I sometimes wonder whether would the forefathers of our independence be proud of us? If Steve Biko, Robert Sobukwe, Oliver Tambo were to rise from their graves and walk among us, would they be proud and be happy that they died for the life of the Black man of today?
It does not take much to realise that as Black people, we are still far from freedom. The other day, on a post on Instagram, some person commented that South Africa is Iceland. I took offence to that statement and reversed the narrative to say that Iceland is South Africa. The other comment on the same post, a person wrote a dry joke about South Africa being called South Africa yet it is the country at the southern point of Africa. I’m very patriotic of my country so I educated the man as to how it came to be called South Africa. The following person who commented got me thinking.
Whoever this person was decided that my explanation wasn’t good enough. And so, he went on to protect the colonisers and that they were rightfully correct to the name the country whatever they saw fit. His last sentence is what got me. He said that next time, I should learn my history and ended his comment with a cocky “thanks”. Little did he know, who he was dealing with. I replied that the basis of his argument is the Vacant Land Theory that colonisers and Afrikaner trekkers used to validate their claims to various lands in the country. This propaganda was later debunked as it held no water. Realising his error, he never replied.
That incident made me think of the intelligence of Nelson Mandela. He knew Afrikaans fluently and he used it to rally support for the ANC for the ‘94 elections among the minorities. So much so, he went to Orania to meet the wife of the Architect of Apartheid and spoke Afrikaans with her. Mandela’s intelligence is one that is too amazing for words. During the first days of the CODESA negotiations, the National Party thought that they could dictate the proceedings. They undermined the authority of the ANC and yet Nelson Mandela, fearlessly, reprimanded FW De Klerk and the National Party for their arrogance. The interesting fact is that the undermining of the ANC was so subtle; it was easily missed by the layman.
Such supreme levels of intelligence I wonder, do we, the modern Black Man of South Africa possess it? Steve Biko was one of the first people to realise the evils of the homeland laws when many chiefs given the authority over those homelands did not. These powers of observations made me question my own. In primary school, between grade 1 and 3, there were two different sets of restrooms. The one was for English learners and the other for Afrikaans learners. The restrooms for the English learners were the pits. The ones for the Afrikaans learners were beautiful, with paintings of Barney the Dinosaur all over the walls. They were clean and inviting for the learners while the ones for the English learners were equivalent to ones you would find at a taxi rank. On face level, there is pretty much nothing wrong with the situation except the hygiene issue. However, the English learners were mostly Black and Indian children and the Afrikaans learners, well, white. I later realised that this system of segregation is no different from the more explicit segregation laws of the Apartheid era. It made sense why Black children in grade 6 or grade 7 would believe they were inferior to their white counterparts. Their foundation was rotten to begin with.
I was angry with himself because I realised this fact when I was 22 years of age when the situation appeared on social media. And so, I wonder, would have Steve Biko, Robert Sobukwe understood my ignorance? And if they did, now that I know better, would they be proud if I began to act better? The system of racial division in South Africa has been different from the start and is not like other countries. The closest being America but that in itself is totally different from South Africa. The race matter in our country is very complex. Thus, one understands and appreciates the intelligence of Thabo Mbeki, Nelson Mandela and the likes. When asked why didn’t he remove the busts of old Apartheid leaders in the Union Buildings, Thabo Mbeki said that the history that is Apartheid shaped the South Africa of today. Mandela understood that for a peaceful transition in ‘94, he had to learn Afrikaans so to educate Afrikaners about the evils of Apartheid and why it must come to a stop. He understood that speaking a man’s language can easily by-pass his mind and go straight to his heart.
This is the intelligence that I speak of. This level of maturity of dealing with such delicate issues, many think Mandela sold us out. Not many have the maturity to understand this extreme level of intelligence. Even an outspoken leader such as Julius Malema does not say Mandela sold us out. This is where I sit and ponder on the question. Will Mandela be proud of us today?
It is sad that many of our youth mention taking arms and going to war for our land. Yet, Mandela and them made it a point that in ‘93, South Africa does not go to war. Those that have experienced war here in our country or in other countries in Africa all mention the fact that war isn’t something to wish for. I find it so funny that most of the people I personally know that yell war do not even know how to stand in a combat fighting stance. How do you expect such a person to wield a gun? During the Fees Must Fall protests, those that I know that yelled war told me to be safe when we were standing up against campus management. If university management invites fear in your heart, how can you survive the adrenaline of a man that has the full intention of killing you? It easy to yell out a popularised rhetoric, especially when one lacks the intelligence to comprehend it’s consequences. I believe that is what made our forefathers so remarkable. They went against the masses because they knew that the consequences would bring more harm than it would good.
The other half simply do not know what’s happening in our country, but know everything that’s happening abroad. There are people who can engage actively in debates about the political structure of America and yet have no idea about the political structure of their local town. There are those that know the history of slavery in America and yet that individual has no idea of the significance of the Battle of Isandlwana that gave the Zulus the respect of the world. There are South Africans who are so preoccupied with the affairs of other countries that you would think they are merely visiting our country. Is this the freedom that the leaders of the struggle died for? A generation of youth liberated in the ideologies of the foreign world and yet oblivious to the ideologies of the MK, Black Consciousness and Ubuntu that were intended for the new South Africa we live in today?
