It is time that white South Africa accepted defeat and move with the times
The title of this article was inspired in part by the recent article which was written by Mr. Thula Bopela (see here) and largely by events which I have seen unfold over the last 15 years. These events have led me to conclude that Whites in general will never accept that they lost power, especially to a so called lesser race in intellect or that they are under a Black led government which is not going anywhere, anytime soon. The veteran comrade made a compelling argument in his article whose sentiments I fully agree with hence I decided to advise my White counterparts and fellow Black people who are in their pockets that the game is over.
They need to accept the fact that we have a Black government in power that was given a mandate by the masses and it is answerable to the general populace and not only them or their narrow interests. They must realise that we won't allow our government to succumb to narrow capitalists', selfish and/or self serving ambitions anymore which the latter successfully lobbied in the past 14 years. We expect government to forge a mixed economy where all this country's citizenry will have a say in the running of its affairs. The Whites I'm referring to must accept too that no amount of abusing or manipulating the judicial system, the watchdog institutions who are but toothless when it comes to matters which affect Blacks and the media plus all forms of communication channels, will sway the South African voters. This confidence on my part is deduced from a Zulu idiom which goes "ukubona kanye ukubona kabili" or once beaten twice shy in English.
The days of apartheid era tactics, manoeuvres and tendencies of White people which were designed to force their will on our people will never return and are long gone albeit economic power still very much rests with them. As a people, we won't ever again allow a minority to dictate terms to the majority of this country and those days which were characterised by the marginalisation of Black people and Africans in particular in all spheres of life will never again grace our shores. The sooner some people accept this fact the better for everyone concerned because then we can learn to coexist. Their silly innuendo in various radio stations and newspapers with an audacity to (ab)use courts in an attempt to discredit and vilify those who represent the majority are annoying though.
No longer will our people subject themselves to being ridiculed and embarrassed for taking principled positions which are seen as an inconvenient truth by the minority. Of course the comments made by the honourable state president in waiting Dr JG Zuma in Sandton at the BPF/BBF joint sitting, encouraged one to expect that the abuse levelled against our people is a thing of the past and that the wrongs committed back then will be corrected, if not reversed in the new administration. The president in his heartfelt address (see here) attested to the need to redress the economic imbalances and correct the misalignment of the past. He added that we need to utilise the Black middle class in order to make a lasting and far reaching impact in forging economic reforms.
He went further to say that the reason that an apartheid created middle class couldn't work or make any impact was because they represented a minority group and thus they didn't extend a helping hand to the majority whereas a Black middle class will be expected to reach a larger pool of people. He made a call to the Black professionals to go back to serve the public sector and help it to become efficient before they can have aspirations of going out to business.
We urgently need to transform the economy so that it becomes representative of the demographics of this country lest we risk the poor revolting against our government which they will see as colluding with their oppressors. That way our people can stop being useful idiots and servants to the highest bidder 'cos that makes us compromise our being. Those White folks who are still stuck in memory lane need to subscribe to the adage, "if you can't beat them, join them". Zuma cited a perfect example, using the Afrikaners whom he said realised that they were no longer in control and were feeling left out, hence they started engaging various key stakeholders in an attempt to become part of the new dispensation and/or its processes instead of bickering or leaving the country and jokingly inferred about those who hold two passports in certain instances.
Without exonerating this grouping, but they realised that this is their land too albeit stolen with bloodshed and murder of our forefathers as Bopela rightly pointed out. Those resident dreamers, who remain fixated in the past, are like children who have skipped some developmental stages and in later years/adult life regress to the stage that they skipped. If anyone of the White people I'm referring to are hoping that may be some day power will revert to the oppressors, they have another thing coming.
Activists like myself will die first before we can allow any domination of the majority by the minority. This promise includes Black on Black oppression by the way, which further translates to a warning that the Black middle class is forbidden from oppressing our brothers and sisters who are still in the lower ranks of the various classes in society because we will fight them with the same venom we fought against Whites. It is for this reason that we need to guard against complacency in our midst, particularly the upper echelons of our party because it is they who are tasked with implementing these reforms as such it can turn out to be counter productive and discourage a lot of people if they abdicated their responsibility or neglected their duties.
