While the author is right that racism persists throughout the white South African community (just scroll through the comments here), am not so convinced of his opinion that the "desperation" of middle class black parents is fueled solely by feelings of cultural inferiority.

May I suggest that most parents want to give their children the best future possible and that they consider a good education to be a critical component of this desire. As has been evidenced in countries around the world, when the public-school system starts visibly deteriorating/collapsing, parents from all ethnic and economic backgrounds will attempt to alleviate the loss by purchasing the best private alternative and “go to great lengths to spend their hard-earned rands trying to attain it”.

The author does a disservice to the good points he makes regarding the insidious influence of feelings of cultural superiority/inferiority by ignoring the real issue driving parental “desperation” in South Africa.