Truth be told, black people are not interested in the confessions of white people who suffer guilt from the sins of colonialism and apartheid or those who accused Nelson Mandela of selling out.
In the 21st century where both colonialism and apartheid have — depending on how you look at things — been defeated, we don’t want to know of people who indulge in self-flagellation.
In fact, we should be disappointed that there are some whites who think they please blacks by making the issue of race an obsession in a non-racial society or a Winnie who wants to blame Mandela for everything.
If white people want to remain relevant to genuine transformation and change in this country, we want to hear or see them talk about the issue of class oppression and exploitation while the ANC executives espouses its mantra of collective responsibility.
It is only when whites and political leaders address the issue of class and power more than the matter of race or blaming Mandela that they can make significant changes to the economic structures in our society.
For far too long whites have expected blacks to embrace them and treat them as heroes for simply being so-called anti-apartheid while some black leaders thrive on pointing out wrongs that they should have long corrected.
But we now demand that whites (and blacks) raise the issue of class contradiction in our society, especially those inherent within the capitalist condition.
Perhaps blacks know that when white comrades raise the issue of class, we will sooner see how blacks — especially in business and politics — have betrayed themselves.
Over the last 15 years, it has become much clearer that the notion of whiteness — just like black unity based on skin colour — is a political myth. Many of us have learnt that oppression and exploitation of fellow human beings is not determined by skin colour. What this means is that whites do not oppress or exploit blacks because they are white. Instead, blacks, too, can oppress and exploit other blacks despite the sameness of their skin colour.
So, what we expect from our white compatriots are revelations and confessions that will, ultimately, give insight into how to ameliorate the material conditions of the poor, marginalised and unemployed who are condemned to be the under-class.
For more than three centuries of South African history and struggle, white people — including missionaries, journalists and politicians — who were heroes were not glorified because they were opposed to whiteness.
It is something they cannot escape from, just as blacks will always try to use their skin colour to blind their own to how they oppress and exploit them. Instead, white heroes have always chosen to ignore their skin colour to take a principled stand against economic injustice and how the economic system oppresses and exploits people irrespective of their colour, creed or station in life.
As President Jacob Zuma has said, opening the race debate — or making Mandela accused number 1, again — at this point of our history is not going to achieve much.
We have to abandon the superficial notion of whites trying to liberate themselves by confining political discourse to the issue of race or legacy of colonialism and apartheid. This simply means that they are unable to transcend the limits imposed on them by racism, colonialism and apartheid. At this point in our national crisis — with rampant corruption and embezzlement of tenders at senior government level — whites must tell the truth about how class, power and internalised racism corrupts people’s morals.
We need the whites to speak truth to power — perhaps just like Mama Winnie — that will make them gain the disapproval of authority figures, especially in the big business of politics, if necessary.
Throughout the years of the struggle, black people have always known white comrades who were trustworthy and did not bother to make the issue of race the subject. Instead, they were whites who told the truth that not all white people owned the land or monopolised the wealth of this country. In fact, they broke the conspiracy of silence which hid the fact that poor whites existed and, just like blacks, were condemned to poverty, unemployment and buried in the under-class.
If whites truly want to be taken seriously, they must offer an alternative to the economic system that upholds and entrenches injustice and inequality in our society.
We must try our hardest not to make race the central issue when it comes to public discourse in this country, now. Of course, many political people with too much to gain from this distraction will not like it because it will take away the apartheid or racism excuse. But this country will only begin to move forward when whites — and blacks, for that matter — break ranks with the few who own and control the land and monopolise the means of production.
If we are to live fully in a non-racial society what needs to happen is for us to acknowledge and recognise that genuine transformation and change will only happen when we address the issue of the economic system and its consequent class division.
We need to remain committed to making the ideal of a non-racial society alive. Often, blacks who have joined the “haves” class protect themselves from the knowledge of broken promises by pretending that whites only are responsible for injustice and inequality in this beautiful land.
