By Rafique Gangat
As SA’s first career diplomat of colour, I am pained to learn of what is happening to my beloved country.
I took part in the painful struggle for freedom and eventually shared in the joy of liberation and democracy in 1994 and since then worked tirelessly to build the new SA.
My recently published book, Ye Shall Bowl on Grass alludes to the beginning of this malaise in a chapter that is bound to be “explosive” — describing South African politicians visiting Dubai in the early days of liberation, where I served, on official pretexts but in fact for dubious motives.
Reading comments made daily by fellow South Africans on various reported stories leads me to believe that there are many paining like me as well.
What happened to meritocracy?
Replaced by cadre deployment under the guise of affirmative action and BEE, at the expense of service delivery, that is the price the country is paying today. This story of the dumping of school books makes my heart bleed for the children denied and my blood boils when the perpetrators of this abominable crime are still in business.
Generally I read that we have taken our hard-earned freedom and democracy and sold it all for a life of debauchery and hedonistic pleasures, fuelled by the abuse of power, corruption etc at the expense of the suffering of the silent majority in whose name a nouveau riche elite, selfishly indulge in egoistic rituals, like the incident in Cape Town — feasting on sushi off the naked bodies of white models.
An information bill has been in the offing for a while to silence the mainstream media that has created an awareness of the rot that has set in the body politic of the nation after politicians and their erstwhile spin doctors have failed dismally to sweep away the excesses of the ruling elite, which continue ad nauseam.
What happened to the principles of a free and egalitarian society in post-apartheid SA that was supposedly the end-game for all in the struggle and then led by Mandela who, by his own sterling example, energised our morale during those heady and inspirational days?
On my last visit to Johannesburg a friend and senior ANC cadre responded to my questions about the corruption, wastage of monies and valuable state resources, tenderpreneurs and the brain drain with “you sound just like a white liberal”. I jokingly responded with “you accusing me of being an agent?”. A term that Julius Malema added notoriety to. On being pressed further, my good friend said “so what?” He continued with this strange metaphor: “You want us to use a typewriter when we live in the age of the computer?”
Then reflecting on the euphoria of the Mandela-era — eventually curtailed by BEE and affirmative action policies of Mbeki — and noting the times I selflessly and with honour served my country as a professional career diplomat, often placing my life on the line, my good friend sarcastically laughed, adding: “You were stupid that you did not cash in as you had many opportunities to do so!”
Today I grapple with the question: Have the liberated simply sold it all to the excesses of capitalism at the expense of those who entrusted them with the privilege and responsibility to lead? And not a day goes by when I read South African newspapers screaming out with yet another story on corruption, abuse of power, wastage of millions etc etc and I note sadly that big business/corporations still run the show and all they have done to stay in business is co-opted a black elite connected to the ANC, with the distinction between the two even having faded into oblivion.
For some time Malema harnessed the rising anger of the majority and created the illusion that he served their aspirations for a better life but his own opulent lifestyle gave the game away. There was no magic in the illusion he had created, save his clownish antics which fixated mainstream media and perpetuated the making of his myth.
The reality is we live in a world where greed and profit are the highest good, where self-worth is determined by the ability to amass wealth and power at the expense of others, where laws are manipulated and broken, where the endless treadmill of consumption defines human progress, where fraud and crimes are the tools of business.
In short, South Africans have also taken their place in the international community of nations, all of whom are fast heading down the slippery slope to ruin and damnation as capitalism approaches the end of its journey.
Rafique Gangat is a former SA diplomat. He blogs on http://rafiquegangat.wordpress.com
Articulate and accurate. And reassuring that the light is still visible. Over to you Dave Harris.
The newspapers do expose fraud and corruption all the time – but that is as far as it goes.
They are too scared to criticise AA/BEE and “previously disadvantaged” or “communist” mythology.
Probably because of the fear of losing advertisers/ readers.
Good insight, albeit exposes the sad post-Apartheid reality. Thank God some people still have the integrity and wherewithal to speak up and out!!
If a newspaper tells too unvanished a truth, and loses advertising, the paper goes under.
Which is why NewsTime could not get advertising. Which is why they should have looked for sponsorship instead (like “The Freedom Foundation”). Which is what I tried to tell them!
That is exactly why The Rand Daily Mail folded – ask Alistair Sparks and Helen Zille!
