How apartheid killed Johannesburg's cycling culture

[Slowbee]

It's a pity that we always have to debate in absolutes. Seems apartheid can only be 100% to blame (like implied by the clickbait title of the article but not the article itself) or not at all. (And if you can disprove one extreme then by deduction you have proofed the other extreme)

 

History doesn't work like that, clearly the development of motorised vehicles and mass transit also played a role (as mentioned many times by just about everybody on this thread), the disruption caused by mass removals and apartheid also played a big part. It doesn't have to be only one or the other.

Go was your mouth out with soap and sit in the naughty corner.

 

No, go ride your road bike with mountain bike baggies, short socks and hydration pack. You have been red carded.

 

We cannot have reason and logic around here.

[The Ouzo]

Go was your mouth out with soap and sit in the naughty corner.

 

No, go ride your road bike with mountain bike baggies, short socks and hydration pack. You have been red carded.

 

We cannot have reason and logic around here.

but thats the thing, its not just on here, its in society too. 

Its either left or right, there is no in between.

[Jof]

Lol it must be funny for you to watch a bunch of mostly whiteys preaching about apartheid

 

Can you expand on this " its ongoing effects on today's generation of "natives"

 

Thanks

 

 Well, just as an example; Some parents still don't want their kids to mix with other races at school . This still happens, and it confuses the hell out the little ones. So even today that ideology continues to be preached and it takes a concerted effort to teach and remind our kids that they are just as worthy.

 

Although,  young ones today mix and respect each other no matter the background. And they openly discuss these matters. Its definitely positive sign that the tide is changing rapidly. Got to stay positive.

[Chris_]

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Commuters need dedicated lanes from townships/suburbs into town then the culture of commuting to work will grow. As SA driving becomes more "Africanised" (people driving on pavements to get to the front/jumping red robots/chaotic 4ways) these lanes need to be minibus proof. I come from PMB and cant imagine anyone cycling on the Edendale Road into town. You will get knocked down. 

 

.....

 

(Side note) - Tell you where I realised the extent of this, not on a bicycle but a motorbike. As you do one slips through to the front of a traffic light queue when everyone is waiting at a red. Suddenly one car, two cars, then everyone is driving forwards - light still red. Here I sit like a lemon on the line just waiting to be slammed.

 

Its getting worse. Taxis and these little delivery scooters are getting noticeably worse every day, joburg at least, and the rest of commuters seem to be quietly following suit.

[RocknRolla]

(Side note) - Tell you where I realised the extent of this, not on a bicycle but a motorbike. As you do one slips through to the front of a traffic light queue when everyone is waiting at a red. Suddenly one car, two cars, then everyone is driving forwards - light still red. Here I sit like a lemon on the line just waiting to be slammed.

 

Its getting worse. Taxis and these little delivery scooters are getting noticeably worse every day, joburg at least, and the rest of commuters seem to be quietly following suit.

 

Same, and have you recently experienced the aggression and upset if you stop on amber? 

[Chris_]

Same, and have you recently experienced the aggression and upset if you stop on amber? 

 

People drive SO quickly and are so unbelievably aggressive. I've had many a screeching brake behind me and some pleasantries exchanged. It blows my mind. Ha and yes - amber lights are like that red flag jobbie to bulls.

[The Ouzo]

Same, and have you recently experienced the aggression and upset if you stop on amber? 

there is a traffic light exiting my suburb. If its green for me and there are cars approaching from the left or right I wont move until they are stationary, without fail there will be a few cars sailing straight through the red light.

[Jof]

Your opinion and views are fair and just, like everyone else's in their own rights, and a worthwhile read. You describe it exactly as how I've learnt it to be from stories.

My question, however, is as follows: Did Apartheid cause you/the "natives" (presumably blacks?) to stop commuting to work by bicycle? Was it not because there was a motorised vehicle providing faster and/or more convenient transport at the same or cheaper travel rate?

 

PS: the bolded part is partly addressed below. The apartheid victims can blame it for their current circumstances, whether true or not, for the rest of their bloodlines, but as long as they refuse to take ownership of their own circumstances, they'll stay exactly where they are in life and mind.

 

 

Not an attack on you, but addressing what I occasionally hear.

I think centuries is exaggerated. If it takes centuries to get over things, then the people are either narrow minded or resistant to prosperity, as learning, accepting, growing and moving on will bring it.