It is this pretence that has made blacks not notice that a president like Robert Mugabe in Zimbabwe, for instance, has put down his own people to live in hell or that the black elite in South Africa are indifferent to the plight of the under-class.
It is time that blacks and whites forge a stronger anti-inequality coalition to breathe new life into the ideal of a non-racial, just and equal society.
We must not allow ourselves to wonder why it is wrong for whites to enjoy luxury and splendour when blacks, too, have joined the party to do exactly the same. We have to acknowledge and protect the ideals and principles enshrined in our Constitution which espouse a non-racial society.
It is a nice gesture for some whites to try to be kind to blacks by blaming themselves for the sins of their fathers and apartheid. But apartheid is dead and gone now.
Our urgent responsibility is to move from the race issue to put the class question under the spotlight. It is only when we do that that we will recognise that man’s injustice to man has got nothing to do with skin colour. It could even be human nature.
Unconsciously, when we continue to obsess over the issue of race we are refusing to bury the past but desire to allow it to control us. It is not that there is no racism but it is time to move away from race obsession as it does not explain the challenges before us.
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59 Responses to “Mandela: Whites must take up his struggle”
Dear Sandile,
Amazingly and accurately put. We need more people like you. Although I doubt our politicians will take heed to the issues you have raised. I think this is the main issue facing every country across the globe. Too much greed! It is fine to want a little extra, but we need to know when enough is enough, especially when there are so many without. I am not a communist in any way, but I do feel that socio-capitalism is system that works, although no system is perfect. Evidence of this is in the North-European system, which have some of the lowest unemployment, lowest crime rates, and highest standards of living, all achieved through delayed gratification, and thinking about the society as a whole, opposed to always and only oneself. Anyway, RSA needs some type of solution, as to many suffer, which spurs on animosity and crime. There is no quick fix, and those who work harder should be better rewarded, but the issues you have raised need to desperately be addressed.
Maybe the people of our country should not vote for the party that spits on them then. Rich people deciding ‘to change the economy’ will matter little if they are constantly hindered by the bumbling, incompetent, and all-pervasive state.
True, however, that we need change - and not just from our government
Mr Memela - If more attention was paid to a certain type of white person (and sometimes black,brown) who honestly do not see colour as anything more than % melamine, then we would be much further along the road you propose. Unfortunately, we are the past, present and probably future disadvantaged, the commie bastards, traitors, collaborators, draadsitters, bleeding heart liberals, etc. etc. who will never have anyone’s ear much less power enough to point out so that anyone will agree: Hey guys(and girls) together we can do so much more! I am starting to get sour and therefore cynical in my old age and do not have hope that South Africans will ever learn to share. Go ahead, prove me wrong! Please?
1) “If whites truly want to be taken seriously, they must offer an alternative to the economic system that upholds and entrenches injustice and inequality in our society.” - Why must whites do this when Julius Malema (gold watches etc), and the ANC (lucrative government contracts for friends) don’t, yet they appear to be taken seriously?
2) “It is a nice gesture for some whites to try to be kind to blacks by blaming themselves for the sins of their fathers and apartheid.” I repeat, as I have said before on Thought Leader, I don’t blame myself for the past (I am white) , and I don’t know other whites who do, but I am certainly dissappointed that the high ideals I had of blacks running the country justly and fairly have been smashed against the hard rocks of reality.
I think you are projecting your own inner sub-conscious insecurities onto whites.
It is not the system that keeps the poor down, it is the people in power that do. Change the system and not the people (ANC/SACP/COSATU) and oppression and mis-management will continue.
