokus op Afrikaners se eksterne identiteitselemente (soos byvoorbeeld velkleur) laat Afrikaners basies met geen ander keuse nie as om 'n samehorigheidsgevoel te ervaar en te ontwikkel.
In terms of their numbers, Afrikaners have always been in the minority in their locality (South Africa). During the apartheid years, Afrikaners were the dominant role-players in South Africa, and they created rigid legislation that was stringently prescriptive with respect to the other peoples who inhabited South Africa alongside of them (Slabbert 1999:61-63). In many respects, this legislation was discriminatory and degrading (Du Preez 2000:20). In post apartheid South Africa, Afrikaners have lost their dominance in government; and, moreover, their status was diminished, virtually overnight, to that of a minority group within their locality (Slabbert 1999:104). Afrikaners were thus necessarily constrained to make certain adjustments very rapidly in a post apartheid South Africa. Now that they have a full-blown minority status in the new South Africa, Afrikaners are being confronted with the realities of nation building and transformation. Outwardly, South Africans appear to have made progress since 1994 (and possibly even since 1990), in spontaneously becoming a nation The disappearance of forced racial separation, the peaceful transition to a democratic government, President Nelson Mandela's reconciliation efforts and the achievements of national sports teams all contributed towards this progress. Notwithstanding these positive developments, the ANC government remains determined to drive nation building from above, in a centralistic manner (Scholtz 1999:6). One is tempted to infer that the reason for this is that the natural route would take far too long to follow, and that success is not guaranteed. Although the ANC-in-government has adopted a more accommodating attitude towards nationhood, according to Geldenhuys (2000:13), a strong Jacobinical tendency already seems to have become discernible in this regard. Thus, an ANC discussion document of 1997 refers to the "identity of the South African nation in the making". What is needed - so it is claimed - "is a continuing battle to assert African hegemony in the context of a multi-cultural and non-racial society". In the same vein, reference is also made to "a process of building an African nation" and "our Africanness as a nation" (Venter 1999b:22).
Persistent Link : https://hdl.handle.net/10520/EJC20203