While growing up I remember noticing the glaring inequalities in my village of Ga-Mamabolo, rural Limpopo, when it came to the local chief and residents.
There was an abnormal respect for the chiefs and indunas that led them to think they could siphon money from the residents to enrich themselves, with impunity. For example there was money my poor, unemployed grandmother was made to pay to men who would just rock up.
She would tell me its money to contribute to the chief’s wellbeing and that of his family. And when we slaughtered a cow or goat, we were told to donate a big chunk of the meat to the royal family. It was called sebego — announcing to the royal household that we had managed to kill a beast and would sleep with a full stomach.
The same was to be done when we harvested – whether it was a good harvest or just enough to survive. I always asked questions. Why should the whole village donate to one family when the residents are poor and can barely survive?
More striking were the disparities between the chief’s household and the rest of the village. A dedicated tar road would be constructed for the chief and his family — from the nearby town to his doorstep. Electricity pylons would pass over the roofs of the village huts to supply electricity to the chief’s home.
There would be no rain and the village would be dry but the chief had boreholes to keep his lush lawns and tall palm trees green. Things started to change when several villagers stoop up to him. I remember the tribal authority council and chief were shocked when the residents said enough!
I was reminded of these medieval days when I read about another modern-day, self-made chief of the village of Nkandla. But this one doesn’t need a chunk of meat or a bagful of our hard-earned harvest – though it’s close. He wants a whopping R238 million of our money.
Chief Zuma wants to build his private homestead in the hills of KwaZulu-Natal. It will include a helipad, underground bunkers, a clinic and even a football field. Chief Zuma is only paying 5%. The rest is paid by you and me. With that money we could pay our teachers and nurses, transport schoolchildren in Limpopo, Mpumalanga and the Eastern Cape, pay for textbooks, build schools for children and pay off the e-Toll debt.
As the Mail & Guardian puts it, this “will cost more than the combined expenditure on inner-city regeneration, making government buildings more accessible for the disabled and all other private residences of office-bearers combined”. Let’s not forget that this splurge happens in a country where many children go to bed hungry tonight. Where more than 10 million people live off social grants. And it’s done by a leader who has official residences in Pretoria, Durban and Cape Town paid for by the taxpayer.
To me it seems this is Chief Zuma’s final loot, taking as much as he can before Mangaung. Francophone dictators are known to buy lavish properties in France prior to their departures. Something needs to be done.
It’s fine the Public Protector is investigating, that opposition parties plan to raise it in Parliament and journalists are considering legal action to obtain the details but we are going to carry this R238 million burden. Our leaders can only abuse our resources and corrupt if allow them. Just like the residents of my village of Ga-Mamabolo, it will take firm opposition from all South Africans, activists, NGOs and like-minded politicians to say ENOUGH!
The Twana Elders of Botswana refused to make ANY decision on mining minerals until their Chief grew out of childhood to make the decision for them’
When it was pointed out to them that their men would then need to go to the SA mines to work for money, they said the men would do that. In the meantime they developed FARMING cattle – importing White and Indian traders to do the Killing, Processing and Selling, which the Twana would not do.
Very like the Hindu in India – who will have nothing to do with Beef or Leather. Even the bicycle leather seats were made by another religion (The Jains or the Pharsees?)
When Serestse Khama grew up, he stalled mining until Botswana had full independence – and Botswana’s mineral rights have never been sold and belong to ALL the people.
Beautifully stated Isaac, I think you’ve summed the collective sentiment up, reading some of the other comments I can’t but agree that this where aggression needs to be aimed. Our leaders must represent the ideals they preach. It’s time to see MP’s in RDP homes and on public transport, making sure their children get to state schools.
We need a better calibre of leader.
@Beddy, the slaves were sold by the chiefs to the slave traders and shipped to the new world.
Sterling
Slavery was in ARAB Muslim Africa above the tsetse fly belt; there was no slavery in British Protestant Christian Southern Africa below the tsetse fly belt.
The problem countries now are those with the tsetse fly belt running through them -who have a Muslim North and a Christian and Animist South.
@Tofolux
The nly reason that the President has never been found guilty of any crime is that 783 charges based on Prima facie evidence were withdrawn on the most spurious grounds.
When are we going to hear the whole of the secret recodings of McCarthy and Pikoli’s converstaions?
Were the phone taps legal or illegal?
If legal, please confirm details of the court order.
If illegal, the NPA and Minister of Justice used an illegally obtained recording as an excuse to remove 783 criminal charges.