There is no way people can continue to refer to each other as blacks and whites at this stage of democracy.This is calpablehate speech,every political force in our country is talking about one race which is Human Race,and our identity is even mastered by fashion designers that we are Africans.Only the shallow cannot know that we are identified by the continent that we come from or occupy or even the country is better way of identifying people.The sheep and goats will not take an offence on the colour naming when reffering to them. The so called whites you reffer to are within their correct right to talk about the past we come from,and they help more to shape the future of our country.The past of this country is very important to talk about if we do not want to repeat it.Let us reconcile fellow citizens in our diversity and let our country prosper as we work for the betterment of our lives,you call me black I sue the lights out of your glasses,I am not black,I am an African
A great thought-blog, thank you. I agree with you on so many issues. As a ‘white’ person (or someone of European descent, might be a better label), it can be very hard to live in SA and not feel constantly guilty, simply because you have a pale skin.
A comment I question is that “this country will only begin to move forward when whites — and blacks, for that matter — break ranks with the few who own and control the land and monopolise the means of production.”
I’m really not sure HOW I can do that since 80% of the companies that I’ve worked for have black owners and bosses. I am already a ‘conscious consumer’ in that I boycott Coca-Cola products (for eg) because of their horrendous human rights and environmental practises around the world, won’t buy Nike, buy as little Chinese plastic cr@p as possible, buy SA and local whenever possible.
Please explain how I ‘break ranks’ with a mining company (for eg) whose products I don’t directly buy?
Whilst you busy picketing about how whites think that they are owed everything, so they need to take up struggle and all that rant, at the same time, on the direct opposite side, Afriforum, Soildarity, Freedom Front, Freedom Under Law, and the DA are challenging everything that wishes/seeks to adress those imbalances of past three centuries; and quite frankly, because of poor transformation in our judiciary, they are winning every case. And, even our blind sheeple(ish) media (except Pinky Kohoabane of the Sunday Times), does not bother questioning the genesis of opposing transformation.
Just like Cosatu & other useless black led NGOs like Powa & TAC, ours, as black people, is to write on platform like these and whine about the whole lot, or, simply, simply cause chaos & Toyi-toyi at the highways, with the hope that everything will be resolved accordingly.
I, a young white South African, have just joined the workplace fresh and naive from university. My current experiences in the workplace rings true with what you have expressed here and has opened my eyes to the anti-white guilt ridden rasism expressed by so many older white South Africans, often ex-struggle supporters. In addition the latent anger expressed more so by the black youth, who only see the effects of apartheid but were too young to live through the changes, outstrips anything I have experienced amoungst the older generation. I dispair, feeling that I’m neither wanted nor appreciated in this new South Africa. Silenced in pushishment for the sins of my forefathers. Somebody even told me I am not an African. But it is when I read pieces like this and many of the other though leader blogs, like that of Khaya Dlanga, that I see that maybe I do have a place in this society that maybe not everybody thinks I have nothing to contribute to my counrty. After all, I was told South Africa belongs to all those who live in it.
If anyone needs to move their thinking away from race issues its you, Sandile. Your obsession with colour borders on pathological.
So you want revelations from whites that will give insight into how to improve the material conditions of the poor? You are welcome:
1. Abandon AA and bring back all the retrenched teachers, Eskom engineers, water specialists, municipal administrators etc.
2. Outlaw teachers unions.
3. Make university education elitist … only the best may apply.
4. Bring back apprenticeships and massively invest in technical training (and dump the bloody Setas!)Reopen the 700 training colleges (we only have 50 today!)
5. Remove restrictive labour legislation
6. Peg Ministerial and parliamentary packages to an average national wage. (discourage the wealth-seekers)
7. Ensure you elect leaders who demonstrate frugality, modest lifestyles, and the highest ethical standards.
8. Make children our Priority Issue. This means abandoning all retribution because of your past hurts, including BEE.
9. BE PATIENT. You cannot plant one day and harvest the next. Poverty will naturally diminish as healthy new generations grow. (Sadly the ANC planted rotten seeds 16 years ago, and then neglected the garden, so we have lost one generation of fresh produce already)
Sandile: This is an amazing article. I agree with all of it, but if I have to nitpick, I must add that I can’t really see what you suggest whites and blacks (and everyone always forgets about everyone in between) should do in order to move from here?