Conversely, "millenials and gen z" have experienced an entirely different upbringing of "baby boomers" (the generation roughly present during apartheid). We're exposed to people in power with zero morality, zero accountability, zero integrity... I can keep going. Are we obliged to complain and blame other generations and cultures into our 15th-25th generation for the state of current affairs? That would be ignorant, pathetic and wholly disproportionate. I don't intend to be part of the crutch-cult.

edit: to tie this into the topic, am I obliged to blame the current race in power because I feel unsafe to cycle in most areas for either work or leisure?

 

"My question, however, is as follows: Did Apartheid cause you/the "natives" (presumably blacks?) to stop commuting to work by bicycle? Was it not because there was a motorised vehicle providing faster and/or more convenient transport at the same or cheaper travel rate?" -   No actually I think it increased all types of transport use. Because you are now forced to live on the fringes , you have to make do with any means of transport that you can afford to get to work.

 

"Not an attack on you, but addressing what I occasionally hear.

I think centuries is exaggerated. If it takes centuries to get over things, then the people are either narrow minded or resistant to prosperity, as learning, accepting, growing and moving on will bring it.

Conversely, "millenials and gen z" have experienced an entirely different upbringing of "baby boomers" (the generation roughly present during apartheid). We're exposed to people in power with zero morality, zero accountability, zero integrity... I can keep going. Are we obliged to complain and blame other generations and cultures into our 15th-25th generation for the state of current affairs? That would be ignorant, pathetic and wholly disproportionate. I don't intend to be part of the crutch-cult.

edit: to tie this into the topic, am I obliged to blame the current race in power because I feel unsafe to cycle in most areas for either work or leisure?"

 

Apartheid laws were legalized from 1948. Up until 1994 those laws were in place, and many people lost their lives trying to either fight for it, or fight against it. That's 46 years of legalized carnage. You can go back further than 1948  to trace its origins. O ja, then there's that slavery thing....but that's another discussion.

 

So for 46 years (and more) we were "exposed to people in power with zero morality, zero accountability, zero integrity.."

 

Should you feel guilty about what others before you did? No. Not your fight. BUT, lets just agree that you should not put a timeframe on our healing process. Everyone lost something during that period, whether its loved ones, economic opportunities that would have benefited your kids today, houses or land next to the beach where your gramps use to farm, and there is now a golf course that you cant afford to join. And on top of that you don't evens play golf...

So we are  reminded of the past injustices on a daily basis.  Learning, accepting growing and moving on will be at our pace.

 

On a positive note , I love my country and I teach my kids to be respectful and tolerant to everyone no matter their background. Everyone is a friend until proven otherwise. That's how we move forward.

 

PS. The current government  consist of more than one race.

[Mamil]

I slouched into the Dischem this morning armed with a script for Cortisone and Defcon 5 antibiotics, green mucous dripping down the inside of my throat and a heavy heart because my teammates are on the way to Willowmore for the Trans Baviaans.

 

One seriously FOMO MOFO.

 

The queue was about 8 or 9 people long and at it's tail, a black woman, probably in her early 40's, smartly dressed holding a Dischem document and a medical aid card. There's a gap between her and the next person and, sensing my question before I've asked it, she indicates that she isn't in the queue and so I take up my seat. We shunt along, one spot at a time for a while, more people joining, a young white guy, a couple of women wearing hijab, a white woman about my age, an elderly coloured man, each politely inquiring of the woman in the last seat on bench if she was in the queue, and she, a gatekeeper granting admittance.

 

I was reading this thread and thinking about the issues raised and reflecting on the recently scorned and repudiated image of the rainbow nation and allowing myself a few moments of indulging that wonderful dream that for a few moments captured our collective imagination and then faded. Here we are, all ages, hues, religious and cultural backgrounds, patiently waiting our turn without privilege or disadvantage, united by our collective coughs, sniffles and inflamed mucosa. Feeling a bit fanciful, perhaps because of slight fever, I wondered if it could be a nice metaphor; all of us sick somehow, waiting cooperatively for the medicine that could make us better.

 

The professional staff were also mixed, a coffee coloured senior pharmacist with an older white guy reporting to her, the patchwork of colours on both sides of the counter. My turn comes at counter 3 and I'm served by a white woman slightly older than I am, mid 50's probably. As I get to the counter a white woman my age asks if I mind if she quickly gets the pharmacy email address from the counter before I'm served and I indicate she should go ahead. 