Sterling,
Blacks from the Diaspora looking for their “roots” are wasting their time coming to SA. No slaves were ever exported from here. The only Black slaves in SA were the ones taken from the American and Brazilian slave ships caught by the British navy and freed in SA.
A good chief will look after his people first. So few chiefs today qualify under this banner. It all about self enrichment, self enrichment, self enrichment….
Sadly the majority of the comments displayed here are from the educated minority and unfortunately the majority either do not read the M & G or do not care to give their opinion. Maybe they just support the status quo of are too intimidated to record their displeasure.
I have engaged Venda speaking men and women in Limpopo on the subject who are unhappy with the status quo but who are too intimidated to discuss the inequalities publicly. They accepted the school book saga without any display of dissatisfaction so I rest my case.
Black Culture is feudal – the Chief decides everything and owns everything. This is still the culture AND THE LAW of the Black Homelands.
@Beddy, when people run around talking about inequality in SA, the tribal chiefs are never mention in this discussion. Many Africans working overseas are sending money back home to the tribal chiefs to keep them from putting their family off the land. The issue that you and Isaac are pointing out about feudalism in SA/Africa are taboo among most Africans. Feudalism and democracy can’t co-exist the same way slavery and democracy can’t co-exist.
@ Tofolux: “But then again, ALL our Presidents, since democracy has been under siege by certain sections of the community.”
That’s a nonsense comment. I’d be extremely surprised if that were not the case. Not everyone is as ANC love-struck as you. President Lincoln once said (courtesy of Lydgate): “You can please some of the people all of the time, you can please all of the people some of the time, but you can’t please all of the people all of the time”
@Beddy, if the Zulu king owns sixty percent of the land in KZN, why don’t the government force him to sell part of this land to his subjects for farming? The king owns the land and does nothing with it and the government has to give him money.
@Beddy, you are wrong about no slaves came from SA. As a matter of facts Oprah had her DNA test done and it was found that she was Zulu.
@Peter L, you are speculating. Fact of the matter is that he was never found guilty, period. But if YOU feel so strongly about the case, why dont YOU proceed? You are quite prepared to make allegations and point fingers. Hence back up your allegations against the Pres, against the NPA and against the Minister. Instead of making empy threats I am dare you to proceed.
@Slow K. SA ranks as the 61st strongest state out of 177. SA is the 47th least corrupt out of 150 nations. In 2011, SA interest rates were at a 30yr low. SA Tax Rev income record R742.7 bill. SA debt to GDP ratio is 32% compare to USA 100%,Japan 200% Uk90%. SA stock market rose by 16.09% ranking 8th out of the G20 nations and ahead of ALL the G7 countries. SA is ranked no 1 out of 142 for regualtion of security exchanges. SA is ranked no1 for auditing and reporting. SA ranks no1 out of 60 countries for House Price Index. SA banks rand no2 in the world. SA is the best performing currency against the US dollar betw 2007-22. Now these are facts and if you compare your apartheid Govt and Verwoerd against these records, then you will find the truth abt yr Verwoerd/Nationalists. Also, this world crisis did not affect you and if you remember and reflect on your apartheid debt then be honest that all the priviledges you enjoyed was paid for by the first ANC govt which paid OFF that debt. Now, you have never voted for this govt and you never will. I also dont think that this govt will grovel for support becos in this anti-black attitude, it is a given who you will continue to support. This ruling party will do what it needs to do against all your insults, threats and allegations. The proof is in all the facts . Now I dare you to contest these facts and lets really see who is bad.
Jacob Zuma is not a chief, he is an elected politician, and as such, responsible to his electorate, who have not been consulted as to whether he deserves to build himself a new homestead at public expense.
Don’t confuse the issue by introducing the corrupt practices of the chiefdoms which were of dubious integrity even before they were distorted by the Bantustan system and then co-opted by the post-apartheid governments.
@Creator, nobody is elected to office in SA like in Brazil, Ghana and the US.
Sterling
There are rumours that King Shaka sold Zulu slaves to the trader Flynn who was a close friend of his, who sold them to Arab traders in the North.
But otherwise I don’t see how Zulus could have got into the hands of Arab slavers. There were certainly no American Slave Ships off the coast of Zululand which had no harbours.
Sterling
Legally all the land of all the Black Homelands is owned by the people or by no-one – but since under tribalism the Chief owns the people the Zulu King has simply appropriated most of the land for his own use in a Trust which probably has the Royal Family as beneficiaries.