“If we are to live fully in a non-racial society what needs to happen is for us to acknowledge and recognise that genuine transformation and change will only happen when we address the issue of the economic system and its consequent class division.”
Absolutely. The working class, the middle class, professionals and intellectuals must unite and hold the upper class and their political lackeys accountable. Justice must prevail. Including economic and social justice.
Well said Sandile. Thank you for pitching from the middle, and not the right as you use to. This is a balanced oped and it deserve a better judgement and for sure a fair one.Now, you will understand that SA became much more polarized during the Zuma administration than the last two administration. Our government resort to respond to any pressing issues with one comon answer at all the times.They play what they call the blame game, which at the end of the day make this admin unpopular. Of all the corruption, the moral decays, failur of delivering services, our government never came out in full swing to adress some of this problems.Yes, the are disparities on economics and to solve that we need a government that will unify and not divide us.
As a white I think it is irrelevant to discuss an economic system that exploits, unless those without economic and political power can run the country and economy smoothly and justly if given the opportunity.
No matter what economic system you have in place, whether it be capitalism or socialism, the country will fail unless those who hold power have an industious, hard working, honest ethic.
What is the good of dicussing economic justice if Eskom is failing, the arms deal hangs over our heads, travelgate is brushed over?
I don’t blame the new landowners, I blame the government for being so short-sighted as to put untrained people on the land and expect them to be productive. Surely it does not take too must foresight to work that one out. I think too many of our public servants are too idealistic on the one hand, and too self serving on the other. They could not care as long as they get a pay cheque and some government tenders.
Furthermore, how can we train farmers if our educational institutions are in turmoil?
For Mandela’s struggle to continue every South African must realise nothing comes from being a fat cat society, everything comes at a cost.
That cost is an honest hard working honest responsible ethic.
Hi, to be honest I couldnt care about apartheid. I am 26yrs old and all I see is that I am being oppressed with systems like BEE etc. I just wanna have a happy and safe living condition for me and my wife. So tell me what is the difference between the black leaders now and the old white ones. In my eyes they all the same!!!
Sure thing - but the problem with this, as with Winnie’s tirade, is the assumption that ‘whites’ are an homogenous bloc, with leaders they accept and follow, and are capable of united action. This was an ANC mistake during apartheid - the fact that all whites benefitted materially and tried to keep doing so did NOT mean they were all in a single, happy group; and when the ANC expected concessions from ‘whites’ during the negotiations, they again assumed de Klerk represented ‘whites’. But he didn’t, and no single white leader ever has; and nowadays white political opinion is even more divided than before. So, as I say, I think the sentiment is right; I think the expectation that whites should act and talk like democrats is pretty damn small beer; but the notion that whites are whites - that by skin colour alone we all behave the same and are capable of colective action - is fundamentally flawed, and has been for a long time.
A truly inspiring and though provoking blog. Thanks Sandile.
The biggest problems we face today is that democracy as we know it is a flawed and broken political system. Voting once every four years and hoping for the best is a ghost of what democracy was supposed to be.
In the current political disposition, citizens are dis-empowered by democracy. We have no say because we hand our votes over to our representative by proxy. Over time these representatives have become more corrupt and self serving, by changing the laws to favour and protect their interests.
To kill this weed that is strangling our societies worldwide we need to pull it out by the root. Technology is advanced enough today to create democracies in which citizens can engage and participate at every level in democratically self governing societies. Unfortunately the politicians of today have no incentive to promote systems that will whittle power away from them, so to introduce a new political dispensation will need to be driven from the grassroots level.