 

I've dealt with this pharmacist before. She moved heaven and earth to assist me when I got cross with them not too long ago when they bungled a script. She pours out exactly the right amount of cortisone tablets from the bulk size jar and I tell her she's like a cowboy who can tell how many bullets there are in the six shooter simply by holding it. She laughs and we make a few more jokes. Another pharmacist says "Excuse me for a moment" and makes an inquiry of the woman who is helping me.

 

Everything is working well.

 

My medicines are in their cage, zip tied closed and I turn to walk away. As I do so and seizing the gap, the black woman at the tail of the queue says to the the pharmacist very softly but exasperated "Sorry, you haven't forgotten about me have you". The pharmacist's tone changes, becomes more clipped, her smile hardens "No We're still waiting she says. I'll call you don't call me OK, see lovey". 

 

There are no villains in this vignette. No bad people or monsters. Verwoerd is rotting in his grave but the stench of the ideology of which he was a prime protaginist has touched every single one of us in that queue, even those born after '94.

 

The white pharmacist who served me is an intelligent and kind person - I've seen this. As a white male in this domain I have privilege and power - if my script is botched and I am met with an indifferent response from the first line of customer service I can flex this power and demand and receive attention and if I do it skilfully I will be admired and respected for those actions. The white woman who reasonably and politely jumped the queue enjoys a similar set of tacit social permissions. The black woman who waited the 30 minutes plus however long before I got there, receives a tacit communication that she should just sit still, be quiet and wait.

 

I believe the pharmacist would deny that her tone changed - it's an unconsciously exercised behaviour. She doesn't know that she is doing it. If it was raised with her she would feel attacked and unfairly judged. IT doesn't make her a monster or a perpetrator, she is dusted, like all of us, with the accumulated social patterning of generations of violent oppression.

 

I don't know if the black woman was aware of it. I didn't look at her. At this point I stopped my observation of the scene. Perhaps because I'd had enough of the pharmacy and wanted to get home to feel sorry for myself and see what a bout of man flu might bring me by way of special treatment in the house, but more likely because this is what we do. We look away from it. And we look away from it because we are ashamed of it, we know that this is unjust. And maybe I looked away too because I don't know what to do about it. There's no point in attacking the pharmacist, and pointing out how her behavior changed towards this particular client. It would be poor form to patronise the black woman in some way by trying to protect her or make it stop.

 

Apartheid was a nuclear bomb on the social fabric and we are all still radioactive - the half life is centuries, the distortions and mutations of healthy social functioning are profound and often profound in their subtlety. 

 

It's a tragedy what has happened and what is still happening here and it makes me incredibly sad because this is my home and I am seriously considering leaving it.

 

It is bloody difficult being a South African.

[Plentipotential]

 

 

So for 46 years (and more) we were "exposed to people in power with zero morality, zero accountability, zero integrity.."

 

 

That sounds like today's government. So the only thing that's changed is that the Apartheid regime looked after their own and the current lot look after themselves. Now we're all screwed. Unless you are one of the chosen few. It's no wonder the majority of people are pi$$ed off.

[sias]

No actually I think it increased all types of transport use. Because you are now forced to live on the fringes , you have to make do with any means of transport that you can afford to get to work.

Valid points

 

So for 46 years (and more) we were "exposed to people in power with zero morality, zero accountability, zero integrity.." And we are still exposed to them today. Unless the education level in the country increases drastically we will be exposed to them for the next 46 years and more. 

 

On a positive note , I love my country and I teach my kids to be respectful and tolerant to everyone no matter their background. Everyone is a friend until proven otherwise. That's how we move forward. As it should be.

 

PS. The current government  consist of more than one race. Doesn't make it better, see people in power above...

I did not comment on the "slavery" part - as you said it's another discussion 

[Chris_]

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High 5 for oh-so-eloquent writing!

[arendoog]

Not a case of blaming you or me for apartheid, but recognising that, by doing what it did, apartheid created a legacy that will likely take centuries to undo. That is not excusing what the current excuse for a government is doing.

 

Apartheid was the crime that will keep on giving. The worst thing that the Nationalists did was to not properly educate vast numbers of the population, thus creating an ongoing challenge for generations to come.

The biggest crime black people did is to expect other people to educate their own children 

[MTBeer]

The biggest crime black people did is to expect other people to educate their own children 

I must be doing something wrong. Other people educate my children...

[Danger Dassie]

The biggest crime black people did is to expect other people to educate their own children 

 

I read this and think it says far more about you than 'black people' 

Roundly sums up Mamil's earlier post above. 

[Jof]

The biggest crime black people did is to expect other people to educate their own children 

Sjoe…. Um. Let me rather go for a ride.