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a “South African Community Initiative”:
Directly Empowering Black Townships Tm & Rural Areas
Initiative was conceived and developed by: Cedric Raymond de la Harpe:
Initiative developed during the period July 2004 and January 2010:
Foreword:
My wife and I first visited Soweto in July 2004, and we were pleasantly surprised at all the love and warmth we received, particularly in view of our link to the conservative Afrikaner world.
Then, we discover the impact of the ‘Lost Generation’, the lack of skills that this youth group have, and the impact that this ‘lost generation’ has had on their children and grand-children’s lack of skills development.
During the past five years, I have penned more than 100 pages outlining what I experienced and felt in the Township areas. These topics relate to the lack of facilities in the Township and Rural areas, the fact that no school children play structured soccer in the Township, there is no recreation in the Township, and that we were not developing ‘holistic children’.
For the past five years we have not ceased to empower those that we can access.
Then, during 2009, I am driven by an animosity that many young blacks have towards whites, I devote six months to understanding the issues and finding a solution to the problem that I see in the Townships and Rural areas.
I am driven to find a solution, the only obvious solution is that our previously advantages community, (mainly white) are needed on a regular basis in the Township, to transfer and skills and empower the youth.
Then, as we focus on an incentive to get the previously advantaged individuals, (predominantly white) to participate, all the youth that I have been interacting with respond, “That is brilliant”.
What I was not accepting during this process, is that all the youth, and all the elder people in the Township are all responding with “That is brilliant”.
Having established a partnership to drive this initiative, having levelled and extended the playing fields of decision making, we unanimously agreed that my initial motivation will live with me, but we need to allow the power of the initiative, to take precedence over everything.
The Township and Rural Communities; invite the previously advantaged individuals to regularly visit an identified community in the Township and Rural areas, where, over a defined period, they will be required to transfer skills and empower the participating Township and Rural individuals, and on successful completion of this defined service, the appointed community board will certify that the previously advantaged individual has successfully completed the process, and that the community will support any application for exemption of the ‘Empowerment Policy’ that restricts the participants future development”.
Yes, the Township and Rural community are offering the previously advantaged individuals, (mainly white) a possibility of acquiring exemption from the Empowerment Policy restrictions, provided they participate.
Cedric de la Harpe
South African Community Initiative:
Directly Empowering Black Township Tm & Rural Areas
Initiative was conceived and developed by: Cedric Raymond de la Harpe:
Initiative developed during the period July 2004 and January 2010:
The following page describes the sturctures that will become part of the initiative.
Did we fail ourselves after the dawn of democracy, and have we failed South Africa?
Imagine a South Africa ‘if we had implemented the following during the period 1994 to 2009’?
Those previously advantaged individuals who had had the opportunity and privilege to develop their numerous skills due to the historical back-ground had been introduced to the level of deterioration that our Township and Rural communities had suffered though our Apartheid process, and in particular, the deterioration during the conflict period, from 1980 to 1990. And from this introduction a few thousand of these previously advantaged individuals, having understood the need in the Township communities, devoted 3 hours per week to these communities, for a period of 3 years, ‘Directly Empowering the Black Township’ communities, with the transfer of their skills, including:-
1: Life-skills development.
2: Computer skills.
3: Technical skills.
4: Home-work and assignments.
5: Reading, Maths, Science.
6: Chess, drama and other extramural activities.
7: Sport, rugby, cricket, golf, hockey, touch-rugby.
8: Mentoring the business people, local councillors.
(There in no end to the areas in which empowerment can take place).
For every one thousand of these previously advantaged individuals empowering a minimum of 200 people, who would all be linked to another 5 people, imagine the integration that have taken place in the past fifteen years, imagine the empowerment of these communities, and imagine the links to the global world that we would have achieved.
The fact:
“BUT” it has not happened, not many previously advantage individuals have invested 358 hours in the Township to transfer skills and empower the Township communities.
If any previously advantage individuals can see a glimpse of what the above scenario could have achieved in the development and successful integration of our country, then, you are invited to participate in the 2010 to 2020 period, aimed at leaving a SA Legacy to our children, that we will all be proud of.
Let us integrate and not separate.
Let us help repair the damage, through ‘directly empowering the black Townships’ & rural areas.
Easier said than done?
Yes, this scenario is easier said than done. We believe the township is dangerous, the black people rob you, hijack your car, maybe they will even kill you?
No, we are wrong, the bulk of the community have their arms extended just waiting for the empowerment process to take place.
To the previously advantaged white community, many believe that we do not owe a debt to society, yet we are all paying indirectly through the various empowerment policies that will never have a sunset clause in our life-time.
BEE, Affirmative Action, Job Reservations, Sports Quota’s, University Bursaries, and University Entrance.
Yes, we have a debt; it is not just a debt to the black communities for pre-1994 damage, but a debt that we need to settle for ourselves, for allowing this situation to develop after 1994.
Successful integration takes place in the ‘worker’ communities and there must be many international examples that we could have taken into consideration. Here, in South Africa our integration has mainly been focussed on the upper and upper-middle class communities, both in business and sport.
