Sunday Times (Johannesburg) - July 17, 2005
Suthentira Govender

Apartheid may be officially dead, but divisions between race groups still exist, the SA Reconciliation Baro-meter has found in research conduc- ted for the Institute for Justice and Reconciliation.

According to the survey, on an average day 19% of South African city dwellers do not interact with someone of a different race group.

The survey, conducted in major cities, also found that 55% rarely talk to someone of another population group.

Some 77% say that informal social contact between themselves and other groups is almost unheard of.

Jan Hofmeyer, one of the baro-meter's co-ordinators, said the findings suggested that, for most of the country's cities, which include inner cities and suburbs, the struggle continues to change their exclusionist character.

"During the apartheid era, cities were designed for a specific purpose. With the new dispensation, the ethos is to unite, but our cities are designed in a way that pushes us apart," said Hofmeyer.

The survey also found that in SA's four largest cities - Johannesburg, Tshwane, Cape Town and Durban - less than half the respondents indi- cated that they rarely or never talked to each other.

"It should, however, be noted that this interaction may imply anything from a conversation between a parking attendant and driver to high-level business negotiations.

"Such interactions are inevitable - they are imposed by daily routines," said Homeyer, but they reveal-ed nothing of the level of voluntary association between population groups.

Respondents in the four largest cities rated race and class as being among the top three factors causing division among South Africans.

White respondents regarded race as the primary cause of division, while Africans said class and HIV/ Aids were divisive factors.

Hofmeyer said that, despite divisions, attempts at reconciliation had not failed.

"The reality is that eight out of 10 South Africans are black Africans. The chances of Africans interacting with somebody from a minority group is much less than it would be for somebody from a minority group interacting with someone from a majority group.

"What we have found is that there is a strong correlation between unemployment and the amount of inter-action with other groupings.

"Essentially, its not government's responsibility but ours, as citizens, to increase interaction with other popu-lation groups. The opportunity is there."

Richard Ballard, a research fellow at the University of KwaZulu-Natal, said the findings of the survey reflec- ted that South Africans' lives were "still quite separate".

"At one level, it might be avoidance. But, on another level, it might be how the legacy of the apartheid regime works," he said.

"If you're deep in a township and you're unemployed, you're unlikely to encounter people from other race groups.

"I think where there is avoidance is where you get established white communities reacting against poorer black communities - there is a residual racism there."

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