South Africa's national conference on racism ended at the weekend with a ringing call to action to counter the racist legacy of South Africa's past.
The measures suggested included the introduction of "antiracism training" in schools and, more controversially, the payment of reparations to the victims of racism, presumably by the beneficiaries of apartheid.
As most delegates left the palatial headquarters of the new Sandton Convention Centre in Greater Johannesburg in a mood of self-congratulation, political observers were unsure how successful they had been in advancing the crusade against racism.
Even before the conference ended, the Afrikanerbond - corporate successor to the once powerful Afrikaner Broederbond or Afrikaner Brotherhood - withdrew in protest against the perceived approval of the conference chairman, Mr Barney Pityana of the Human Rights Commission, of attacks on whites.
Even before the conference started, the Democratic Party (DP), the largest of opposition party, complained that it had been designed to advance the cause of the ruling African National Congress. The DP complaint was linked to the accusation that President Thabo Mbeki was abandoning the ANC's non-racial policy for a pro-black Africanist agenda, designed to retain its hold over the indigenous black majority.
DP objections were strengthened by the refusal of the organisers to include its leader, Mr Tony Leon, on the programme of scheduled speakers while allotting time to three ANC heavyweights, President Mbeki, Deputy President Jacob Zuma, in their presidential capacities, and ANC parliamentary fronbencher, Mr Pallo Jordan.
President Mbeki did little to assuage fears that the conference would target white racism while neglecting black racism. Three of the central tenets of his opening address were: (1) that blacks were the "victims of racism rather than the perpetrators", (2) that what the conference had to deal with was "white anti-black racism", and (3) that whites were therefore primarily responsible for ending racism.
Dr Jordan, a historian and formidable debater, reinforced fears that whites were the quarry when he charged that most whites were in a state of denial about their role in the imposition of apartheid. He noted that the National Party, the party that introduced apartheid, was returned to power with ever-increasing majorities for decades after it won the 1948 general election. He draw a parallel between their "collective amnesia" and the "holocaust denial" of Hitler apologists.
He was bluntly told by Mr Kallie Kriel, of the conservative Mineworkers Union: "As a young white person, I think it is very important that we eradicate racism in all its forms. Your speech came down to the bashing of whites." Mr Dene Smuts, of the DP, accused Dr Jordan of ignoring progress in the abolition apartheid laws and practices during the past decade, and, instead, of "speaking like an ANC Chihuahua".
But while the mainly black delegates applauded Dr Jordan when he attacked the Mineworkers Union - which once championed the reservation of jobs for whites - for protesting against the "racism" in ANC attempts to redress the past through affirmative action, they gave a standing ovation to Ms Nozipho January-Bardill, when she pleaded with them to recognise that whites had also been victims of apartheid.
The "meaningless killings, the lies and the indoctrination" had eroded their humanity and left "deep scars" in their hearts and psyches, she said.