We do not live in a non-racial society. There is legislation on our law books which perpetuates Apartheid-style racial classification and discriminates based on the colour of people’s skin. People’s eligibility for employment and educational opportunities is determined at least in part by the colour of their skin. Only once our society has advanced beyond the phase of anti-white discrimination and those laws are scrapped will we begin to experience a non-racial experience. But yes, I hear you and on the whole I agree with what you are saying. White people who oppress black people also oppress whites. Black people who oppress black people also oppress whites. Oppression is colour blind. The issue is that oppressors put their own profits before the people they exploit. Money in their own pockets is more important to them than the misery they inflict on others; they are inhumane, they are inhuman. I encourage people to vote for an opposition party whenever possible so that the present climate of oppression in South Africa can be changed.
I wonder who the ANC will blame for all the mess that they have made, once and if all the whites, educated blacks and Indians decide to vacate the country? As soon as South Africa is “Black” then blacks can turn on each other as has been seen througout Africa. Mugabe was a ‘hero’ 30 years ago. Now he has turned on his own people. When will we see ANC members running through the streets armed with panga’s and matches, ‘educating’ people on who they should vote for.
The ANC is a racist party and makes the Nats look like angels. Even in the pre ‘democracy’ period in South Africa there was more black on black violence then there was black on white or white on black. What a mess as Mandela fought for freedom for all but the ANC that he created now only wants freedom for ANC members and wealth for the hierarchy. Uncle Bob has shown the way to self destruction and how to stay in power forever. “Demoracy” is touted in many parts of Africa but it does not exist anywhere except perhaps in Botswana.
You speak as though capitalism is some sort of white invention or was invented by the rich. Capitalism is the evolutionary result of hundreds of thousands of years of human interaction and trading between different groups and peoples as we moved from hunter-gatherers to trader-consumers. It’s survival of the fittest in a Darwinian economy. The real issue is that money and possessions do not make one happy. neuroeconomics has proven that but people still need to find out for themselves. What black people need is for their dignity to be restored. Money won’t do that. The promised land is to be found in the class-room … something that black South Africans have spit on.
The greatest enemy we have to face today is materialism. It has become the dominant paradigm that seems to have caused this terrible curse of income/wealth inequality - of which SA is probably the worst.
The irony is that many of those who earn the most are also desperately unhappy; discontented with everything (Affluenza - Oliver James). It is time we extolled the contentment that comes from the old aphorism: Something to do, someone to love and something to live for.
I have seen this most lived out in India, where most people have a religion, honour the family and work really hard to get their children an education. The children, on the other hand, recognise their duty to look after their parents in their old age.
Should we not encourage this?
Excellently written article.
Let’s focus on showing how the best way out of the current situation is to prioritise education and thereby empower all people in South Africa.
We also need to make politicians accountable to the voters i.e. change our political system so that we vote for people and not parties. That way politicians will be less keen to plunder the state coffers as they will know that they will be voted out of office.
Dear Sandile Mamela,
At last we have found someone who has raised the discussion bar…away from black and white to RICH and POOR. The someone is Sandile Mamela!
Our present and future problems centry on economic policy, and we should be looking to Sweden, Denmark, Netherlands for models that are more egalitarian.
The enemies of South Africa and Black and White capitalists,like Molema not Mandela!Like Agliotti and like Shabir Shaik.
Albert Einstein said” We are on this earth for a short time and our own well being depends on the smiles and goodwill of others.”
We need to stop the headlong selfish rush to wealth and think a bit…defer gratification and improve the lot of the poor, or we all will drown in blood together. Do we see smiles or goodwill on the faces of those who demonstrate in the streets. Read the writing on the wall and on the faces!
Sandile, it’s impossible to overlook race and racism as this continue to define population dynamics, who stays where, who has what and how much of it, and who is underfed and who is obese! I do not see us going anywhere as a country for as long as the native overwhelming majority is without and the statistically insignificant settler minority still have the silver spoon. I do not see a Sandtoner sleeping peacefully when Alexandrians have a hunger induced insomnia. Land, wealth redistribution and giving Africans their dignity back are issues we can no longer afford to hide beneath the surface gloss of equality and justice…
Sandile, if the collapse of communism and the change of direction by China taught us anything; it is that there is only one way to run a modern economy. The sooner the ANC and black South Africans understand and embrace this the better for our country.