White South Africans seem not to have this problem. That white boy who decided to challenge me, knew his history. Yes, it was white-washed but he knew what he was talking about. In primary school, every other Friday, the Afrikaner children were allowed to wear their Voertrekker uniforms. Again, as a Black child you knew that that club was exclusively for white children. One grows up and realises that from an early age, those white children were taught their history. By teaching them their history, they developed a great pride in their identity. Thus, it is very rare to find an Afrikaner who is ashamed of being Afrikaans- regardless of the atrocities that their forefathers committed.
It is an interesting thought to wonder, as the modern Black South African, are we still under the spell of Apartheid, and so, what are we doing about it? As much as it causes the heart to pump faster and the eyes to see red, I refuse to be looked down upon- especially by a white person. In fact, no Black man should ever let himself or herself be looked down upon by anybody. The thing that one desires is the maturity and intelligence of the greats like Mandela, Biko and Mbeki. These great men found ways to restore honour and dignity in the Black man, yet found ways to work hand-in-hand with the white man. Mandela did not allow the National Party to treat the ANC as children. Instead, Mandela acted like their big brother and educated them to produce a better and brighter nation.
This extreme level of leadership, I believe, is the reason that South Africa is not plagued with the many ails that ravish our continent. Yes, we have high crime rates, there are great injustices towards women, the inequality of our nation is greatly imbalanced and the list does go on. However, South Africa is the best place to be for any African. One leader, during the xenophobia attacks asked the question why is it that many Africans flee their nations in order to find a future in South Africa? Simply because South Africa is the best African country. In the spirit of Ubuntu and for respect of the dignity of fellow Africans, South Africa rejects the idea of having refugee camps for those that come to our nation. In a world where Black people are not loved anywhere, South Africa is the closest to a safe haven for any African.
Our country is not perfect and it is those imperfections that has one wondering whether would Steve Biko be proud of us today. One is still learning to replace the hate for white people with compassion the same way Nelson Mandela did. As my cousin once told me, nothing good comes from hate especially if that hate is towards someone who doesn’t know you hate them. The thing that makes one bleed with pain is the ignorance that is found in way too many African youths of our country. History is a powerful tool especially for us South Africans whose history is extremely white-washed by the evils of Apartheid. Because you find Black people dancing their souls out on days like 16 Dec. I once went on a rampage about the ignorance that we display for that day. One Afrikaner lady told me that she cannot speak for Black people but for them, it is a special day because that’s the day they defeated the Zulu- the Zulu who had defeated the mighty British army. That war that the Zulu lost to the Voertrekkers happened way before the Afrikaners ruled the nation. Again, a situation where the white lady armed with her history could celebrate something that gave her the identity she’s proud of. Most Black people on that day, is simply an opportunity to pull out that All-White suit.
As Black people of South Africa, we are the most privileged and yet we haven’t reached uhuru. We have not reached uhuru due to the ignorance that rules the minds of many. What Thabo Mbeki did after '94 is what needs to be done even today. Thabo Mbeki went the extra mile by organising the best African minds to reconstruct the fabrics of our society. Through the African Renaissance Conference of ‘97, the spirit of Ubuntu was birthed. Under his leadership, as young children we were educated through TV shows such as Soul Buddies and them. Thabo Mbeki gave organisations such as the Black Management Forum platforms to propose and implement laws that gave some economic power to Black people. This is not so much to reminisce in days past, but rather to extract that which worked and to implement it today.
When I think whether would Steve Biko be proud of us, I believe he’ll proud of us if we have pride in ourselves. The way in which we can be proud of ourselves is understanding who we are. That understanding comes from the histories. There is no more proud a nation in our country than that of the Zulu. There are jokes of how Zulus only speak Zulu. There are jokes that Zulus are stubborn and refuse anything outside their custom. As a man who lived most of his life in a small white town in the Free State, that level of stubbornness, that level of ‘my way or the highway’ one can easily find in Afrikaans mense as well. And like the Afrikaans mense, Zulus know who they are and they are proud of it. So much so that the King of the Zulu nation went to England in royal Zulu attire to meet the Queen- in the modern era.
This is why the Zulu nation is one of the most respected African nations in the world. We fellow South Africans can learn something from that. We can use that sense of pride in self as a basis of building our legacies. That sense of pride of knowing that I am Black and I am a Black South African is something that we can use to build the generations of tomorrow. As much as Nelson Mandela, Oliver Tambo and them laid the foundations for the freedoms we enjoy today, we must not forget that the house is still not complete. They built the foundations, we still need to erect the house and make sure that it stands. We need to learn the intelligence that built the foundations. This will eradicate the ignorance that plagues us. Upon this, we’ll have pride in who we are and perhaps finally, we’ll know uhuru.
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