Over the past 18 years too much attention has been paid to history or its makers. You see, the struggle stalwarts are part of our history but it’s the ideals they fought for that is our heritage. Let’s admit it’s time the struggle stalwarts retire from centre stage. There’s been too much navel-gazing. We must unlearn the habit of focusing on the past and pay attention to the present.
We have a democratic government. Simply put the role of the liberation stalwarts was to establish a democratic government and create an enabling environment for all people to enjoy freedom. Their historical mission was to create a society that would create employment, education, healthcare, safety and comfort, skills development and opportunities for people to fulfil their individual potential.
Much as this is a great historical achievement, what’s lacking is the information and education that will teach people how to claim their human rights as defined and protected by the Constitution. This is the heritage. It’s only when people truly understand their human rights in a constitutional democracy that we can talk of a successful freedom struggle.
The overthrow of apartheid was meant to break exploitation, oppression and cowering before the brutal forces of economic domination. This dream has not been fulfilled. Freedom fighters are now the bourgeoisie who enjoy well-paying jobs in government, state-owned entities and lucrative BEE deals. They live off the fat of the land. As former struggle artist Jonas Gwangwa sings, freedom for some is freedom for none.
To realise the vision of a caring and proud society we have to create a new culture where we focus on the heirs of the struggle. We can do this by ensuring ordinary citizens are educated about their individual rights and begin to internalise the principles, ideals and values enshrined in the Constitution. Rather than heap praises on ageing and increasingly irrelevant struggle heroes, it’s time we channel our energies, time and resources to workshops and awareness programmes that teach people about their human rights and what freedom means.
Many liberation heroes have assimilated into the unjust economic status quo they fought against. In fact they’ve become the guardians of economic inequality and social injustice that’s threatening social cohesion. This is totally unacceptable in a democratic environment where the majority continue to be assaulted, exploited and oppressed, evident in the Marikana tragedy.
When the anger of ordinary folks explodes into violence and death, the contribution and value of the struggle heroes is questioned. What does freedom mean when there’s been no radical transformation of the economic status in places like mines, for instance.
We must promote the Constitution as the premier document that should shape our attitude, behaviour and conduct towards ourselves and others. Some freedom fighters now want to suggest that the Constitution is suspect. They have to say this to protect their narrow material interests and justify being part of a history they fought against.
To enjoy freedom and democracy, ordinary folks need to transform themselves into an informed and knowledge-based class of people armed with their Constitutional rights as active citizens. To get to that level we must move on from glorifying struggle heroes and prioritise gaining the necessary information, knowledge and education to implement the objective of the liberation struggle, which is economic justice and social equality.
Often those who should be enjoying freedom resort to violence simply because they do not understand the structures and process that work to their advantage in a constitutional democracy.
The rightful heirs of the struggle must undergo an intellectual transformation to open their minds to what they can get the state and its apparatchiks to do for them through constitutional and legal means.
It’s time freedom became visible.
Sorry mate, aboither one of these “we must……”, “we should……..” articles.
“The rightful heirs of the struggle must undergo an intellectual transformation to open their minds to what they can get the state and its apparatchiks to do for them through constitutional and legal means”.
Another “transformation”. We have had the relativley undefined transformation which turned out be no more than promoting blacks, many of them to their levels of incompetence.
Now..you suggest an intellectual transformation…in a country where the education system has all but collapsed as result of the first transformation. Where our rulers are willing to sign and confirm the old tribal rules into law.
Am I missing something?? Please enlighten me.
thanks
@Sandile, SA is not a democracy because not one person in this country is elected by the people and accountable to the people. SA is a fake democracy and this is where the problem lies. Prior to 1994, the blacks couldn’t elected the president, members of parliament and the mayors of the cities in SA. Today, in SA nobody of any color can elect the president,members of parliament and the mayors of the cities. The whole elector system should be reformed to give the people in this country a voice in the government. How about letting half of the members of parliament be elected by the voters and the other half by the parties? The president should be directly elected by the people and accountable to the people, not kingmakers.
It is debatable if the struggle heroes of the 50s golden era are irrelevant. These are repositories of knowledge and revolutionary morality. It is the heirs of freedom that have become VIPs that fence themselves from the masses even in political rallies.
