It is the destiny of simple ordinary folks to be fooled.
If a political leader or party cannot fool the masses, it is most unlikely to garner popular support. If the common masses cannot understand that the political leader or party is promising them a pie in the sky, they are most likely to give that leader or party support.
I am neither talking about Nelson Mandela nor his African National Congress party, here. Instead, I am thinking of Hendrik Verwoerd, the greatest philosopher, political strategist and social engineer South Africa has known. He is so great even in death that Mandela’s successors continue to blame his legacy for the problems they confront.
His philosophy was not just about separate development or apartheid but false white superiority. It is a philosophy that is rooted deep in the heart and soul of many incorrigible whites. The only thing unfortunate about these simple ordinary white folks is that they do not see that they have been lied to. There is no such thing as white superiority.
But Verwoerd was so effective and successful in peddling the drugs of apartheid and false white superiority that we are still reeling from the tremendous disaster he unleashed. For anyone to have been deceived by a man like Verwoerd, you have to be suffering from deep seated inferiority complex produced by ancestors who were the ‘dregs of white civilisation.’
You see, you have to have been retarded to think that any human being is greater or better than another simply because of skin colour. All men and women are equal, after all. Also, it was impossible for separate development to succeed. Apartheid was destined to die a natural death. But many white people believed that it would prevail until “Jesus came back.”
Unfortunately, there are still many white people who – in their retarded minds – think that they are God’s chosen people to rule over black people. They believe that they are superior. And this attitude and false belief has made it very difficult for them to integrate into the new society.
When Verwoerd was talking about white superiority, he based that on nothing else but skin colour. It had nothing to do with scientific knowledge or natural intelligence. But to many whites and blacks, whiteness, whatever that is, equalled intelligence. This is the meaning that has been given to it. This is what makes it difficult for blacks and whites to work together to create a better society based on economic justice and social equality. They believe in white superiority.
The notion of white superiority is diametrically opposite to acknowledgement and recognition of black intelligence, skill and ability. As far as Verwoerd’s supremacist racism is concerned, black people are useless, primitive, lazy, barbaric and backward and were destined to be ruled over by the white race. And they continue to be. He had no conception of justice and equality.
But what we need to acknowledge is that the will to dominate or feel superior (to somebody else) comes from a deep seated inferiority complex. One only wants to feel superior or more important just to prove that they are not inferior. Your white superiority is proved by black inferiority. It is for this reason that some whites have this intuitive need to be treated differently, in a superior fashion if you will, because this makes them feel more equal than black people. If there is not anything that makes them feel superior, they feel lost.
But to be really superior, you don’t need proof or to be treated like you are super-special. If you are superior, you are superior. Superior people can be found among all races, too. They are not confined to a particular group.
Why would a Steve Biko, for instance, argue about his superiority? He was killed by Verwoerd’s descendants simply because he exposed the lie of white superiority and espoused the philosophy of Black is Beautiful, Black is Good. This equalled blackness to whiteness.
White people who are superior simply know it and conduct themselves as such. They do not base their superiority on skin or eye colour. And they do not need to prove their superiority by putting up discriminatory rules or excluding others.
In fact, if you are a superior being, that has absolutely nothing to do with anyone else. It is your individual concern or business that you think you are superior. And if you truly are, you will blossom and people will see the results of your superiority.
But we live in a new society now. Its constitution emphasised human dignity and equality. There are no superior beings, here. There are no animals that are more equal than others, now. This society can only come into being when blacks and whites get rid of the notion of white superiority.
Verwoerd and his followers – the white supremacist patriarchal capitalists – have done much harm to our society because they have made it difficult for most people to understand and appreciate human equality. And it is only one thing that they have done to mess up the world: believe that some people are superior simply because of their skin colour. There is no such.
White superiority is such a sad legacy, one which continues to poison our present and future. There is neither white superiority nor black inferiority. We are all equal. It will take time for us live up to the ideal, principles and values of the Constitution but it will happen.
We have to unlearn what Verwoerd has done and learn the new gospel of human equality and strive for economic justice. It is nonsense to believe that any human being is greater than fellow beings.
Even a Hendrik Verwoerd himself was just an ordinary but mad man.
