I was talking to Udo Carelse from Talk Radio 702 a few days back, and I made a comment that we as a country don't really need to be too worried about racist or discriminatory acts comitted by individuals, but that when these acts are comitted or condoned by the state, that we need to start worrying that our rights are under attack.

After I went off air, Udo commented that we need to be careful not to see transformation as discrimination. This struck me as rather interesting. In order to confuse transformation with discrimination would imply that that transformation IS discrimination in some form. The difference is whether that discrimination is acceptable to us or not.

I'd like to suggest an ammendment that statement: we need to be careful not to see discrimination as transformation. In order to right the wrongs of the past we don't need to punish those who benefitted from it. We need to rectify the problems and ensure they never come back.

What South Africa needs right now more than anything is for the public to be against racism in any form or guise. Racism against all parties should be equally strongly condemned by all parties. If we do this, I believe we will stamp out all traces of racism fairly quickly.