They are a negligeble but highly visible few that has left thousands of former MK combatants to live a life of indignity and poverty as they seek to please their new found friends in cooporate board rooms and council chambers. They are generation that shout renewal without providing content to the said renewal. In most cases they have been provided with the opportunity to lead provinces and districts and have made a mess of it. They cry for leadership without using spaces available to them to provide such.
I share the view that there is noyhing wrong with the constitution except that its relief measures are not accessible to those without money or a very noisy even violent voice. The hallowed public protector priortises high profile cases and those in which communities have become violent. A cursory study of rulings of organisations such as the BCCSA, HRC etc will reveal that they are dismissive of complaints laid by ordinary South Africans from disadvataged communities.
Yes, we need a leadership that will decisively lead the country towards social emancipation but the renewal crowd are not just it.
I beg to differ, We do NOT have a democratic government, we have the ANC who are most definitely not democratic. The ANC has nothing else to sell but struggle veterans and songs.
Zuma can proudly sing his machine gun songs but now he has to live with what those machine guns, under his command have done. Malema can sing the glories of killing farmers but look how fat he has become eating what farmers grow? When is the law going to catch up with the man or is he, even though he is no longer ANC, above the law like most ANC fat cats are?? Sedition, incitement to violence, meddling in the economy and destruction are all OK in the furtherance on his self serving goals. No different though from Zuma or Mugabe!
We have an idiocracy where the main function is to keep the gravy train well supplied.
Zuma tries to show the progress but there is very little of that other than on the wealth and lifestyles of the vets and their families and friends.
I wonder how much could have been done for schools, hospitals, roads, education, employment, jobs and growth if the focus had not been self serving and greed by the ANC.
I propose Mr Clem Sunter to head a non political government! Politics and good administration are mutually exclusive.
What does all this mean in practice? AfriForum hides behind the Constitution, and we are supposed to say that the Constitution is a perfect document?
Yes, we need “radical transformation”, but what does that mean? It would be radical transformation to strip blacks of the vote and confine them to Bantustans, but I presume you don’t want that — so what is it that you want, and does it coincide with what the average person in the street wants?
I’m sorry, you may mean well, but all this empty verbosity is becoming quite exasperating.
@Sandile, I wonder if you are approaching this debate from the proper context. Lets take the comment from Dennis Goldberg, a Rivonia trialist who is still with us, “we never promised you a rose-garden”. I remember these words simply because it is the truth and it sets the tone for the context in which this discussion should be held. I wonder how many us really understood and articulated liberation. FIrstly, the ”rainbow nation” that was so unfairly imposed upon us was unfortunate and hasty. Secondly, we have not explored the concessions in the name for freedom at Codesa. We also fail to explore how one section of society has become a total hindrance in our revolution and we fail to identify those who refuse to build social cohesion. Our society is not homegenous. We are not all on the same page. There are too many agents for change pandering to their own agendas. And yet, these are the very agents who stalls development in our country. Furthermore, why are not cogniscant that this was a failed state in 1994? It is quite encouraging for me, yes as a youth, that the gains made thus far empowers me to a certain extent to make choices I fundamentally could not, pre 1994. But it pains me that those who have these unrealistic expectations burdens our society more, simply because it creates undue pressure. I do not see very many Joe Citizens, getting off their proverbial towers & rolling up their sleeves. Hence what are our personal roles and relevance in this democracy?
The liberation stalwarts upheld values of selfless caring and service. Today the people are asked to strive after values of human (read “my”) rights and entitlement. This creates a society where people don’t care for their next door neighbour. More and more people are complaining that the attitude of ubuntu is disappearing. Then there is the issue of the electoral system (as addressed by others above). We cannot simply cut us loose from our roots to strive after the latest political fads.
We need to take a serious look at the cultural/religious differences in this country before we suggest we create a new culture and values. Culture embraces a large number of issues that are formed over time by the way a society’s behaviour, beliefs, values and world view are expressed. It is not a matter of changing your mind based on intellectual “education”.
Thanks for voicing your concerns.
