AUGUST 22, 2000

OHIO BLACK LEGISLATIVE CAUCUS STUNNED BY NEED IN SOUTH AFRICA.

PATRICIA A. KENNARD.

CAPE TOWN, SOUTH AFRICA

The Ohio Legislative Black Caucus saw abject poverty and squalor in the Crossroads area, of Cape Town, which shelters more than 150,000 people in corrugated tin boxes used for housing. Unemployment is as high as 48% in some areas, according to the minister of Finance and Tourism.

The delegation was invited to the Provincial Legislature of the West Cape to meet with Minister, Leon Markovit. “South Africa is still a divided country with one of the highest unemployment rates, which eventually leads to crime,” Markovit said. He is urgently recommending emergency measures be taken to lift South Africa out of its present economic condition. For example, relaxing labor laws that currently hinder business growth that would produce jobs in South Africa.

During the open forum meeting, State Representative, John Barnes, Jr. of the 12^th District in Cleveland said, “South Africa must take stock of its skills to market or the country will continue to decline.”

The delegation took a bus to Riverside Primary School where the members were warmly greeted with rousing songs by the student body. Caucus president, C. J. Prentiss of Cleveland’s 21^st District excited the children by having them recite with her a poem about Harriet Tubman, called the Black Moses for her daring journeys to the north, via The Underground Railroad, to take slaves to freedom.

Cape Town Mayor W. Bantom expressed concerns that apartheid has left black schools without sufficient books, facilities and other equipment to properly educate students. But, while he lamented the deficiencies, Bantom also challenged the USA and others to extend a helping hand to help improve the South African educational system.

Prentiss used the event to make a book presentation to Riverside Primary and Mannenburg Secondary school. A couple thousand books of Afro-Centric origin are being shipped to both schools.