If you want whites to do anything than it should be for them to keep on working and paying taxes.
You can’t blame any person for waking up in the morning and putting their skills to work. Do you expect a skilled white male accountant to suddenly give up his profession to stand on the side of the road and become a gardener for R150 per day?
The road to growth and a prosperous future is simple:
- rule of law
- quality education
- a growing economy
This crazy notion that we must kill off our economy first in the name of transformation is national suicide.
Really insightful and interesting blog, and the headline caught my eye. As Lauren mentioned above, in this society I have always wondered where, as a white South African, I fit into the new dispensation (which economically looks very much like the old one…the root of the problem?)
We can only advance in SA if we all work together and are willing to band together for the good of the majority. While I certainly think that apartheid should be placed in context, its affect on the state of minds of all South Africans goes beyond just the practical affects.
Dealing with race is a mental issue as much as an economic issue, but economics should take the fore front which I think you were saying, and I agree. The situation for the poorest hasn’t changed.
class differences will only be eradicated when your black brothers go to school to learn… go to university …get this… to learn.
sitting on ones arse and blaming everyone else does not help your situation.
why is it possible that some people (black) have lived through great odds and yet are still masters of their own universe?
its called dedication to something, an ability to work hard and clever, a little bit of luck never hurt…
my father and mother were refugees in ww2… 1 generations later i am educated and monetarily comfortable, and my children will have the best i can offer … ie.. i will have 2 children (not 20).. i will send them to school and make sure they do well..
believe me, they will be fine in this big bad world.
why dont black people realise that there is no gold at the end of the rainbow… that hard work and education are key… that waiting for godot is just that… waiting for a never arriving train.
I can imagine why White people would blame Mandela for anything except possibly making Afrikaner-Nationalist-Party leaders look bad by being so magnanimous, gracious and selfless. When it comes to blaming people for the faults of the negotiated settlement that led South Africa out of the racial oppression of apartheid I blame the Afrikaner-Nationalist-Party. A lot of the Afrikaner Nationalists didn’t want majority democracy and were perfectly willing to try tank wheels and machine guns as a way of dealing with the ANC. A lot of Afrikaner Nationalists thought that De Klerk was a commie liberal who sold out the “volk”.
By the way I don’t think you should worry too much about White people. Whites may still have economic power –but their policital power and with it their ‘der Wille zur Macht’ is weak. As a people their numbers diminish and as the black middle class grows, their economic importance fades. White political parties (such as they are) are nothing more than decaying fossils that whine but are powerless to act. White people are just a minority (albeit one with a disturbing history) and in the new South Africa, it is the majority who have the power to direct history not the minority.
I am with Ladyfingers. I like the new Sandile Memela much better, even if I don’t agree with everything. There seems to have been a transformation in this blog since new year. And thats okay! Thumbs up from me too.
Some really good stuff. Dare I suggest that some of this will resonate very powerfully with Helen Zille and the top table of the DA, in particular….”It is time that blacks and whites forge a stronger anti-inequality coalition to breathe new life into the ideal of a non-racial, just and equal society.”
anton kleinschmidt on March 12th, 2010 at 12:47 pm
Well put, human nature is as it is and nothing will change that.
There will always be class distinction. Would Zuma or Raymind ackerman socially or otherwise actively take court with my family and I? I doubt it. we are the Drone class.
Race in my opinion is used as an excuse for so many reasons that the reality is blinded by the cow dung that is thrown about.
There is need for ecconomic change but not in the sense you put it. Where that change should come is in hospitals and others spheres of government that bar or freezes post for political expediency and not forward looking policy that is supposed to benefit the “lower classes”.