@Sandile, I agree with you in general terms but I fear we must be more specific. What should our ANC government have done and what should it be doing? It’s not helpful to waffle about buzzwords like tofolux; get specific. Provide education, healthcare, security, basic services, the basic infrastructure needed for development and hence employment. But the ANC has failed hopelessly in all these departments and seriously it cannot be due to “agents for change”, “one section of the society” etc etc. Taxes are paid and wasted. Incompetent and corrupt people are appointed to undertake the above and fail, time and again without sanction.
You work it out – what is needed in SA?
I liken our black liberationists to Baby boomers.
You once fought for justice but now enjoy the spoils of capitalism and do anything to protect your gravy train.
Guys like Khaya, who wielded pen to paper in angry tones, now simply whimper like whipped dog baby boomers while quivering over thier Mac books.
How the mighty have fallen
As for me I see the prevailing crises at two levels-that of the messiahs in the politics of the struggle and that of the very fundamental tools that were meant to provide frameworks in a liberated RSA having been tossed aside.
The problem with a Messiah is that he is regarded as the all knowing and the all right that remains above the level of questioning. He becomes the absolute custodian of the freedom movement. It is him who determines what is right and what is wrong. And mostly he is beyond questioning. The leaders of the freedom struggle have transformed themselves into Messiahs who are the all knowledgable and unquestionable. Challenging their thinking and authority of their ideas is tantamount to sin. Those who question are ostracized and demonized!
In the mordern day, the tools that provided for a envisaged future, such as the freedom charter, have all too soon become forgotten-particularly by those in the leadership structures. They have now been consumed by the materialism which formed the very basis of arphatheid.
All of the above two put together can only mean one thing-A REVOLUTION THAT HAS GONE WRONG!
It is, thus, in these circumstances that the frustrated masses about what is real and what should be have nothing to turn to except violence.
And this shall go on and on until the re-birth of a new state-this is the history of African politics!
@Sandile
An absolutely brilliant analysis. As a white-man I apologize for 85% of the above comments posted here, they are products of the apartheid era mind-set dressed up as liberals, and cannot “unlearn the habit of focusing on the past and pay attention to the present.” They are white struggle hero’s, “bitter einders” – “The words bitter einder (singular, the final “s” denotes plural) literally mean “bitter-ender” denoting someone who is “willing to fight to the bitter end” – Wikipedia.
Sandile the Poet, I am sure you will read and interesting a piece by the philosopher songbird and some of the constructive reviews that it is bound to attract. THIS will help you shape your ideological orientation as you seek to contribute in your appointed task of building the cultural life of our one nation colonised with special feautures (not two nations!).
@Tofolux: Churchill said something similar when he was elected PM of Britain during WW2 and that’s precisely what the Brits got. The thing is, they were told what to expect without any BS, so they accepted it and made the best of a bad situation.
Frankly, this is what should have been said by the ANC during the 90′s instead of the grand promises that were made. It would have been ethical and to their credit if they had been forthcoming and said that things can’t and won’t change overnight. Whether Mandela’s rainbow nation was a mistake or not remains to be seen, but I believe that it may have averted (hopefully not merely postponed) bloodshed which would not have helped anyone.
According to Moeletsi Mbeki, the concessions made at CODESA II enabled the rise of BEE and led to certain individuals suddenly having immense wealth. Allowing foreign-owned companies (mines) and financial institutions to carry on as normal (while benefitting from what were essentially bribes) was a mistake. I might even go so far as to say it was treasonous. The tables should’ve been turned on them from day one: “This is our country and if you want to do business here, then you play by our rules.”
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With regards to EE / AA: I think that this should have been phased into government over a longer period. By this, I mean that instead of just replacing everyone for the sake of having more blacks / fewer whites in various admin positions, newcomers (blacks) should have been brought up through the ranks just as anyone normally would be so that they could learn the ropes. This would have ensure a smooth transition, thus maintaining existing levels of service and allowing for solid expansion of services to new areas. It would have also prevented ineptitude and minimised the corruption which currently plagues public service.
I also think that it was a mistake for the government to allow private shareholders in parastatals, whether SAA, Eskom or the SARB. These should’ve been kept as is and gone through the same motions I’ve mentioned above.
