Racial polarisation in this country is still very visible and we need to afford ourselves the freedom to deal with our issues and overcome generalisations

MANY public forums have been initiated with the aim of creating an open dialogue to debate one of South Africa's most problematic issues: race and racism. But as it turns out many of these open dialogues are neither open nor have any dialogue.

There is a desperate need for us to hear the views of all South Africans and discuss them in the spirit of cooperation and partnership, and not of confrontation and exclusion.

Racial polarisation in this country is still very visible and we need to afford ourselves the freedom to deal with our issues and overcome generalisations.

That is where our true freedom lies. We must realise that the very things that make us different are the things that make us whole, and indeed, South African.

There are several organisations and individuals raising the race spectre, calling for "debate", but too often they are raising this as a phantom to mask or even promote their inherently racist ideas. The ANC Youth League makes for an excellent case study.

Before 1994 the ANCYL had a very clear mandate - to be an energetic and radical opponent of a formidable enemy. Mandela, Sisulu and other founders of the ANC youth wing had a very clear opponent: they could see and identify it clearly.

But the tide has turned and the ANC is now the ruling party. Yet youth league leader Julius Malema seems to want to continue in his predecessors' footsteps, demanding a "revolution".

He's missed the point that there is no longer a revolution to fight for, at least not in the sense that he seems to understand it. Yes, Malema calls the "fight for the economic emancipation of his people" a revolution, but it is an invisible one. Malema has pretensions of taking up a fight against nefarious white capitalists on behalf of the poor and downtrodden - a Robin Hood of Soshunguve rather thanSherwood. But this falls flat: Robin Hood was - depending on which version you read - a yeoman farmer or a dispossessed nobleman.

He didn't pause before engaging Little John to a quarterstaff match to remove a R250000 Breitling watch. He didn't retire after a hard day's challenge to the Sherriff of Nottingham to a R16-million mansion in Sherwood Forest. And neither the oppressed peasants of Nottingham, nor his own Merry Men voiced concern about Robin's state tenders.

Malema's constant rants from the rooftops and balconies on nationalisation are nothing more than a cloak for a hidden racist agenda. Why else would he call a journalist a "bloody agent" with "white tendencies"? Do whites have tendencies? Is white bad? Can blacks have white tendencies?

Similarly with Steve Hofmeyer. As a musician, he has a fan base and thus a following. And he has decided to throw himself into advocating the rights of the Afrikaner. The problem with Hofmeyer is that white people don't think anybody takes him seriously, but people do - as they do with Malema.

Their views, however racist they might be, need to be openly debated.

There are still too many South Africans with underlying racist views. Not the majority, but I am reminded of the comments of Jesse Jackson: "An organised minority is a political majority." The labels we allow the vocal minority to attach to people from other races are the very ideas that lead a wider audience to believe our generalisations are true.

I recently had a letter published in Sowetan relating to a similar issue. The response was enormous. I had complete strangers locating me on Facebook, wanting to debate my views. And it dawned on me that South Africans are bursting at the seams to express their views on race.

To have a real conversation among people of goodwill. The time has come to tackle the issue head-on. Sweeping the race debate underneath the rug and hoping it will somehow disappear is not the way forward, however cliché that might sound.

One particular response I received read: "I think individuals like yourself have a huge responsibility to convince others that indeed you might not be racist. However, some sections in society might be inclined to be racist -for whatever reasons. The problem I have is that people do not openly talk about this issue and hope that it will fade with the passage of time.

"Racism is an emotive and historic issue, it needs to be dealt with so that we can harmonise our society, not just for us but for future generations, because racial harmony is central to our survival as a nation."

His words are inspiring and he hits the nail on the head.

Without promoting hate speech, we need to openly and bravely express our views and why it is we feel this way. We should not have to be progressive, or liberal, or whatever other hackneyed designation we want to attach in order for us to accept people from other races.

We need the courage to speak and listen and the humility to learn. It should be common practice for people to get along. It should be part of humanity.

• Rudi Massyn is a freelance writer based in Johannesburg.