The White folks were for instance given ample opportunity by their forefathers in a racially discriminatory, divided and exclusive government but they refuse to allow adequate time for change to effect equality in all respects. Their forefathers had to succumb to pressure from economic sanctions after 300 years but not until they were sure that they had starved us long enough to be able to get moles within or in our midst to continue to do their dirty work. Organisations like the Confusion of Angry people, is but one such example of initiatives and/or formations with leaders who are being used to fight against the government of the people, for the people and by the people (i.e. the ANC). Actually, the less said about COPE, the better because all they offer is confusion, anger, zeal for power, greed for economic wealth and selfish interests.
It is the Disgruntled Alliance (aka Democratic Alliance whom I've christened because there is nothing democratic about their practices) that I should perhaps devote a lot of attention to because of the constituency they represent. This is another such party which cannot escape my criticism and what with their futile exercise of a campaign to stop the ANC's inevitable two-thirds majority. They are splashing out millions on propaganda ad campaigns instead of concentrating on their own programmes and what they have to offer the SA voters. More recently, Mrs. Helen Zille showed her true colours, when she threatened to take her attempt to stop democratic processes where South Africans are expected to vote for Zuma as head of the ANC into the presidency come April 22, by ab(using) the discredited constitutional court (see here).
This just shows the lack of tolerance from her party and again without failing to disappoint me about her racist tendencies, she also threatened to send the army in order to bully the taxi operators, in Cape Town, into accepting a BRT system that she neither consulted them about nor did she have any intention of doing so at any stage of her consultation with all the affected stakeholders. This of course is a typical White mentality that, "you don't negotiate with a Black (as they regard us) but you simply give them orders and if they don't comply/carry out those instructions you beat or lock them up". They are so used to our brothers and sisters being their garden boys and kitchen girls respectively that even when they meet their match they fail to realise it. They can't transcend from a home economics mode to a real life situation where they cannot only accept us as equals but perhaps having an upper hand in certain instances.
The afore mentioned despicable behaviour by the un(honourable) mayor of that city is a typical Terror Lekota (her new comrade in arms who is prepared to die for her, as he once claimed in their fuss of a convention in Sandton) bullying tactic which had one outcome - an egg on his face. We all still remember how he tried this stunt to disastrous consequences in Khutsong a few years ago, when he sought to force the people of that part of Gauteng to accept being moved to a smaller and impoverished province, thus forgetting a valuable lesson taught to the oppressors that no matter what weaponry the army has, the people will come up tops or with alternative tools to withstand their might and succeed at disorganising them.
In order to bring down the apartheid regime and render this country ungovernable, our people used stones and petrol bombs thus we were able to face and brave rubber bullets and at times live ammunition plus teargases against the oppressor's dogs of war and emerged still united even in defeat. The DA represents backward politics and a White minority group which still harbours hopes of taking us back to the ugly years of being in the dungeon when we were regarded as second class citizens. This party of the affluent, particularly English speaking Whites still dreams that they can determine the future direction of this country by using any means necessary to enforce a minority rule with racially exclusive laws and dictate terms to us including who should become our president and/or who should occupy certain key positions in government. I am astounded by their arrogance which proves one thing and that is that these people only know democracy when the results suite them otherwise democratic processes are simply meaningless.
In conclusion, I want to say that I love White people but these parties and individuals who claim to represent them are doing a disservice to them. These parties won't succeed in their evil intentions and those Blacks who collude with them will fail too. For my part I welcome everyone to join the ANC branch in which I belong or elsewhere, be it White, Yellow or green because I believe that everyone has a role to play and can add value thus making the ANC a party of choice which can make a better life for all a reality.
Musa Xulu is head of ANC media & communications in the greater Johannesburg region. The views expressed in this article are made in his personal capacity.
[See Paul Trewhela's reply here - Editor]
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