As for education: The various specialist training colleges should have been kept open as they had a proven track record. Maintaining existing facilities while expanding and building new facilities would have greatly improved life for more people than what has currently been achieved.
continued…….
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RDP: This should not have been limited to building box houses, but should have included the contruction of new centres which could have facilitated commerce. Our local industries should have been expanded – especially those linked to minerals. Why export gold only to have it refined overseas and sold back to use as jewellery when we could refine and export it ourselves, thus generating more income? The same could be said of agriculture. Instead of simply changing farm ownership, why not build new farms and have aspirant black farmers trained by their white counterparts? The government owns plenty of arable land, why not use it? Again, more jobs would have been created.
Another thing which p!sses me off is the lack of price control. Doing away with things like the Bread Board is what allowed price collusion between the larger bakeries. One might argue that they were fined for that, but so what? The fines didn’t hurt them in the least. Why is that when petrol goes up, commodities do but their prices never come down when petrol does? This only hurts people who have to continuously shell out more than they can afford. If the government can pass laws like the 2005 Credit Act, then they should do the same for retail pricing across the board. They should also act against retailers who use their power to strong-arm suppliers into lowering their prices (while maximising their own profits).
Much of this can still be done. But does the ANC have the will do so?
Here’s a thought, uttered by a foremost economist: Has it occurred to anyone that the miners who are striking at Marikana are among the rich of this country? With a monthly gross salary of R10 000, they are doing far better than most and actually lie in the top few % earners in the country.
So why have they been told they are poor?
And why, Dear God, have they not yet learnt to understand their salary slips?
There’s plenty of room for education, but probably in a more basic format that Sandile thinks. And why should that be the task of an already failing state? The above should be the task of the unions, who are supposed to have the welfare of their member workers at heart.
Before you all resort to calling me names…our family’s income is below that R10 000/month.
@Lennon, can I ask a question, If you & et al come from the apartheid system, how is it that YOU now seem to have so much knowledge and experience about democracy and its practises. This against the background of not even voting for a liberation movement. Also, “freedom” is not one-sided. Hence what have you done? I want to know because it seems that everyone consistently asks of blacks to build cohesion and absolve our previous oppressors from doing ANYTHING?
MLH – interesting thought. What is the median income in SA (not directed specifically at you)? Was it mentioned?
@Tofolux: You know nothing about me and yet you accuse me of coming from the apartheid system?
FYI: I never attended an all-white school. My parents sent me to a convent school which had a mixture of whites and coloured. They could’ve sent to the primary school down the road instead (it’s a ten minute walk), but they didn’t much care for the school. My dad, like myself, is atheist so you can forget about thinking about any sort of religious bias.
When I got to highschool in 1994, it was far from an all-white affair and I even got flak from some students for hanging out with the coloured kids (many of whom I knew from primary school). I found both this and the disproportionate number of white faces strange.
I was expected to treat our domestic worker, Eunice, (and all subsequent domestic workers) with the same level of respect that I had for my parents. Anything less would’ve gotten me belted. Our last domestic worker, Maria, knew more about me than my parents did when I was a teenager because I always confided in her. In fact, my friends from highschool still have fond memories of her (including all of us getting p!ssed together at my 21st).
But go ahead. Blame me for apartheid. It’s clearly far easier than considering what I’ve said in my previous posts.
@Tofolux: I find it amusing that you question who I vote for. The last time I check, we’re free to vote for whomever we choose in our “young democracy” (as the ANC constantly puts it). Talk about one-sided…
Besides, I don’t see why I should vote for a party which has added to the damage done by the Nats and sold its soul to foreign interests and its own greed.
You would do well to realise that the ANC cannot ride off the “liberation movement” monicker forever. It is now a fully-fledged political party and needs to accept this.
Ah ! The land of blog , where people wax lyrical about the past commiserate about the present and express fear for the future.
.The heroes of the struggle are all but gone and their successors are certainly not showing the mettle to move forward.
Time to rise from the ashes, set aside prejudices and failed ideologies and make something of the country or we will have many more regrets.