If we look at the ‘worker’ communities, the Black, the Coloured, the Asian, and the White worker communities, as a country we have succeeded to separate them, rather than allow for integration.
South Africa is gradually deteriorating, we can see and feel it in the white communities, and very few people in the Townships are not feeling and hurting as the result of this deterioration.
Every South African who is not part of the ‘Still Disadvantaged Individual’ community has a debt to the South African society.
How do we offer an ‘incentive/discount’ to those who wish to pay their DEBT?
During the past six months of discussions in the Townships and Rural areas the communities all are preparing for the implementation of empowerment programs that are required.
The communities are all in agreement that we need to offer those whites who wish to participate; an incentive to participate, an incentive to encourage them to transfer those skills that they have to transfer.
The proposed action plan to assist those wish to settle a debt:
As discussed above, all whites are indirectly paying a debt to society, through the following policies that we support, and wish to use these policies as a positive motivation and as an incentive to encourage the whites to integrate into the Townships.
Present policies:
1: Black Economic Empowerment participants from the previously advantaged communities.
2: Employment seekers from the previously advantaged communities.
3: Sports participants.
Proposed addition / exemption to the present policies:
The ‘Directly Empowering Black Townships’ initiative has created, and will create more community structures, that will monitor those white individuals that apply to participate, and on the successful completion of the empowerment period, the community structure will certify the individual for having successfully achieved the DEBT process.
Once the structure has an agreed number of individuals who have successfully been certified as having successfully contributed to the DEBT process, we will apply to the Constitutional Court to give consideration to crediting the successful candidate with ‘honorary black’ status, allowing in the participation of the present government empowerment policies.
Adopt a community through SA Legacy structures:
o University at an equal level to the previously disadvantaged youth.
For ‘Sports Quota’ compliance.
I remember a cartoon that reflected the possibility of Luke Watson being given a Quota status, the cartoon was in poor taste.
As a white youth, concerned with the possibility of not being selected for a provincial or national team, will be encouraged link to the ‘adopt a school community’ and assist in the skilling of adults or learners their selected sports skill.
Rehabilitation must take place in the adopted community.
Should the Constitution Court approve your certificate as having paid your debt to society, it should entitle you to be selected for a team on an equal basis of your black counter-part.
Terms and conditions:
Initially SA Legacy will levy an admin fee of R 1 200 per year, (R100 pm) to manage and administer the program that you will be doing within the DEBT process. Provision has been made for any individual who wishes to participate and is unable to pay this amount fee.
As part of the process, the applicant will be required to transfer skills, within a nominate Township Structure for a 3 hours per week, over a total of 3 years, and a minimum of 358 hours during this period.
The existing policies contradict our constitution, but, while we have not achieved a level of ‘empowerment’ we live in a status that does not permit us to challenge these policies.
Once we have empowered large numbers of SDI’s, we have little doubt that we would be able to approach the constitutional court to rule on individuals and companies.
As a member of the previously advantaged community you should have faith in contributing towards this debt relief system, accepting that every ‘still disadvantaged person’ that you empower, will be just reward, and as the numbers of SDI’s that we are empowering increase, so will the pressures be placed on the government to include you in their existing policy, or modify the existing policy to provide for the process.
In the example of the financial debt situation, approach the creditor before he/she approaches you and talk to them.
The ‘Directly Empowering Black Township’ structures, will bank 10% of your contribution in a trust account for the proposed legal application, and the balance of the R100 per month fee, contributed by the previously advantaged individual will be used to manage the DEBT structures and operations, leaving the corporate and sponsors the opportunity to get involved in providing the funding for the community requirements as separate and identifiable projects that can be identified and measured and provided through the 2010 Sports Challenge Foundation.
Sponsorship and corporate initial funding is required for advertising the Directly Empowering Black Township project, inviting participation and interested bodies to get involved, and the development of the modified website and control systems required to monitor the DEBT operation.
Let us get started, let us start talking and contributing to empowering the Townships.
Sponsors and the corporate world.
We believe that Sports sponsors and the corporate social investment will find root in communities where we have a partnership agreement in place between a previously advantaged individual and a community through the empowerment program that we implement.
South Africa in 5 years?
If we start today, the interaction and integration with our grass-roots community will impact directly of the reduction of poverty, hate crime, violent crime, domestic crime, school violence, HIV infections, and we will all live in a South Africa with a heritage that we will all be proud of.
We will all be surprised at just how much we will learn from both sides, while bringing the Township and rural communities into the Global World.
Invitation to visit:
I extend an invitation to any interested person wishing to visit with me in Soweto to assess the accuracy of our findings and our directions.
Should you wish me to address any organization that may wish to familiarize themselves with the initiative, I would do so with pleasure.
Please do not hesitate to contact us.
Let us integrate and empower South Africa:
Cedric de la Harpe:
‘A concerned passionate South African, a Jacob Zuma supporter, ANC voter, whose eyes have been opened’
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