@Rafique: “Today I grapple with the question: Have the liberated simply sold it all to the excesses of capitalism at the expense of those who entrusted them with the privilege and responsibility to lead?”
The simple answer seems to be: “yes”.
The continued falling back on historical issues to explain todays failures suggests that no progress has been made from historical injustices or that the ANC overcommitted itself in promises to the people who voted for them.
Instead of 20 years ANC rule we are celebrating 100 years ANC cause the achievements in the last 20 years do not give rise to celebrations.
Then we dust of the image of Mr Mandela as the public centre of his 94 birthday celebrations.
And to close it all we are bombarded with the achievements of Mrs Dlamini Zuma as SA’s “power queen” on the African continent while dancing and singing.
It reminds me of my history lessons about the days (early 1800) that Napoleon was conquering Europe and Vienna, where the than rulers were meeting, was referred to as “das Congress tanst”.
We can only hope that the real spirit of democracy has taken root in SA when the next elections arrive.
There is nothing new in what you are saying. You sound very angry and disenchanted. Rightfully so. You have not provided any ideas on getting us out of this mess. I am inclined to believe then that we are doomed, and beyond salvation. Extremely depressing.
Hey Rafique, at least there are two of us now who understand that the world is no longer a very salubrious place. Only two of us? Shows that most folks couldn’t care less anyway. Amazing.
Rafique – I share your sense of bewilderment. I played a small part in the rebuilding of our country, post-1993, and I well remember the sense of excitement and rebirth among the politicians and bureaucrats of that day. It was never about self-enrichment, nor even about colour, but about making the world a better place. Anyone who could contribute was encouraged to do so. It didn’t last long.
I’ve often wondered what went wrong. The closest I’ve come to understanding it is that a small clique of corrupt people have managed to play on the political naivete of the electorate, who allow themselves to be persuaded that a vote for the ruling party will strengthen those who have the voters’ interests at heart – when, of course, all it does is allow the oligarchs to run riot with the national credit-card.
These days I’ve also begun to wonder whether the government are deliberately ‘dumbing down’ the electorate by keeping them uneducated, and dependent on social welfare grants, while the fat-cats strip the country’s wealth, blaming white capitalists for the – now very obvious – collapse of order.
By taking huge kick-backs on capital projects, finance with borrowed money, these crooks are not only stripping our current assets, but committing us to pay for their crimes for many years to come, as we pay back the the debts they are allowed to incur in our names.
At the heart of it all is enrichment. If politicians and bureaucrats – and their families – were banned…
… from benefiting financially from any government-financed activities, their pack of cards would come tumbling down. But there’s no chance of that happening until there is a change of heart among the electorate.
Realistically, we’re likely to see the ANC ruling for many years to come, so change must come from within the party. The only way this will happen is when voters begin to cast their ballots AGAINST the ANC, instead of expressing their frustration by throwing stones and burning tyres. When this happens, we will turn the corner.
Of course it’s the last thing the oligarchs want to see, which is why they are pushing hard to control the flow of information – access to the truth. Right now we are in a race between the growing maturity of the electorate, and the increasing skill of the crooks at manipulating public opinion.
Eventually the truth will prevail, as it always does – the question is: how much damage will be done to our economy, and to our sense of nationhood. When I look north of our borders, I am not optimistic.
If you are still grappling, you are an even slower thinker than I. The answer is obvious for all to see.
Is this the same Rafique Gangat who was vice-consul in Los Angeles under the apartheid regime?
Maybe that explains why this article is a mass of recycled spurious gibberish.
Rafique, I agree with everything you say except the prediction of the demise of capitalism, it aint gonna happen.
The way out – look for politicians who are not greedy and out for self enrichment. Look no further than Helen Zille. The mantle of Mandela has fallen on her, but the majority doesn’t see that yet.. Check out her lifestyle, blue light brigade? massive security contingent? Simple signs! See what she does, not what she says
A greedy and selfish capitalist is no worse than a greedy selfish communist. Its the integrity that counts.
Solution for Rafique = vote for someone else.
I am trying to get my head around that strange metaphor? What the heck was he saying?
I think AA has done a lot of harm – it is THE nebulous criteria used to award business. I can’t even begin to imagine what it has cost, both direct and indirect, to the country. I often think what this country might be like if all this wasted expenditure was used on proper education, health care, vocational training etc.
