SOUTH AFRICA: South Africa's poor whites living in Krugersdorp camp hope for a better life but see little prospect of change offered by election

Record ID: 459880

  • Title: SOUTH AFRICA: South Africa's poor whites living in Krugersdorp camp hope for a better life but see little prospect of change offered by election
  • Date: 7th May 2014
  • Summary: KRUGERSDORP, SOUTH AFRICA (MAY 7, 2014) (REUTERS) RESIDENTS DISHING UP FOOD FROM LARGE VATS POOR WHITE RESIDENTS WAITING IN A QUEUE FOR FOOD POOR WHITES OUTSIDE HOME IN SQUATTER CAMP VOTING STATION RESIDENTS WALKING TO POLLING STATION (SOUNDBITE) (English) KRUGERSDORP RESIDENT, CLAIR PALM, SAYING: "I don't see a good change, I don't see the country progressing as much as they think it's progressing, it's a lie, they're living in a fictitious world, where politicians make all the decisions and a man on the street doesn't have any say." VOTING STATION SIGN (SOUNDBITE) (English) KRUGERSDORP RESIDENT, SEUN DU TOIT, SAYING: "They always say that the white people is discriminating but it isn't like that, it's coming more from the black people side, discriminating, because if there's bad things happening, they always take the black people's part, and always it's the same story of the white people with discrimination and all the things of all old days, but isn't like that." (SOUNDBITE) (English) KRUGERSDORP RESIDENT, MARIUS VAN ECK, SAYING: "As a white South African male, I see it you know when you apply for jobs, they don't even look at your application if you are white, it's not even necessary to handing it, why don't give me a chance you know to prove myself, I have always been a believer, the better man for the job, it doesn't matter what race, colour but give every man a fair chance." VARIOUS OF RESIDENTS IN A QUEUE TO VOTE
  • Embargoed: 22nd May 2014 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: South Africa
  • Country: South Africa
  • Topics: Domestic Politics,People
  • Reuters ID: LVAX6VBBBDQGLVPIO734H1W6WMQ
  • Story Text: An Afrikaner community living in Krugersdorp, west of Johannesburg said they feel left out in the new South Africa.
    The residents who are mainly uneducated and unskilled have been living in poor conditions, similar to Black South Africa's squatter camps in the townships where there are no basic services like water and sanitation.
    Last year President Jacob Zuma visited a similar squatter camp in Pretoria where he provided low cost houses to poor white families.
    He said he was not aware that some white South Africans lived in such conditions and promised to help improve the situation.
    But residents living in the squatter camps say not much has changed and the country is not progressing.

    "I don't see a good change, I don't see the country progressing as much as they think it's progressing, it's a lie, they're living in a fictitious world, where politicians make all the decisions and a man on the street doesn't have any say," said Clair Palm outside a school polling station.
    Polls suggest the allure of the ruling African National Congress as the conqueror of apartheid will prevail even among those with no memory of white-minority rule.
    Polls put ANC support at around 65 percent, only a shade lower than the 65.9 percent it won in the 2009 election that brought Zuma to power.
    Another Krugersdorp resident told Reuters that black South Africans are now discriminating against white South Africans.

    "They always say that the white people is discriminating but it isn't like that, it's coming more from the black people side, discriminating, because if there's bad things happening, they always take the black people's part, and always it's the same story of the white people with discrimination and all the things of all old days, but isn't like that," said Seun Du Toit.
    Marius Van Eck echoed that sentiment, saying he was unable to get a job because of his colour.

    "As a white South African male, I see it you know when you apply for jobs, they don't even look at your application if you are white, it's not even necessary to handing it, why don't give me a chance you know to prove myself, I have always been a believer, the better man for the job, it doesn't matter what race, colour but give every man a fair chance," Van Eck said.
    Voters young and old lined up across the country, evoking memories of the huge queues that snaked through streets and fields for South Africa's historic all-race elections in 1994.
    The ANC's enduring popularity has surprised analysts who said the party could suffer as its glorious past recedes into history and voters focus instead on the sluggish economic growth and slew of scandals that have typified Zuma's first term.
    Africa's most sophisticated economy has struggled to recover from a 2009 recession - its first since 1994 - and the ANC's efforts to stimulate growth and tackle 25 percent unemployment have been hampered by powerful unions.
    The ANC's nearest rival, the Democratic Alliance, polled 16.7 percent nation-wide in 2009 and, even though it has been gaining ground, is still seen too much as the political home of privileged whites to have mass appeal.
    Votingat 1900 GMT and a firm idea of the outcome should emerge by midday on May 8 although there is little doubt about the result.
    jnb/jrc
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