A new paradigm shift on national grievance is emerging in South Africa

The heated debate sparked in large measure by the utterances made by Jimmy Manyi and the response thereto by Trevor Manuel in respect of the Coloured and Indian communities in the context of employment equity laws in South Africa; and also by the alleged influence of the Guptas on our elected representatives, points to an underlying paradigm shift in our approach as a country to the all important matter concerning the national question sixteen years into our democracy.

This is a move away from an earlier epoch in our democratic transition in which there was an emphasis- informed by the prevailing national and class balance of forces- on the need for a delicate management of the race, class and gender contradictions for purposes of reconciliation and consolidation of our new democracy. We are now moving into a period which is characterized by an attempt at seriously grappling with these dialectical contradictions for purposes of faster and thorough-going social transformation in South Africa.

The deepening and the maturity of our democratic order has thus necessitated this shift because paradoxically, any further attempt only at managing these contradictions whilst scratching the surface when it comes to fundamental social transformation threatens the very survival of our democracy.

It therefore follows that many in our society have started rigorously engaging with this paradigm shift in an attempt to raise their grievances as expressed by the race, class and gender contradictions on the one hand; whilst on the other hand some engage with it in an attempt to reverse it in order to defend and maintain the status quo.

It should therefore be expected that the manner in which some will engage is not always going to be informed by rational thought process and courteous language - necessary as these are - given the heated and sometimes spontaneous nature of racial debates in South Africa.

Equally, those who seek to be the ‘voice of reason', as Trevor Manual and others have sought to do, should also be given an opportunity to do so without fear or prejudice. To reprimand them as loose cannons whilst silently condoning Jimmy Manyi smacks of hypocrisy.

We should do well also to remember that the ANC has long declared its strategic objective to be the liberation of black people in general and Africans in particular, from the political and economic bondage.

The formulation and the wording of this strategic objective by the ANC in this manner, which is the separation of blacks in general from Africans in particular, was necessarily informed by the objective actions of the apartheid state in its oppression of these categories.

The African majority was always the worst affected by the apartheid oppression and thus always at the lowest order of the socio-economic development in this country. In fact many esteemed Coloured and Indian comrades took part in the formulation and wording of this strategic objective and have always understood it to be the correct expression of the objective conditions in the South African revolution. I truly believe that these comrades, not least comrade Trevor, still believe even today this to be the correct expression of our socio-economic conditions in general.

In the same vein, we need to critically engage the view that labels as racists those criticizing the alleged influence on our elected representatives by the Guptas who happen to be of Indian descent. To advise that we should rather focus on the wealth owned by white males because all of us Indians, Coloureds and Africans are black, and that we should not fight among ourselves, is rather short-sighted and mind-boggling.

It would seem that comrades are advocating for the change of white faces and replacing them with black faces in the ownership of wealth without fundamentally transforming the structural deficiencies of our economy. In a word, let's replace white bourgeoisie with the black bourgeoisie finish and klaar!

This classless approach by comrades, particularly communists like comrade Gwede Mantashe, baffles me because as a communist, it is inconceivable how he can castigate as racist people who challenge the alleged influence on our government leaders by the bourgeoisie.

I think instead of being too sensitive about the debates around the national question the ANC needs to adapt to the shifting paradigm and deepen the race, class and gender contradictions for faster and thorough-going transformation of our society. This means the ANC needs to be at the forefront of this debate and encourage the whole of society to frankly debate the national question, whilst strategically locating the debate within its historic mission of building a non-racial, non-sexist, democratic and prosperous country whose people enjoy a better and fulfilled life irrespective of their race, class, gender or creed.

It would also seem that that the shift referred to above and the resultant atmosphere in the country, presents us an opportune moment to start engaging each other as openly as possible about our racial fears and prejudice. In so doing we should at all times respect the dignity of others and preserve the commonly agreed rules of engagement irrespective of our individual political positions.

Taking one another to courts on issues we could resolve through bilateral and other engagements will not help things but will instead harden racial attitudes. We should rather avoid going this route before first exhausting those political bilateral engagements as that might lead to the erosion of the credibility of these courts, particularly where the result is a politically motivated non-compliance with their rulings.

It is my view that there is nothing stopping Afri-Forum for instance, or any other grouping for that matter, from initiating continuous bilateral engagements with the ANC and its YL so that they can raise their fears about liberation songs and so on.

This will be a start of a rational discussion about our common future because however much we may hate each other, it would seem we are all stuck together because none of us are prepared to leave this beautiful country. In this historic endeavor, we should at all material times remember that to seek to influence is to be influenced.

Mzukisi Makatse is a Candidate for a Master of Laws degree with the University of Fort Hare and also a member of the ANC and the ANCYL. He writes in his personal capacity.

Click here to sign up to receive our free daily headline email newsletter