“As far as Verwoerd’s supremacist racism is concerned, black people are useless, primitive, lazy, barbaric and backward…”
You forgot “dirty”. I don’t know why; you’d think it would be covered under the others, but I routinely hear “dirty” specified. Is that a code for “diseased” to the racist?
“There are no animals that are more equal than others, now.”
Oh, please, Sandy! How obtuse can you get not to notice that it’s not until one little piggy gets forced out of the house that the full weight of the justice system comes down upon him? Like none of that was happening while he was a member of the ANC?
To date, the ANC policies and concrete practices are a living testgimony that they are more equal than others. This, of coruse, very much includes skin colour.
Sandi you are correct in saying that it is the destiny of simple ordinary folks to be fooled.
The policies of the National Party caused great ills within black society by way of dispossession, forced relocations, denial of education, unemployment, lack of healthcare, lack of services and housing, denial of access to land, and more.
Verwoerd made the mistake of believing that blacks were inferior to whites. This political lie, caused our nation to suffer 48 years of white inferiority complex.
By demonstration over the past 19 years it is quite clear that the blacks are superior in so many ways to the whites. (But in what ways I dare not mention in a public forum, for fear of a howling lynch-mob at my door.) There is one I can openly discuss.
They have a superior ability to fool the simple ordinary folks. The ANC have fooled more people than Verwoerd and his successors were able to. Sadly for the poor and miserable masses the new ills of the modern post-apartheid era far exceed the ills of Verwoerdian times, despite the single exception of enjoying total political freedom. Most will reluctantly agree that they still suffer dispossession, dislocation, less educational opportunity, greater unemployment, failed healthcare, lack of adequate housing,continued denial of access to land, and more.
Is this a sign of a black inferiority complex manifesting itself?
If so, it proves that no animal is more equal than another. All animals are equally stupid.
I think you are confusing the notions of legal equality with actual equality in nature. People come in all different shapes, sizes and colours. Some are more intelligent, some are stronger, faster, etc. Unless you life your life with your eyes closed, this should be apparent to you. That some of these differences overlap differences in colour is also inescapable. For instance, within European populations there is the genetic admixture from Neandertals, and among Orientals the admixture of Denisovans. What these differences mean we don’t know yet, but they do exist. Intelligence testing shows differences not only in scores but in distributions between different racial groups. Skeletons can be racially differentiated. In other words, broadly speaking, there are physical and mental differences between racial groups. However, that does not mean that legal equality between people in any way needs to be affected. A person who is severely mentally retarded should have the same legal standing as somebody who is a genius. That is the noble goal of our legal system. However, the interpretation of the law does not mean that according to nature they are identical. Taken outside the law, they are very different indeed. The challenge is to balance these two views of humanity: denying either side is a form of oppression and impoverishes the world.
Ja , Rich Brauer do you mind rephrasing your comment?
I agree that Verwoed was a madman but he was a product of centuries of human degradation. From slavery to colonialism and apartheid. Verwoed was able to fluently articulate what had been done to Africans by the likes of Lord Milner, Benjamin Durban and Jan Smuts.
To uproot this evil we need to be clear about its roots. The fooling was linked to the greed of human beings, the idea that the once deemed inferior will not be allowed to compete for jobs, access to hospitals, land etc. That understanding will assist correct the historic injustices by fair and legal means
The language used in this article is direct and poignant. These words are so true. This mindset has been deeply engrained into our psyche. How can we let go of this prejudice against certain groups of people in the human race. It really and truly is retarded to think that the color of someone’s skin makes them different.
It all started with that villan, Charles Darwin. His theory moved into Social Darwinism. Survival of the fittest. Even Hitler jumped on the bandwagon and thought that he was actually helping the process of evolution by getting rid of certain types of people.
What year is it?
1992 or 2012?
Stop holding us black people back Sandile. We know we are equal. We know we are more than capable. But from within our own ranks, we hear voices like yours that drag us back. You are doing untold harm with the venom you spew.
Brauer ur so stupid you can’t even think abt anything outside political arena i think the writter here refrain from using issues of politics but tackled the social ills that makes us not to realise the rainbow nation. Nd with your narrow mind u had to mention the ANC sound like a comedian with a single joke.
excellent article-it’s now time to move forward
I never wrote this piece as can be seen. I hope that this is published as it says exactly how the ANC works and why it continues to be succesful.
