Sport seems to be the only thing uniting South Africans

"From 1948 there was white power, from 1994 black power, now in 2008, there is no power".

So said an elderly lady from Bloemfontein, reflecting on the electricity crisis that are causing blackouts on a daily basis. Underlying this humour there are deeper and darker feelings felt by many of the whites, whom I met in the Orange Free State, a former Afrikaner stronghold.

I have been shocked, surprised and deeply pained to hear the word 'kaffir' used very frequently during my stay here.  It was as if, as a Jewish person, someone had called me a f**king yid or used the term behind my back. 

When challenged on the use of this word, the white man and women's response is simple: "We have no rights any more. All our houses have to have iron bars, we can't even walk the dog at night for fear of being mugged, murdered or raped".

Certainly, it is true that crime is endemic and few whites will walk the streets in the evening.  Almost every house I have seen in a white neighbourhood - whether it be in Bloemfontein or Johannesburg is protected with barbed wire and bars on the windows. Every white I have spoken to thus far is touched by severe crime in some way whether it be themselves or their relatives and friends.

These whites also point to government corruption.  Even President Mbeki is implicated in an arms scandal and the new President of the ANC, Mr Jacob Zuma, faces a string of court cases.  There is great fear that South Africa will go the way of Zimbabwe. One white told me simply: "We can't tolerate them, they can't tolerate us". He added that there were white armed underground movements ready and waiting if "'Mugabe-ism' came to South Africa". "We will probably lose because there are less of us than there are them, but at least we will have gone down with a fight".

What makes this remark all the more chilling is that it didn't come from a member of the far right, but just a father living in a simple suburb.  He wasn't a political activist by any stretch of the imagination.

Another more liberal-minded Afrikaner suggested that South Africa was like Russia after communism. The country was corrupt and controlled by criminal gangs. He cited the fact that South Africa has apparently the highest road accidents per capita in the world (there were 245 serious crashes on Easter Friday alone across the country), as an example of the anarchy that was occurring post-apartheid. So 'white flight' to western countries by the thousands is cited as an inevitability and also a disaster as when they leave, all their skills go with them.

I was thinking of all this as I read Barack Obama's very powerful speech on race last week. Senator Obama was careful to highlight white grievance over issues like affirmative action and preferential housing.  He also suggested that some black leaders in the United States, including his extremist pastor, were stuck in the 1960s and 1970s. Despite some of progress made on race relations, some of the black leaders had refused to move forward. Many of the whites in South Africa say the same about black organisations such as the Trade Union movements and cite demonstrations with placards saying 'kill all Whites'. 

And yet, writing this piece as I sit in a prosperous Johannesburg shopping mall, it is impossible not to see the other side.  As people walk up and down, mostly whites with designer bags, it is the blacks in this Mall doing all the menial jobs. I have been astounded to go to places of unparalleled luxury such as the Sun City resort built by whites and mainly used by white holidaymakers and tourists and to travel but ten minutes away and see black inhabitants living in shanty towns, in houses made up of corrugated metal.  Such places are not too far from the shopping malls either and often just literally a few minutes away from rich white neighbourhoods.

Such a situation of white resentment against black empowerment and the gap between rich and poor represent a Molotov cocktail ready to be thrown at some time or another.  It is probably thanks to the immense statesmanship of Nelson Mandela and F W De Klerk that it hasn't happened yet.

On a final note, there seems to be an ongoing debate as to whether South Africa is 'one nation'. Such a term seems an impossibility. Go to a cash machine to withdraw money and you will be presented with up to ten different languages on the machine. Differences abound between Afrikaner and English South African and between the numerous South African tribes in their millions, not forgetting the ten million Indians who mostly live in Durban. All this makes the prospect of unity that much harder. The only thing that seems to unite everybody is sport. South Africa winning the Rugby World Cup did wonders to unite the country. It is hoped that the Soccer World Cup in 2010 will do the same, if the stadium can be built on time and the problems with mismanagement and corruption are dealt with.