Hopefully BBBEE will correct this albeit it is still early days and it is too early to say as to how it is being applied.
And then there is cadre deployment which I believe is a manifestation of insecurity/paranoia. But then again, looking at our past, who can blame the ruling party from being paranoid…
Talking of paranoia; mine is the young guns. I think Moletsi Mbeki is right when he mentions that there is no more pie to go around – any more and the system fails. So where do these Young Turks go? Nationalisation! And of course this is solely for the good of the people…
Alaistair Granr
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It is NOT ILLEGAL KICKBACKS which are the problem but LEGAL PROFIT SHARES TO BEE partners – which is why EVERYTHING goes to tender, including work done by civil servants, hospital credit clerks, civil engineers, municipal employees and Public Works before 1994.
And it exactly the same BEE/AA policies which caused the corruption and breakdown of law and order in all the other “liberated” African States.
I agree with these expressions of Rafique. Greed is destroying the prospects of our liberation of which 1994 was but the opening of the door to liberation not its completion as so many people seemed to think. As I understood it the opening of the door was but an opportunity for everyone to get fully engaged in the work of uplifting all of our people and for this work as much dedication, discipline and self sacrifice were needed as were needed for the struggle which preceded the opening of the door. Unfortunately the leadership of the ANC did not and still do not see it this way hence the dissipation of our potential as a people on the slippery slopes of personal greed.
@Rich: “I think AA has done a lot of harm – it is THE nebulous criteria used to award ”
BEE is supported by the DTI issued ” BEE criteria” for companies to comply with to qualify for Gov contracts. The good side is that it has created many a consulting company specialising in handing “certificates of compliance”. Not a very productive activity but…
The latest is a slight and not well advertised potnetial change in directives from the labour department: to make it compulsary that the staff composition of all companies adheres to/reflects the national demographics of SA.
The effect will be that companies in areas which differ from this national demographic picture, will have to shift their staff component into appliance.
This is a major shift from the existing option given to companies to comply with the Provincial demographics. The West Cape (52% coloured) vs National (9% coloured) will have to do some serious work to get rid of their coloured staff and replace them with blacks. KZN might have a similar problem with their Indian communities.
If implemented, a major relocation of people will be the result if the Cape coloured community will want to have jobs.
Rings a bell?? Apartheid forced removals, this time not by government supplied trucs, the effect just the same: disruption of communities!
Why don’t you play the ball instead of the man?
Your logic is wanting, you say: ‘the same Rafique Gangat who was vice consul in Los Angeles under Apartheid Regime’ then all he says is ‘a mass of recycled spurious gibberish’….bet you are a cadre forever blaming all on Aparthied, after all these years.
Read his book, ‘Ye shall bowl on grass’ and especially the chapter, ‘What is diplomacy’, which explains poignantly why he was there.
By the way, Mandela and the ANC were already ‘talking’ to the Apartheid Regime at the time. Freedom was not an event, but a process and many took part in that process in order to usher it in peacefully.
Lastly play the game and respond to the contents as others have done in the spirit of good sportsmanship.
The AA/BEE policies come from Black America and are based on the myth that blacks were “disadvantaged by white colonialism”.
In fact the first white explorers of the 19th century reported back that if Europe did not colonise the blacks of Africa would be wiped off the face of the map by the twin evils of the Swahili Arab Slave Trade and continual petty tribal wars between neighbours, where they would steal each others children to sell as slaves.
White settlers were sent to farm, so that blacks could earn wages, and not sell slaves, to buy manufactured goods.
To add to the irony Lincoln “freed the slaves” by dumping them at the side of the road to forage and steal over a war torn land to survive in the 1860s – more than HALF A CENTURY AFTER the British Navy had been catching Brazilian and American slave ships off the West Coast (starting in 1807), and freeing them in Cape Town AFTER an apprenticeship of a year to learn a trade and the language.
Then another 100 YEARS LATER came the Black Civil Rights Movement in the 1960s in the USA, which eventually got blacks the vote in 1965.
And that Civil Rights Movement was infiltrated by Arab Nationalists, Jihadists, and the PLO during the time of malcolm X, who taught them that Africa had been perfect till the whites came and that the Swahili Arab slave trade and the tsetse fly belt were white myths!
Which was history repeating itself again – the original Swahili Arab slavers had also told the tribal chiefs the whites were after their land.