@Tofolux: As for what I’ve done. Nothing worth bragging about. Donated stuff to various charities; minor volunteer work and dishing out whatever small change my modest salary can spare. The only other thing which I’ve been able to do is support street vendors when buying my smokes (yes, I really should quit) or the odd packet of chips since Pick ‘n Pay makes enough money without me.
It might suprise you to learn that I have not (nor will I) inherited shares in some big corporation nor a company to run. I rely on public transport (Golden Arrow; Metrorail and minibus taxis) to get to work since I don’t own, nor could I afford, a car.
Not exactly a picture of wealth, wouldn’t you say?
A brilliant commentary on what needs to be done in South Africa. Now, as your article fails to explain, HOW willthis be accomplished? Perhaps by increasing the literacy rate among the common people along with the desire to be informed as well as the ablity to think critically in terms of community/government shortcommings?
@Lennon, that was a very good comment and once again Tofolux doesn’t understand what you are saying. The ANC led government have appointed people to office that don’t have a clue in running nothing. This can only change when the government reformed the elector system so, the voters can elected people to office and the electors can hold them accountable. The way the system is setup, nobody can do nothing in SA but, comment on this page.
@Tofolux: As a white person (who personally prefers to classify myself as a human, rather than some colour, but I must humour your insistence on colour), I have done the following:
In building up my current – still small – business (and it has been nightmares, which the lines on my face will show you – bosses DO work, very hard!), I have employed 20 plus junior engineers (of which ONLY ONE was white), taking 8 through internships at cost to my company (SETAS contributing some, but it is essentially the money returned that was already taxed from me).
Of our current staff complement of 23, only 5 are white, and we are investing as much as we can in upskilling.
Frankly, my major challenge is getting interns that at least have an acceptable education – but I take what I can get. The disservice the ANC education system is doing to the African child leaves me in despair. The ANC should hang their heads in shame.
A further challenge is entitlement… getting non-white managers – most of them pull up their noses at working at a small company that cannot justify a flashy head office, wall-to-wall luxurious carpets, etc.
In spite of all the effort I put in, I continually have to read that “whites are not contributing” and such comments. That nonsense generalisation is wrong. It is also grossly unfair to the many contributing whites.
PS. I have some absolutely wonderful black (and white) people in my company!
MLH your statistics are thumb sucked,go into the Stats SA website for re-education. Poverty is not ony defined by what you may or may not be earning. In South Africa we have people who have no houses, have no access to technology, no property of whatsoever nature. These people are the only breadwinners in their families and extended families, their home to work travel expenses are ernomous etc
If your education is any value you will be able to do a balance sheet and see that this where the poverty problem faced by those who dig the gold lie. Compound that with the millions earned by those who expropriate the gold that has been digged..
@ Sterling: Thanks. And I believe you’re right that we need electoral reform.
Sadly, I don’t think it will ever happen.
I’ve also wearily come to the conclusion that Tofolux will never accept or even consider any argument (not matter how much evidence supports it) that a white person makes because in her pseudo-revolutionary mind, whites are not allowed to criticise no matter how much that criticism (and any suggestions on what else to try) may benefit the country.
It’s as if she honestly believes that whites want the ANC to fail at everything. Fark-knows why.
@Lennon & Jando if that is all you offer, then shame on you. The sharp fault line in your responses shows that you know nothing about social cohesion. This stark reality brings me to the question, what informs your critiscms other than your racist bias. Jando, what is a white person?
@Tofolux: Big talk from the Black Panther wannabe.
I have OFFERED ideas. You simply reject them because I’m white.
@Tofolux: You are just talk. I have visibly demonstrated what I have done. While I have been told off the record not to even bother applying since I am white an dwill not get the job, I have built a business and still continued to invest in all South Africans. Proportionally, I have done more for South Africans than a greed-driven, corrupt, crony capitalist ANC government has done, wasting money on stinking arms deals, destroying education, not delivering to all South Africans, etc.
Obviously you are so blinded by race that you cannot acknowledge the good done by a white like me, and refuse to see where the ANC is failing. I pity you, how depressing it must be too live forever with your ingrained negative racist view.
“(Robert) Sobukwe said God made one race – the human race.” – Sipho B Zungu, PAC Johannesburg region.
Now there are two people (Robert Sobukwe and Sipho Bungu) who I can respect.