@Tofolux, today SA has a forty percent unemployment rate and fifty percent of the population are receiving family grants. SA has made trade deals with China that has led to million of jobs being exported to that country from SA. The food production has gone down since 1994 and many manufacturing sectors have been wipe out. The economy of SA has became an economy of extraction since 1994 and very little goods are being produced in this country.
Sterling
How does DNA differentiate between a Bantu from the Congo and a Zulu anyhow? According to King Shaka the Zulu tribe migrated from the Congo in his Grandfather’s day?
@ Tofolux: You forgot to mention this: “2 Cape Town restaurants are in the top 50 restaurants in the world according to the S.Pellegrino Worlds 50 Best Restaurants list 2010. La Colombe restaurant in Constantia, Cape Town, was voted the 12th best and Le Quartier Francais in Franschhoek came in at 31″
Thulas Nxesi must stop foaming at the mouth and blustering all kinds of threats to whoever had the courage and the integrity to blow the whistle on this scandalous misappropriation of the people’s money.
@ Lyndall Berry – no slavery here? Then why the slave bells all over South Africa. I know specifically of at least one. On the Mission Station of Elim on the South Coast…
@TOFOLUX:
Take all those statistics to the miners in Marikana, and the patients in our public hospitals. None of this has translated into a meaningful difference to the majority of the poor in SA.
Also, I did not argue the merits of the ANC as an organisation. I voted for the ANC in the last 2 elections. I raised the issue of Jacob Zuma. None of the successes you scream can be attributed to him. Many of our current crises can be directly attributed to him being a president inabstentia.
At the same time, please speak of our recent economic downgrades, and the worsening value of the rand. Speak of the fact that we have amongst the worst infant mortality rates in the world. Speak of the fact that we encourage excellence by setting a pass rate of 30 per cent. Speak of our crime. Speak of our corruption. Speak of our criminal justice system.
PS: Your assertion that no court found JZ guilty does not mean he is not guilty, because no court has found him innocent either.
@Beddy, Portugal was the largest slave trader in the world and for two hundred years has a monopoly on the slave trade in Africa. In what is called Mozambique there is a port that Portugal used to transport slaves and gold. From this port slaves from Zim. and the whole southern Africa were shipped to the new world. It has been estimated that over ten million people were taken out of Africa by the Portuguese. Portugal had a war with Egypt and destroyed their navy and this gave them complete control over this market in Southern Africa.
Speaking of the Zulus, these people were too weak to deal with the Europeans because they had gun boats and guns. When the war between the Zulus and Britain broke in the later part of the 19th century, the British used an American invention, the machine gun on them.
Sterling
The most likely explanation of Oprah’s Zulu Bloodline is that the DNA guys lied to her is it not? Maybe they tell all Black American’s with Bantu Bloodlines that they are Zulu, which is the only tribe they would recognise from the film Shaka Zulu?
After all if they are running a Free Enterprise business they need satisfied customers to attract new customers.
Sterling
The more I think about it the more I believe Oprah was lied to. Even if Shaka Zulu sold some Zulus as slaves they would have been sold at the East Coast slave ports like Zanzibar, not the West Coast ports like Ghana. Most American slavers bought their slaves from the West Coast – why would they sail around the whole continent to buy East Coast slaves?
@Lennon, lets address your cyniscm. Cape Town is part of South Africa. I think there is this cynical notion to create a Republic within a republic. What adds insult to injury is the fact that those who ran from Zim, went to Jozi, found out they couldnt deal with the rainbow in OUR nation and further fled to Cape Town. It is an abomination that it was negotiated (by the Nats) that these Rhodies(whites only) qualified for South African citizenship. It is them and some rightwing Vaalies who have not only made Cape Town their home (which is not a problem) but is now hell bent into turning it into a ”europeans only” state. This thinking of ”refugees” and ”bussing-in of E.Capers” comes from this train of thought that the Western Cape should and must be the last bastion. So Lennon, your cyniscm does not fail me and I ”get” exactly what you are saying.
@ Lennon. You wind-up merchant you. I like it!
@ Clarence
No BLACK slaves and no EXPORTED slaves.
The original Dutch Trading Settlement of Jan Van Riebeeck IMPORTED Brown Slaves from Malaysia – who were better off here than serfs in Europe at the time, or slaves anywhere else in the world, which is how so many of them managed to buy their freedom with money earned in their free time, which free time was mandated by Dutch Law. They were all skilled craftsmen imported for their skills to build the Castle in Cape Town – but their children did become slaves on farms.If you are really interested read Margaret Cairns research on the Cape Malay slaves and their descendants.