In reality it has been government policy to reinforce blackness and whiteness almost on a daily baisis. Why then must one side give grace to the other over issues when they are being alienated?
Sandile, just stop using the words white and black. You have at last realised that it’s not about race, it’s about class - the wealthy and those who become wealthy will immediately turn oppressor, whether they are a pale shade of lilac or blue.
@Siphiwo: since when were the TAC and POWA useless? Good grief, they at leats have achieved a lot in practical terms!
A Goodwill Mission
Consider the reputed case in the darkest times of Apartheid when a foremost Traditional Leader had called a mass meeting to report on the way the S.A. government had not honoured certain promises. He ended his tirade by proclaiming that he would ‘never trust a white man again’. Then his eyes met those of a long-standing relationship they had all had with a missionary doctor. He paused – and then continued.
“My people, I take that back. For as long as there is one man [and he pointed him out] whom we all know and respect – I cannot make such a statement”
South Africa does not a have a ‘racial problem’ – it has a ‘Trust Problem’ - which cannot be solved by legislation or any form of social engineering. Nor is it possible to trust any group of people, where there has been a lack of credibility concerning the motives of any one section towards another. It can only be created on a person to person basis.The task before each person therefore is to purposefully build up a trusting foundation of Goodwill with just one other person of another culture, Then for society in general and the media in particular, instead of picking at the sores of ‘racism’, to focus on such examples to start the next real miracle socially, economically and spiritually – to achieve and confirm our national expectation of being a nation worthy of our aspirations and expectations.
@Sipihwo Sipiwho - I am very willing to join in your struggle. Shall we start with education? Please repeat after me: “Communism is a failed idea” Ask any former “Russian”. They also had their private (white) agenda in teaching you to become good little comrades, i.e. doing great business in AK47’s and other weapons. They were hoping to secure Africa’s resources as well but it seems the Chinese are now jumping to the head of that queue.
What have YOU done lately to uplift yourself and develop your country?
Hopeful Thought Sandile but I must ask about one sentence:
“If whites truly want to be taken seriously, they must offer an alternative to the economic system that upholds and entrenches injustice and inequality in our society.”
Why whites. Whites do not control SA’s economic system or wealth. The largest entities (Eskom, Transnet, PIC etc) are under government control (mostly black). A huge chunk of value owned by “government” (under ANC control) was sold off. SASOL, ISCOR, Telkom, forestry interests etc etc and huge tracts of land were sold off. Why?
Look to the ANC government for answers. If anybody is home.
OK so we want to move away from race and focus on class and wealth, but we still need to use corny labels like “comrades” and “conservatives”! Why? The concept of paralysis by analysis comes to mind! The reality is that we cannot change other people; we can only change ourselves!
Our society is fixated with bling! We aspire to keeping up with the Jones! Why? Because we are insecure and feel the need to fit in with the garbage the world churns out! But again, we will not change that because there is an advertising monster that pushes this rubbish down people’s throats 24 hours a day! We simply have to find the maturity to resist it!
What is our purpose in life! There is no doubt in my mind that it is to care for those less fortunate than ourselves. Does this mean that the wealthy should feel guilty because of their wealth? No! They should simply willingly share their wealth with those less fortunate!
Is this pie in the sky? Definitely not! There are many wealthy people who give of their money, time and skills willingly, without any thought of pay - back or announcement! They do this because it’s the right thing to do! Unfortunately you won’t know that this is happening all around our country, because these people are not vultures ripping the last bit of dried flesh from the bones of the unfortunate!
Go out there and be these quiet caring gentle souls!
I put it or described it in a simple way or did the editor not agree with the comparison I made,as to the difference between white rule and black rule in South Africa
We live in a representative democracy, right? We voted for our president at the general elections on April 22, 2009, right? The majority of the people in this country voted for Jacob Zuma to lead the country, right? Well no the answer to all of those questions is wrong. Jacob Zuma was elected as President at Polokwane in December 2007. Less than 2% of the countries population decided who would be the next South African President nearly one and a half years before the elections on the 22nd of March 2009.