Listening to radio 2000 dj last night Started his program with a bleat of “put him back in jail in a high pitched voice” said with sarcasim and followed up with ” rest assured he will sleep in his own bed tonight ” Shame he is sick This referring to convict Selebi Crime corruption greed and dishonesty has become the new currency Like a rainbow the Mandela era lasted for a few minutes.I hope you took a picture because no one in future generations will believe that it evn ever happened
@bernpm#, if a directive is being considered that requires employers to construct their labour forces according to national demographics then horror of all horrors the ANC is suffering from the same completely inhuman attitudes as the old National Party. People are people first and foremost no matter what other designation is put on them. That is what I, and many others, struggled for, in my case for my whole life, and in 1994 I thought that at last we had achieved it. But sadly the ANC soon began to show that there were many within its ranks who did not like Apartheid not because of its completely flawed perception of what it is to be a human being but only because this perception was being exercised by others, namely the Nats, and was thus having an adverse effect on them. Their solution was not to abandon the flawed perception but to replace the Nats in the national driving seat, so that they could exercise the flawed percetion themselves.
Spot on. It’s GREED not capitalism. Please the two are not the same as much as people try make out!
Hey Dave Harris! What do you have to say to this?
@ Lyndall the US version of AA was quite reasonable: if two candidates are EQUALLY qualified, then preference is given to the black candidate.
I think we could live with that level of discrimination.
Nguni
The USA version did not work in SA – because 90 percent of the blacks are not literate. They tried it in SA at first – but too few blacks qualified for jobs, so now the unqualified get the jobs because they are black and “disadvantaged”.
Which is why all the municipalities, hospitals, and State Banks including the Post Office are bankrupt.
And in the USA AA was to uplift a MINORITY not a MAJORITY.
@nguni – correct. Nothing wrong with AA if applied correctly. Our version is the same – if there are two who are equally qualified then the PDI should get preference. But unfortunately we have butchers and bakers who appear to be qualified neurosurgeons…and service delivery suffers.
The ANC and its alliance has messed up BIG TIME! and this will get worse before improving (if ever). The question is: Are there any wise men and women left in the ANC who realise that the only way out of this mess is to disempower their organisation and empower non partisan institutions.
First, their president must apologise to the nation for the way he and his supporters attacked the judiciary and other institutions of democracy during his trials.
The organisation should summarily suspend any of its deployees from active party/alliance activity should they be investigated for illegal activities in any state organ to which they have been deployed.
Portfolio committees should be non partisan and these should appoint suitably skilled senior public servants (depoliticise) from a pool of South Africans willing to serve the country after they have been screened and recommended by a panel of experts.
Couldn’t agree more with you Tommy.
Only solution…a clear distinction between State and Government, a complete stop to cadre deployment and all future appointments handled by an ‘independent and credible’ entity and NO tenders for this.
This ‘independent entity’ should be transparent and meritocracy should be its guiding principle.
Also a new code of conduct should be set up for civil servants with strict guidelines on corruption etc. In short, the bad apples should be fired.
Only once we take the runaway bull by its horns will the country be able to begin addressing the problems cadres have created…enougg said!
The ANC does not seem to recognise that it is just one institution in a country filled with many and varied institutions all serving the community in different ways. The ANC seems to think that it is the not only the only institution in the country it is the country!
The BEE/Affirmative action argument and drive for mass employment falls flat when we do not have a critical mass of skill and work ethic embedded in the majority of our population.
COSATU and the SACP should be willing to disempower themselves by allowing normal, everyday South Africans who would like to start and grow their own businesses to flourish and thereby create jobs. This ideological obsession with yearning for recognition through government driven job creation should stop unless the government can show its capacity to manage and sustain businesses through everyday operations and not dip into tax payer resources to prop up businesses. In the interim government should enroll all unemployed youth in vocational skills development short courses and life skills with a bias towards ethics at its cost through the job seekers grant. Strengthen labour relations by adding worker responsibility as a counter weight to the rights they earn through the current LRA and bind small businesses to the basic conditions of employment act on condition that a certain minimum level of productivity is attained. While the onerous bargaining council agreements should only become applicable when companies show a clear minimum profit.
@Gavin Storrie.
Dave Harris is on leave. Tofolux will deputise until his return…….
Rafique is right on the money.
We all including our erstwhile liberation leaders got swept up in the feeding frenzy at the trough of laissez-faire neoliberal free-market fundamentalism with its greed , corruption and obscene, crass consumption.
