I bet some South Africans and people outside our borders who had never heard of Phoenix in Durban before the 2021 riots now know the name of this township, and they wrongly and unfortunately associate it with racial tensions between Indians and Africans.
Image: Motshwari Mofokeng/African News Agency (ANA)
AS THE township of Phoenix in Durban commemorates its 50th anniversary this year, there is so much to celebrate, reflect on, and unlearn/learn from our long and ugly history of racial segregation, polarisation, and discrimination.
Without a doubt, and most unfortunately, racial and ethnic segregation has created tensions among the different groups of South Africa.
I bet some South Africans and people outside our borders who had never heard of Phoenix in Durban before the 2021 riots, now know the name of this township, and they wrongly and unfortunately associate it with racial tensions between Indians and Africans.
This is because Phoenix made national and international headlines during the riots in 2021. What these media outlets did not report is that Phoenix is no longer an Indian-only township.
Instead, the reporting focused on accusations of racial profiling. These reports insinuated that Indians targeted innocent Africans who were not looters.
Suppose there were vigilantes in Phoenix who did target Africans, does it then follow that the whole race should be blamed for the actions of a few?
In what remains one of the darkest turns of events in South African history, some people rioted over the imprisonment of former president Jacob Zuma, and went on a looting spree in July 2021. During the riots, some Phoenix residents undertook to prevent rioters from coming into their neighbourhoods to loot shops, particularly the Phoenix Plaza.
As the saying goes, the rest is history. The name "Phoenix" was not only dragged into the mix, but also given a bad name for the perceived targeting of Africans.
The result is that in recent years, the mere mention of the name "Phoenix" evokes the 2021 riots.
What cannot be disputed is that some Phoenix residents tried to protect their neighbourhoods as the looting unfolded.
Then, claims of the racial targeting of Africans emerged. To date, we have not seen mass convictions in courts of those accused of vigilantism and wrongly targeting Africans.
Instead of celebrating Phoenix’s spirit of entrepreneurship, good neighbourliness, enduring family values, and its rich contribution to South Africa’s culture and melting pot, we find ourselves talking about the events of 2021 and claims of Indians targeting Africans.
To some extent, media reporting on this matter exaggerated the tensions between Indians and Africans.
Over the past 32 years, South Africans have appeared to be slowly embracing the diversity and multiculturalism of our rainbow nation. This suggests that trust among races and ethnic groups remains inadequate, and, more importantly, selective. While the trust deficit allows fear-mongers to continue sowing divisions along racial and ethnic lines, there is a glimmer of hope.
Despite being planned as an Indian-only township, Phoenix has evolved into a multiracial working-class settlement since the end of apartheid rule.
This begs the question: what is attracting non-Indians to places like Phoenix and Chatsworth if Indians as a group harbour anti-African sentiments?
The time has come for us to revisit notions of "us" versus "them" along racial and ethnic lines. Viewed purely in racial and ethnic terms, these narratives of "us" and "them" are grossly simplistic, dangerous, and play into the hands of fear-mongers.
Who is really "us" and "them" in post-apartheid South Africa? While Phoenix remains predominantly Indian, there are now thousands of African and coloured families living there.
In addition, thousands of children from the neighbouring African townships of Inanda, Ntuzuma, and KwaMashu (INK) attend school in Phoenix.
Even some African teachers from the INK townships send their children to school in Phoenix rather than in African townships where they teach. So, what do all of these hyped tensions between Indians and Africans tell us about selective trust and racial attitudes?
Few people have pondered the following two arguments: first, why would African families in Phoenix continue to live there if the area is hostile to Africans? The interesting part is that no study or information has found that African families who lived in Phoenix before the 2021 riots have relocated to other areas.
Similarly, there is no evidence to suggest that the number of African families relocating to Phoenix has slowed since the 2021 riots because of perceived anti-African sentiments.
Second, why would parents from INK send their children to schools in Phoenix if they do not trust Indian schools and teachers to give their children a good education?
Again, there is no evidence to suggest that African parents whose children attended Phoenix schools during and after the riots have stopped sending their children to Indian schools in Phoenix.
There are other dangers with pushing the narrative of "us" versus "them" along racial lines. The narrative that "us" versus the other should be racially constructed, neglects and ignores certain realities. For example, "us" can refer to patriotic South Africans who pay taxes, rates, water, and electricity bills, versus those who do not.
"Us" and "them" can also refer to those who vote for the same political parties. Then there are South Africans who vote based not on race but on genuine calculation of what each party has to offer the people of South Africa.
As people in Phoenix and across South Africa mark the 50th anniversary of this gigantic township, it is important to remember that Phoenix has come a long way in fostering school integration.
The history of the present-day Phoenix is a tale of more than one era. It dates back to 1904, when it became a spiritual sanctuary for the international icon of peaceful resistance, Mahatma Gandhi. It evolved into a township for Indians in 1976, and then a multiracial residential area after 1994.
Phoenix officially became an Indian township in 1976 when the National Party government designated it as an Indian area. Under the Group Areas Act, the apartheid government forcibly removed Indian families from mixed-race areas such as Cato Manor and Inanda to resettle them in Phoenix.
The decision to designate Phoenix an Indian area was in line with the apartheid policy of strict racial segregation. As a policy, racial segregation sought to divide races in such a way that the oppressed races (Indians or Asians, coloureds or mixed race, and Africans) would not unite in the fight for equal rights and opportunities.
In this context, an argument can be made that apartheid rule paved the way for tensions among races and ethnic groups to emerge.
One way or another, the apartheid government did succeed in driving a wedge between races and ethnic groups. This can be seen in the formation of racially-based political parties, even in the post-apartheid era, unequal opportunities, and the occasional tensions, as the one we witnessed in 2021.
However, Phoenix has also produced political activists who symbolise unity across races. These include Gandhi’s granddaughter, Ela Gandhi, who represented Phoenix as the ANC’s member of Parliament. Then there is Mewa Ramgobin, a prominent anti-apartheid activist who served as the co-treasurer of the United Democratic Front.
As we reflect on Phoenix’s history, it is important to remember its evolution and how it is rapidly becoming a melting pot of post-apartheid South Africa.
** The views expressed do not necessarily reflect the views of IOL or Independent Media.