QUOTE OF THE CENTURY, MAYBE EVEN THE MILLENIUM
Some people have the vocabulary to sum up things in a way you can understand them. This quote came from the Czech Republic. Someone over there has it figured out.
“The danger to South Africa is not Jacob Zuma but a citizenry capable of entrusting a man like him with the Presidency. Blaming the prince of fools should not blind anyone to the vast confederacy of fools that made him their prince. The Republic can survive a Jacob Zuma, who is, after all, merely a fool. It is less likely to survive a multitude of fools such as those who made him their President.
If you haven’t yet got over what Verwoerd believed, you are remarkably slow on the uptake. How about a column on the lies of Zuma? Those are what are presently holding people back. Verwoerd is history. As is your unfounded, personal ‘deep seated inferiority complex’ that causes this racist rant.
There will always be people superior to yourself in one way or another, just as there are people superior to me. Try running a race against Caster Semenya or swimming against Chad le Clos and I take a bet you’ll come up very short, despite one being black and the other white. It also takes no longer to find two who are intellectually far more capacitated than you are: try Jonathon Jansen, Moeletsi Mbeki, Mike Schussler. These are men who stand out from the crowd and do far more to help this country (merely by thinking) than you are ever likely to.
The population of Oranje seems to be doing just fine, taking into account such issues as global warming and food security that threaten us all. At least they’ve learnt to get back to the land. Good luck to you trying to teach that to the rest of SA’s population.
Sharing a home with my adult son, I must admit to moments when I consider that separate development might be good for both of us, so understand that in the right context, it could work for more than the two of us, both of the same skin colour.
If you could just get past you childiishness, there might be a man deep inside you.
How are we unlearning “what Verwoerd has done and learn the new gospel of human equality and strive for economic justice. It is nonsense to believe that any human being is greater than fellow beings.”
As an objective human being, all we’re doing is a similar thing, just in reverse.
Seems like a major contradiction.
Otherwise I agree with most of the things in the article
Thanks
But seriously, there is superiority in the workplace. People are just going to have to accept that the education system is not producing enough previously disadvanteged idividuals to fill key roles.
A friend has recently had to take over the department that was ruined by a black gentleman. He’d been mentored, educated and given all kinds of assistance by management, but lacked the common sense and basic skills to manage.
Another lady (ex colleague) was retrenched but had to spend 6 months training TWO black men to take her place. They have stuffed up that the company is begging her to go and help.
It’s not the fault of the black person in the job, it’s the fault of government forcing companies to employ and promote people who are not qualified or competent for certain positions.
You may intensely dislike my comment, but it’s true and most people know it!
Let me add, to clarify my views: There are many qualified and competent black people, but some of them have overpriced themselves and many companies cannot afford to pay them. They can charge because they are in high demand, so they do, and good for them. So, the companies are then forced to emply lesser trained people.
The system is unfair to black people and employers!
You seem to bang on about the superior vs inferioriry – I think your article is bout 20 years late. Steve Biko said : “whites must not think they are superior and blacks must not think they are inferior”.
If Verwoerd fooled white people at that time to make them think they are superior, it was not the majority. A lot of white people voted for him not because they thought hey are ‘superioir’ but because of the fear of communism – at that time a reality in the whole world.
Our leaders must rather focus on boosting the values which are supperior to the values which are inferior: Discipline vs. lawlessness is a major issue and it is being ignored in all aspects of government today.
@Sandile, the funniest thing is the ”voice”. Not only do they not comprehend and acknowledge their willingness to participate in a bizarre act of barbarism, they have also introduced a particular voice to speak to people of colour. But seriously, I dont think that Black Consciousness, as taught to us by the vision of Steve Biko will be understood against the background of equality. I can guarantee that you will have many contributions who will accuse us when we speak of Black Consciousness, of reverse racism. Also this accusation of reverse racism is much like this notion that we ”should move on” or we ”should get over it’. Not only must we reject these notions with the contempt it deserves, we should ask them why they do no insist that the Jews ”should get over” the Holocaust. But lets see how some amongst us expose themselves on the conceptualisation of Black Consciousness.
After Verwoerd, SA has had the lies of Botha, de Klerk, Mandela, Mbeki and the ongoing lies of Zuma ……who is now trying to get rid of the lies of Malema, who helped him in the chair.
