This racial hatred thing

With unfortunate tweets like Sparrow's having stirred up a hornet's nest of indignation, one would be tempted to think SA is on the brink of inter-racial civil war.

But my eyes tell me different. Go into any shopping mall in SA and you'll find people of all races shopping together with no racist flare-ups. In Spur or other restaurants, people of all races sit happily at adjacent tables. White people applaud when Temba Bavuma gets a century, or Habana scores a try.

Daily life goes on, with mixed marriages not even raising an eyebrow today. It seems to me that only the politicians - the ANC and EFF - are desperate to keep racial hatred alive so they can retain/increase their positions of power in order to fill their own pockets. Many senior Black folk are speaking out against ANC racism - people like Reuel Khoza, Herman Mashaba, Mmusi Maimane, Moeletsi Mbeki and many others.

The fact is that we are ALL facing the toughest year in our 22-year period of democracy: a terrible drought, water problems, rand depreciation, food shortages, ever-increasing joblessness and poverty. If we - Blacks, Coloureds, Indians and Whites - are being encouraged by greedy politicians to hate one another, we have to stand against it.

Because if we don't pull together, we are ALL going to suffer.

So let's not allow this racial hatred thing to be blown out of proportion. Walk in the malls and check for yourself.