[This morning I had a fascinating discussion with a coloured woman I work with. Coloured, for those who don’t know are people who are born of black/white marriages – the brown people of S.Africa. Despite what others outside S.Africa may think, “race” is a well-defined term in this country. Everyone knows which group they belong to – EVEN NOW.

The Coloured people number almost the same number as us whites – about 4 million or more. i.e. about 9% or so of the country’s population.

Interestingly, though they were discriminated against under Apartheid, the Coloured people have always felt they identify more with WHITES than with blacks. They mostly speak Afrikaans and they regard themselves as “Brown Afrikaners” – and in many ways, the White Afrikaners accept them as a type of Afrikaner-derivative.

This morning I was getting some coffee when I asked one coloured woman why another coloured lady was not in the office. She then started telling me this story.

The other coloured lady had not been at work for 2 days because she had wanted a sliding door on her home replaced with another door. So she had got a black guy to do the job. He came and removed the door… but did not put another in!! So she was sitting in her house without a door, fighting with this black builder…

Then suddenly this coloured woman leaned forward and said to me, “I am racist”… she repeated it, “I am RACIST!” she said. I was taken aback.

I asked her why?

She said that “blacks get away with everything – EVEN MURDER!” Then she went on to say that the blacks are just the same AS THEIR LEADERS in Government! She said look at President Mbeki and the Government ministers!

She went on to say that she and many coloureds are bitter for once having supported the ANC! She said that their faith in the ANC was going downhill like “Victoria Falls waterfall!” She said they had supported the ANC and now the ANC was not delivering on anything.

“What is the problem?” I asked.

She said that coloured people can’t get jobs, their kids aren’t accepted into colleges and universities.

She went on to say that her son was studying Electrical Engineering when on the day before his exam, some blacks hijacked him. One even bit him on his finer where he had a ring she had given him. She said her son was so gentle, and she was beside herself with rage that blacks had hijacked him and hurt him.

Interestingly, just last night, the Reverend Alan Boesak, whom I despise, who is also a pro-ANC coloured actually said a similar thing on the TV program FOKUS. Boesak also spoke about Coloured support for the ANC and how the ANC was not keeping their promises.

The coloured woman went on to say that young coloured people are leaving South Africa in droves. She said in her family, out of 18 grandchildren 8 had left. In a friend’s family, out of about 23 grandchildren, 18 or so had already left!

I asked her if this was a general feeling among coloureds. She said in her community and among friends and family, they were getting sick of the ANC and the blacks.

I found this very interesting, but not completely surprising.

I think that while Coloureds can be “fence sitters” in choosing between “black and white”… they naturally tend more towards us whites. But the ANC tried to win them over… and now the ANC may be losing them FAST. There are several signs this may be happening.

I think it is great. I’m open to the idea of alliances with non-white groups who wish to associate with whites. And the two groups I’ve wondered about are: Coloureds, a portion of the Zulus, and a couple of other black tribes.

The Coloureds in the Cape are the ONLY non-white group in the country, who voted for the former Apartheid National Party in both 1994 and 1999. They actually are the lynchpin that kept the NP alive.

As I have said, the ANC and the Blacks are such liars… such over-promisers… and under-performers… that they may discredit themselves.

Of course, the ANC could also try playing the ultimate race card by getting ALL non-whites to gang up on us whites. And they might pull it off… but then again… you never know.

It could be that whites are regaining credibility whereas the ANC’s lies are just causing it to go downhill all the way.

It looks to me as if the ANC is heading for trouble in the next election.

When Jani Allan and I did some radio shows on Cape Talk in 2000, before she was fired, we had a great response from Coloured people. So I still think Coloured people could make some interesting allies.

This morning one of my volunteers was chatting to me. He came to me, smiling and said to me, Jan, do you realise that the odds against us whites aren’t really 10 to 1 as you said… And he said something interesting which I will not repeat. We smiled. Then I said to him, well, let me tell you another reason why the odds are much better than 10 to 1 – and I told him something quietly which I keep to myself as a result of some studies I did. Then I told him about the coloured woman. Then we both smiled. I said to him that in my view, with some work, we could get as many as 1/3rd of the population of this country on our side… the BETTER 1/3rd… and that’s all we need. Then its a done deal. Then we’re a hop-skip and a jump away either from getting our own country by military force or by almost destroying the ANC at the ballot box (which they will cheat anyway).

The ANC’s ONLY HOPE NOW, is to play the White Race card – the final trump card – to say to ALL non-whites: “Come, let us steal EVERYTHING FROM THE WHITES…” Their ONLY HOPE NOW is to play the ultimate race card… to target us for Mass Theft, like Mugabe did against the Farmers in Zim. But … whether even that will work… is a question on my mind. The ANC are losing credibility SO FAST that I’m not sure how far they will get.

There is some hope, as I see it for some SANITY in this country, as it falls apart… Man… its not just WHITES waking up… others are waking up too… perhaps even SOME BLACKS… perhaps…

There seem to be a lot of news reports suggesting that there is serious tension between the Blacks and Coloureds.

The beautiful thing about the ANC is that they’re failures… and its catching up with them – FAST. Their only hope is to tell a *LOT* more lies, and to promise to start portioning what whites own among everyone else. Their only hope is to play “Robin Hood” and rob us en masse.

But all in all, I’m quite delighted by it all. Let them try their luck. Let them try their tricks. It might just blow up in their faces. Jan]