The majority called for Zuma and the ANC. Is that an expression of a collective inferiority complex??
What is new???
Tofolux. You are clearly racist and your comments are generally riddled with contradiction.
Racism is racism, end of story…
If you can’t even comprehend what racism actually is I’m not going to waste my time trying to convince you.
Carry on, after all “Ignorance is Bliss”.
“It is a philosophy that is rooted deep in the heart and soul of many incorrigible whites”.
“Unfortunately, there are still many white people who – in their retarded minds – think that they are God’s chosen people to rule over black people. They believe that they are superior. And this attitude and false belief has made it very difficult for them to integrate into the new society.”
Ok now lets get back to reality. there are over 50 million people in South Africa of which 9% are white of which a small percentage are radically right wing. The rest have adjusted to the new dispensation and are making the best of their lives in harmony with their fellow South Africans.
The previously disadvantaged now rule the country and have done for 18 years!!
Sandile many of your ilk bring out the racial card to somehow find a scapegoat for what is going wrong.
YOU MY FRIEND HAVE JUST PLAYED THE WHOLE SEASON TICKET!
Sandile,
It has become fashionable to blame everything, even burnt school books in Limpopo, on him. It is a pity that dr V. himself cannot answer your wild allegations of what he supposedly said or believed. Imagine the reaction if a blogger tried something similar on Steve Biko or Chris Hane. I think it is a reasonable statement that he (Verwoerd) was an academic sociologist attempting to resolve an unjust situation of inequality in South Africa. Regions in which whites had the say had to be balanced by such where blacks had control. This thinking superseded simple ‘baasskap’. Unfortunately for his scheme, he did not heed the advice of economists who warned that a reasonably equitable dispensation along those lines would be simply unaffordable. Dr. V.’s academic concept of ‘grand apartheid’ (as opposed to simple baasskap), although unrealistic, is actually sufficient proof that he did NOT believe in superiority of a specific group and that he genuinely believed that the unjust inequality was therefore not sustainable. I sincerely doubt whether any quote about innate superiority could be ascribed to Verwoerd.
@ntozakhona:
“Ja , Rich Brauer do you mind rephrasing your comment?”
Surely, neighbour. How can I be of service?
For the love of god!! Good grief!!
When does the whinging stop? When does the whinning about the past stop? When does the doing, performance, self belief and self accountability start and stop the blaming of the past?
Indeed an admirably-phrased article. One caveat: Verwoerd did not invent racism. Verwoerd was a leading journalist in support of apartheid (which was the political expression of white supremacy which rests on racism) and eventually the Prime Minister who developed the concept of large-scale territorial separation.
But none of that was actually new to Verwoerd or even to the National Party. The pass laws, job reservation and the bases for the homeland system had all been developed under colonialism, and white racism dated back centuries. In other words, racism is deeply engrained in the white South African psyche; it’s not just a fad which happened to captivate people in the 1950s.
As the weird responses to your article show, it isn’t going to go away in a hurry.
Sandile, I was active in politics in the 60/70′s including attending meetings and Verwoerd and his henchmen did not beat the superiority drum (at least not pubicly) but the FEAR drum over and over again, Swart and Red gevaar. This was ably supported by the bad news of the time coming out of, which had Africa erupted in Freedom violence, magnified here in SA to be much worse than actual. When canvassing in many areas of SA Idi Amin was always thrown back at us.
Brent
@WTF – You have hit the nail on the head. I am a lone white in a senior position in a big section of my company and time and time again I watch young, smart and positive black people who want to move on to their own vision of their own future, being held back – usually by the older generation. They are usually too polite to respond publicly, but they are enormously frustrated.
@ Memela. All men (and women) are NOT born equal. Try comparing a healthy newborn from a well adjusted family to a newborn from a single alcoholic or drug addict mother/father who is born with foetal alcohol syndrome. Society will never be equal. No society in the world is.
@ Manquat – read up on Darwin – you are confusing surrvival of the fittest and natural selection. It is a proven scientific theory. Don’t blame Darwin if maniacs like Hitler appropriate his theory for their warped views. Many have been killed in the name of Jesus – do we blame him for that?