Ultimately it is our leaders in cahoots with the private banksters and the previously advantaged elite who must accept responsibility for their failed economic policies like GEAR and ASGISA.etc.etc.
Just observe how this crony capitalist system is rotten to the core right up to the top with all the scandals unfolding like LIBOR etc by the big private banks like Barclays et al.
Please note that Maria Ramos and Tito Mboweni where whisked away to the USA to undergo training by Goldman Sachs the great vampire squid.
Thabo Mbeki and “Clever ” Trevor Manuel have a lot to answer for to the masses of this country for multiple reasons-HIV/AIDS, arms deal, the unemployment, inequality, violence and poverty.
Pravin Gordhan and Gill Marcus better wake up and smell the coffee because the global financial system is going down and fast.
They must nationalise the Reserve Bank and the big four banks asap or establish a public state bank now. Let government never have to borrow money from private sources at interest ever again in its responsibilities of delivering public goods and services like health, education, infrastructure and food security.
@ Lyndall Beddy – I am most intrigued to hear that recaptives were shipped to Cape Town. I’d like to learn more about this. Can you provide a source? Thanks!
Alaistair Grant
One of the British anti-slavery ships was HMS Cleopatra and Reverend Pascoe Hill was the chaplain. He wrote a description of the capture of the Brazilian slaver, the Progresso, with 447 slaves on board, which was captured in 1843. It was a horrendous voyage back to Cape Town with few survivors, but Rev Hill wrote a report which was published. I read an extract in the book “The Wind Makes Dust”
Maybe the Internet has some information on any of those?
But the History Department of the University of Cape Town should have someone with information.
Alaistait Grant
The book “Explorer’s of the Nile” has a large bibligraphy and the author’s maternal great grandfather was in the British Navy as an anti-slaver. Tim Jeal might have information – he has done 50 years of research on early African development.
Alistair Grant
I am re-reading Hildagonda Duckitt’s book “Hilda’s Diary of a Cape Housekeeper “and thought this might interest you:
“as there were always an average of twenty men to feed, baking and cooking were no sinecure. We had a man cook, who was an East Coast Negro, rescued from a slave dhow. Many of these Negros, both men and women, were at that time indentured on farms, and made excellent servants.”
As I said before freed slaves were first apprenticed to learn a trade. I understand that there is now a Hildagonda’s Resturant on the old Duckitt farm. Perhaps another source for you?
Akistair Grant
The Duckitts went on holiday at least twice a year usually on camping trips – to Saldahna Bay, Hermanus, Cape Point, everywhere -always by horseback and in horsedrawn carts and wagons. There were no cars yet, and the railways were just being extended.
The East Coast Negro cook went with – he must have seen more of the country than the majority of citizens of the day. His life would make an interesting novel.
Alaistair Grant
SA was originally a Dutch colony. The Dutch allowed no slavery of locals in any of their colonies. The only slaves in their colonies were imported from other colonies bought from other colonisers or Arabs.
The only slaves in SA were the original Malay slaves from Indonesia brought in by Van Riebeeck as artisans to build the Castle (Fort). Although they came from Java they were imports there as well. All their names were recorded to be able to keep track of them and also to ensure their rights were protected. They had rights about being able to work in their free time for their own account, which is how so many of them were able to buy their freedom. They also had rights of religious worship. They were probably better off than serfs in Europe at the time. Also Dutch Servants of the Dutch East India Company sold their slaves in Cape Town when returning home as not even imported slaves were allowed in Holland.
When the British took over the Cape Colony they were at the forfront of the slave-abolition movement.
South Africa therefore NEVER had slavery of locals – not legally (though not everyone obeyed the law on the frontiers, like everywhere else in frontier areas).
Also interesting in Hildagonda Duckitts book (published 1902) is her comments about how expensive the cost of farm labour has become because of the competition for labour with the mines. Other writers of that time said the same.
It was shortly after this that the mines started importing labour from the other black states across SA’s borders, sharply bring down the price of labour, which is what the original ANC campaigned for the most – the CLOSING not OPENING of SA’s borders to foreign cheap labour. They wanted a United South Africa NOT a United Pan Africa – which they were scathing about as unrealistic considering the variety of different tribes and cultures in Africa.
They were equally opposed to Communism as they were all Christian Democrats.