Heritage Day: The Politics of Belonging

GOOD Statement by Brett Herron, GOOD Secretary-General:

This year, as the government hosts Heritage Day celebrations under the theme “Reimagining our Heritage Institutions for a New Era,” we must ask who belongs in this new era? And who is being excluded?

Across the world, identity politics has taken a troubling turn, fear-mongering and extremist views have become politically profitable again. In the United States, the mainstreaming of racism in political discourse is no longer subtle. Just this week, U.S. Vice President JD Vance used the platform of slain right-wing activist Charlie Kirk to accuse “leftist” groups of undermining national unity. In the UK, far-right figures like Tommy Robinson now boast that labels such as “racist” and “Islamophobe” no longer carry the same power.

This dangerous global trend is not far from home. Here in South Africa, we have several political parties, including within the GNU and in the opposition, that unashamedly campaign around the identity of one racial group over others. Crudely on the basis of ethnic nationalism.

Also within the GNU we have politicians who have partnered with Afriforum and Solidarity in labelling the Basic Education Laws Amendment Act an “attack on Afrikaners”.

All of this signals a drift toward grievance politics and racial essentialism, not unity.

Three decades into democracy, this race-based politics is finding support largely because our governments have failed to meaningfully transform the economy, redistribute land and live up to our collective expectations of a “better life for all”.

For many South Africans of colour, the promise of democracy has not been met. While a limited number of black individuals from the elite and middle class have gained access to the legacy structures of white economic privilege, the vast majority of South Africans remain poor and black.

Fuelling the perception that white South Africans have, to all intents and purposes, “gotten away with apartheid.” At the same time too many now openly pronounce that it is time to “move on,” with no accountability for the deep inequalities and unaddressed injustices that persist.

Each year, Parliamentarians speak of unity in diversity, but too many of those same politicians return to their constituencies to stoke fear and deepen fractures. As the 2026 election season approaches, we will again see political parties campaigning on race, language, and fear, turning cultural identity into a weapon instead of a bridge.

We must reject the temptation to romanticise a fractured past or to repackage division as pride. The only legitimate political divide in this new era is the one Nelson Mandela warned us about,

“It is not our diversity which divides us… Since we have achieved our freedom, there can only be one division among us: between those who cherish democracy and those who do not.”

This Heritage Day, let us recommit to building a South Africa where everyone belongs. Let us reject those who encourage us to fear the so-called “other.” Let us refuse to be divided along the old lines of apartheid thinking, whether they are drawn in race, religion, language, or class.

GOOD Manifesto on International Relations: Promoting positive international relations and cooperation.

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