@ Peter. A great quote. I am old enough to know that Verwoerd was in fact greatly despised – even by his own colleagues. Behind the scenes there was quite a bit of relief when he was assassinated. A police state is a police state no matter the colour of the leadership and that is where we are heading to again. We are to blame for being to scared to speak up – as we were when Verwoerd instituted his ridiculous laws.
Dear Sandile
When commenting about discrimination and bigotry, it doesn’t help to use a highly offensive word like “retarded”, which is viewed by people within the disabled community (or the people who care for them) as having equal pejorative value to any of the racist language used to describe black people in the past. Then you become the bigot and your article is just a case of the pot calling the kettle black.
And for the record, many people with disabilities such as autism, Down’s Syndrome, etc. are really kind, tolerant souls. To compare racists to people like them makes this article doubly offensive.
Thanks WTF and Lucky Ntuli
We actually need more black people like you commenting on this site.
Cheers
Oh dear! He’s at it again.
Do you realise Sandile, that you could actually be talking about many members of the ANC, the President included, with all your references to Verwoerd. Stop blaming dead people and the past for your own personal deep-seated inferiority complex.
I’m black. I’ve gotten over what happened in the past. It’s time to move forward and focus on “sorting out” the present bunch of miscreants in power. Yiu can rant as much as you like about Verwoerd and Whites, but it won’t change the present situation.
Incidently, the guy who commented about Darwin is a total ignoramus. Science proves that all people are not equal – notice I’m not talking about race, which you and this guy seem to have an unnatural fixation about.
And oh, you can delete my comments like you usually do; I’ll just link your article to my blog and expose you there.
Well said Sandile, well said!!!
May someone please give this man a bells!!!
Verwoerd’s policies were – as you state – absolutely rotten. However I am not sure they were founded on ‘white supremacy’. Maybe on an even weirder and maybe more dangerous concept – separate but equal – or ‘separate development.’ In some strange way it looks like he fully believed the Bantustans would develop, with enough incentive and industrial support, into fully functional modern Western style states integrated into the rest of SA. Bizarrely, he stated “there were no biological differences between the big racial groups, and concluded that “this was not really a factor in the development of a higher social civilisation by the Caucasians.” So this strange, highly educated, but very mixed up and perverse leader had no belief in innate white supremacy but had some strange belief in civilisation, Western culture or whatever the hell you would call it, and had every expectation that anyone from any race group could be part of this culture. He was a terrible man, and a terrible leader. But with the current total derision and attack against anything that seems remotely civilised, Western, or cultured, don’t you think it is time to reexamine the future, and potential, and hope for all of SA, and to direct this on a tangent that does not require all culture to be replaced by every form of chaos? And this – of all the jokes – has NOTHING at all to do with race – with black or white – at all……
Honestly Sandile, you insult white people and make ridiculous statements and distortions, your atrociously-written and decidedly unoriginal post is riddled with them.
M&G, why do you allow this garbage to be published? Will the M&G staffer who manages this column kindly step forward to explain in a comment that makes common sense to readers where the “thought leading” merit lies in this post?
I will re-visit to hopefully read a reply.
In a setting other than one where the writer is trying to fan racial hatred, his statements would be hilarious, silly and nonsensical. In the ANC’s SA they serve the same purpose as Mugabe’s land grab. They try to hide the widespread looting and incompetence of the ANC and its compradors. Sadly the smokescreen of lies is taken up and believed, often by people who have a substandard education, courtesy of individuals like Memele and Malema. Then it can result in violence, often against their own. Very sad,
@ Jack Sparrow: It’s quite simple really… divide and conquer.
Not all were Verwoerd supporters in the first place, it is about time that the majority should realize that it was more then likely just those in public office that may have thought they are superior, this is common among all races in all countries. Give someone a responsible position , they often loose their humility and suddenly think more of themselves as they ought to. I have not yet met any humble politician that speaks truth and justice. Find it even worse now, also the fact that the ruling party has more mp’s then any other country, and yet all services and education is going backward fast, more expensive, The working class pays more then 60% of income on taxes , indirect and paye. We will all soon just live on bread as water may not even be available anymore unless one has a borehole. The anarchy we currently experiencing under the banner of strikes would not have been if the gvt had done what they should have done from the start. It somehow creates the impression that education and health has purposely been degraded, for the reason more slaves for cheap labor, it is cheaper to let a patient die then to keep them on permanent medication. This is the attitudes we currently have to face.