The 60 odd percent of the population that voted ANC did not vote for Jacob Zuma, They voted for many reasons but a large portion voted for the ANC because.
1. The ANC is the only party that has real credibilty among the poor, I am not going to discuss the reasons for this here.
2. The ANC is the party that liberated us from Apartheid, Once again I am not going to discuss how factual this is.
3. The ANC made promises that were believed.
4. The ANC intimidated those that were not going to vote for them.
‘It is time that blacks and whites forge a stronger anti-inequality coalition to breathe new life into the ideal of a non-racial, just and equal society’.
@sandile I could not agree with you more but I would phrase it slightly differently I would say, ‘It is time that citizens formed …..’
I like the content Sandile, however how does one put it accross to the masses that only vote with their feet and are swayed by a sadwich and a T shirt.
Sandile, Well I never thought I would say this but I agree with you.
I would like to see a new southern africa (present DRC and everything south thereof recognising ethnic land areas as federal states (no more colonial borders) that lives under a federal system. A country that has an economic policy that has a 10,000 year vision (not next election or share holders meeting). Where people work for the betterment of their neighbours before themselves.
Truly the issue is not colour of skin. Sadly (contrary to what we have come to accept), even slavery and apartheid was never about skin colour (note that even Britain had peasants who were white). It is ever about the condition of the human’s heart. See, we human beings like status, high positions, money, fame, material things or all sorts. Even those who call themselves socialists and communists, claiming that the wealth of the nation should be equally distributed, also like to ride in BMW’s costing a million bucks and drinking wiskey and going on holidays to Hawaii. So, even if white people were to stop making things about race, or black people for that matter, we go back to square one because at the heart of the problem, we simply are a selfish, greedy species. God help us to change, that’s our only hope really.
Look, people like Julias will be condescending enough to shit in the faces of the poor by claiming they live a life of poverty while they are living it up in Sandton, driving luxury cars and throwing big parties. It would be fair if that was his own hard-earned money, but the shit stinks even more because it is money coming from pockets that don’t have much to begin with. So whether black or white, the heart of man is the same, and if we want to see real change, that’s where it starts: in the heart. It’s when we throw away greed and “crass materialism” (a la Vavi), selfishness and the like, to make a real difference in the land we claim to love so dearly.
Sadly, it’s hard and we seem not to be ready to make that step. So then let’s stop lying to each other and ourselves.
It was interesting reading, but at least 80% of you should never be strategists. Utter rubbish. There is a nice Afrikaans saying: “riool letterkunde” - the perfect word choice, grammar and sentence construction, but utter nonsense. ONLY ONE PERSON LISTED FACTS AND PLANS. I work for a very large international firm and see this junk in whitepapers all the time. Fancy words for the artificial intelligent – Politics from within any sector, should be read between the lines as with “Dubula ibhunu”
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Sandile Memela grew up in Soweto where he was groomed to live 'the life of the mind.'
He believes in freedom of expression and respects the right of those who do not agree with him.
He has worked as an editor, journalist, columnist and advertising strategist.
At the moment, he is a government funk.
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Dear Sandile,
Amazingly and accurately put. We need more people like you. Although I doubt our politicians will take heed to the issues you have raised. I think this is the main issue facing every country across the globe. Too much greed! It is fine to want a little extra, but we need to know when enough is enough, especially when there are so many without. I am not a communist in any way, but I do feel that socio-capitalism is system that works, although no system is perfect. Evidence of this is in the North-European system, which have some of the lowest unemployment, lowest crime rates, and highest standards of living, all achieved through delayed gratification, and thinking about the society as a whole, opposed to always and only oneself. Anyway, RSA needs some type of solution, as to many suffer, which spurs on animosity and crime. There is no quick fix, and those who work harder should be better rewarded, but the issues you have raised need to desperately be addressed.
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