Sibusiso Mpama

Sibusiso Mpama is a final year undergraduate student at the University of KwaZulu-Natal. His majors are Political Science and Sociology. He thinks Durbanites are friendlier and more relaxed than people in other South African cities and also likes Durban because its winters are not as cold. He likes the annual Mr. Price Pro and the attractions associated with it, because he thinks it really brings out the ‘multi-racial’, cosmopolitan make up of the city during June/July every year.

In his chapter, Black Solidarity and black divisions, Sibusiso addresses the importance of being black to him. He recognises strong class differences among blacks: some are seen as ‘less black’ because they enjoyed privileges associated with whites, like attending a ‘Model C’ school and living in a ‘white area.’ He criticises the tendency to stereotype blacks as poor, writing positively about the growing black middle class. However, he says that, despite the burgeoning black middle class, there a growing disparity between ‘the black haves’ (in which he counts himself) and the ‘black have nots’.

Reference:
Mpama, Sibusiso. 'Black Solidarity and black divisions', in Rob Pattman and Sultan Khan (Eds.), Undressing Durban (Durban: Madiba Press, 2007), pp. 332-333.