Elim is the ONLY town in SA with a memorial to the British for FREEING the Slaves! AND their land is owned by them by grant from Queen Victoria. They are a BROWN community over 200 years old.
Sterling
The Zulus were nowhere near Mozambique – they only hit the coast at Zululand, South Africa.
BUT an offshoot of the Zulus, the Matebele, did often venture into Mozambique.
@ Tofulux: Since you were on a roll with all that info from the SA Good News website (http://www.sagoodnews.co.za/fast_facts_and_quick_stats/index.html for anyone who is interested), I figured I might as well point out another positive thing about South Africa.
You really need to learn when not to read too much into something.
@ Slow,K, I guess the truth hurts.
Almost every ANC post-1994 politician and pie-lie-mantrarian has been associated with corruption and other immoral scourges. However, for a man with a (his)story of not being able to manage his finances, the Nkandlagate/Zumaville expose is befitting of buffoonery.
@Tofolux, all over the world in every country what you described in your comment is called sectionalism. In Brazil the people in Rio all think that they have more class than other parts of Brazil. In the US, the people think that the people in New York and LA are the places with the most class in the US. However, most of this is true because these are the places where ideas are born.
Sterling
If Ophrah’s ancestor came from a Portugese slave ship she would have been Brazilian not American. I still think the most likely answer is the DNA information is wrong.
Sterling
Alternatively it is impossible to differentiate between the DNA of Congo Bantu and Matabele and Zulu, and Americans get told they are Zulu because they can identify with the film Shaka Zulu.
Let me point out that Barack Obama is Lao NOT Bantu! In fact his people colonised and subjugated the local Bantu even before either Arab or European colonisers arrived in Africa.
What is WRONG with you? Can’t you see the difference in skin tone between Obama, Mandela and Zuma? They are as different as Latin Europeans from Scandinavian Europeans; and Japanese from Chinese!
Well written Isaac….
Oh Lennon, just to prove that I dont thumdsuck and that you have absolutely no credentials to rebutt those FACTS. The truth will always prevail. TG.
@Beddy, all blacks in Africa don’t all look alike. In the case with Obama, his mother was white and his father was black East African. The myth is that all black Africans all look alike in Africa and this is far from being true. There are some experts that are saying that Bantu people is nothing but a myth about Africa. Man many people have pointed out that many of those people in Southern Africa speak a similar language as west Africans.
Sterling
Blacks migrated from coastal Asia to the Pacific and Africa at the end of the last Ice Age when the seas rose. They migrated from East to West Africa, found they could not navigate the Atlantic Ocean in canoes like they had the Indian and Pacific Oceans, and migrated down Africa moving South.
About Half the 3000 tribes of Africa are Bantu, who all speak languages derived from Ur-Bantu (the same root language).
@MP Kwhezi(fake) so are you saying that Nelson Mandela, Thabo Mbeki, Walter Sisulu, Joe Slovo, Brian Bunting etc etc etc are corrupt? Is this how far you are prepared to go, to lie? And in this clear attempt of lying, YOU point fingers(?)
@Tofolux – I am glad you are so sure of our future. But I do think you should maybe start considering protecting whatever assets you have from hyperinflation…I fear it might just be around the corner!
@ Tofolux: Where did I try to rebutt anything? I AGREED with you simply by pointing out another positive fact?
What’s with the hostility?
it’s so very simple actually Isaac.
You’ve been lied to by a bunch of corrupt people busy standing on the heads of pygmies.
I’m not talking about the likes of Nelson Mandela, Thabo Mbeki, Walter Sisulu, Joe Slovo, or Brian Bunting by the way – nice list Tofolux, try picking more recent names though and you’ll find the calibre of person has gone way down.
@Tofolux – you don’t stop with your ridiculous comments do you. Proposing some individual proceed against the Pres, the NPA or against the Minister when entire branches of law enforcement have been stymied by politics is indicative of your idealistic lack of understanding of how power works. And quoting stats as facts is a sure way of losing people (or are you not familiar with Benjamin’s famous quote on three types of lie?)
So back to the blog topic – are you saying that the chiefs of SA, in their various disguises, are ripping the ordinary SA folk off Isaac? Surely not, this must just be part of the transition, to what I’m not quite sure yet, anarchy or perhaps civil war or economic collapse before we can all finally admit the ANC have failed us and dashed our hopes against the wall around their palace….