Upon finding out that I was going overseas last Thursday (April 8 2010) a friend suggested that I was fleeing from Terre’Blanche and Malema. I wish I could have. Terre’Blanche and Malema have haunted my brief traverse through three countries. From the other side of the grave, Terre’Blanche crawled into the TV screen in my hotel room in a faraway land — shattering my borrowed tranquillity and wrecking my brief escape. Images of him on horseback, in uniform and in full cry where everywhere. Terre’Blanche has made more news in the week since he died than he has done in the past five years. Is this what they mean by life after death?
One TV network showed a brief interview with an AWB leader calling on his members to arm themselves and declaring that safety during the 2010 Fifa World Cup could not be guaranteed. One channel showed images of “farm workers” from Tshing as Cosatu skilfully kept them away from the possible danger and possible conflict at the Terre’Blanche funeral. Apparently, the Cosatu trick was to keep them busy with fiery speeches, slogans and the singing of songs — including that song. Contrast that with the funeral scene, awash with AWB colours, the ominous insignia resembling the Nazi swastika, open arms raised in Nazi-like salute with the singing of that other song. All these interspersed with images of Malema whipping up emotions, singing, laughing, shaking hands with Mugabe and generally being rude. And just before moving on to the next story, comment about fears for the successful staging of the Fifa World Cup would follow.
How has it come about that Malema and Terre’Blanche have become the faces of South Africa — Terre’Blanche in his dying and Malema in his rising — or am I mixing my metaphors? In a few short days it has become clear to me that for South Africa in the Fifa year, there is no such thing as local or merely national news. All news from “Fifa 2010 South Africa” is international news. The more sensational and the more stereotypical the more newsworthy! The brutal manner in which Terre’Blanche died (not to mention the insinuations and counter-insinuations that have been made ever since!), Malema’s utterances both before and after the death of Terre’Blanche (and look where Malema is during that week … having dinner with Mugabe) all these make just the right cocktail of sensation and intrigue the international media craves for.
Terre’Blanche must be smiling contentedly au fond de la terre blanche. What with the AWB faithful, all in uniform, solemnly saluting his coffin, children waving the old flag and the crowd singing the anthem of Terre’Blanche’s lost and still hoped for country? All of this in the presence of the country’s top cop and other senior government official! All of this in a week when no less than President Jacob Zuma, in a hastily arranged recorded TV address to the nation, read out a statement calling Terre’Blanche a “leader of (his) standing” — did I hear that correctly? Since then Malema has become more belligerent and more outrageous — if that is at all possible. In this short period, the ANC has moved from metaphorical struggle songs, to circumspective singing of the same (whatever that means), to the widely reported presidential reprimand of Malema and more recently, Malema’s own return reprimand of the president.
Throughout all these, I have seen signs of a nation in desperation and in what psychiatrist Frantz Fanon would have called a “nervous condition”. There has been hype, hysteria, phobia, frantic action, reaction, over-reaction and waves of successive national panic attacks. Such has been the nation’s desperation for reason from leadership, we have lapped up every sign of wisdom emanating from the side of our leaders. Steve Hofmeyr’s vicious closed letter not just to Malema but to all of us numbed us into deafening silence.
When Gwede called for circumspection we applauded enthusiastically, even though by the end of his press briefing we were not too sure what exactly he was asking us and the ANCYL to do. When the AWB threatened revenged for the killing of Terre’Blance, we cringed with fear or disgust, you take your pick. When they withdrew their earlier threats we applauded loudly. And when they sang their songs and waved their flags we cringed again. When Zuma reprimanded Malema we outdid ourselves in praise of the leader who has finally spoken. When Malema retorted we gasped. We have become a desperate nation in search for the slightest signs of reason and courage from the people we have elected to lead us and from those who have elected themselves to lead us. We remain hopeful. We remain ready at once to applaud or to gasp — whichever may come next. Ready to applaud. Ready to gasp for air from time to time. Still, we sink, deeper and deeper, into the abyss of leaderlessness.
“How has it come about that Malema and Terre’Blanche have become the faces of South Africa ” Well if the M@G print edition devotes 4 pages to ET, the answer is : the media.
That man, and the other one are the lunatic fringe that sell headlines, and how the media just love the stereotypes that take the load of thinking an own original or unpopular thought off their shoulders.
Great article
And while people discuss and ponder the actions of the extremists very little discussion happens around progress to the common good. There is great scope for a completely new party with no affiliations to the past, made up of real leaders who has achieved, who can give us hope. There are far too many career politicians in politics fighting for their own financial gain, power and glory.
I belong to a generation that have not seen anything of white man’s oppression but in the other hand experience on a daily basis the catastrophic consequences of management by our own black brothers who have squandered the magnificent opportunities God bestowed our countries. Colonial wrong is a thing of the past and Africa is not the only place in the world that have suffered oppression and exploitation. Blacks South Africans must understand that they have the huge responsibility to show the world that blacks can run a modern country and whites can also show to the rest of the world that coexistence between races is possible, Apartheid having been an error of the same kind misguided leadership have inflicted their people in other times and other parts of the world. Blacks and whites have specific strenghts and also specific weaknesses and it’s not a shame to acknowledge them. I have been many times in SA and it would be dishonest not to acknowledge the obvious deterioration of public infrastructures and service. Yes we black have colonized no country in the world but what good do we do to ourselves ? let’s be sincere and look around us. To the Afrikaners (I sincerely admire you) Terre Blanche does not qualify as a martyr. And to Blacks: it’s in our best interest to silence Malema now and forever, get rid of the ANC and take our responsibilities in our hands.
Sting-of-Truth, I salute you!
@Sting-of-truth
Your points are well-taken. Africa was far from the only colonised continent in the world. In fact, if you go back far enough in history you’ll find that everyone was ‘colonised’ at some point. (Colonised = large internal population dominate by smaller external population, usually accompanied by slavery). It is ignorance of world history that helps to hold Africa back. One cannot move forward by living in a long-vanished past.
The ANC and cohorts argue that the economy is ‘dominated’ or ‘controlled’ by white men. There are roughly two million white men in SA. Most of them are not wealthy. They work in businesses they or their parents founded, or use specialised skills in corporate settings. There is no parallel structure in the black community where economic empowerment has become a matter of gaining a seat on the board of as many businesses as possible. If the black community does not create its own businesses this pattern will continue.
White managing directors have a lifetime of experience behind them. Black managing directors with no prior experience may feel that just having the title and reaping the dividends is all they need to do but it is not. As you so astutely noted, Sting, maintenance of essential infrastructure has not been a conspicuous feature of post-colonial African governments. Infrastructure needs to be seen in all of its manifestations: physical, legal, industrial, financial, medical, educational, etc. Blacks need to acquire the training and education to enable that.
Extremists of any kind in any situation are supremely dangerous. Most South Africans would hold a moderate point of view were they no whipped into a frenzy.
Although many of us are disappointed by the lack of delivery, the only people who are entitled to be dissatisfied in this country at the moment are those who live on or below the breadline, for whatever reason.
And those are the people everyone should be concerned about.
So get on with the real work, South Africa (state) and stop allowing all this nonsense to deflect you from helping all your people!
Whether the poor are black, Indian, coloured or white, they are South Africans and they deserve far better than they have been receiving, at all levels.
Great article, to Sting-of-truth, I agree totally with you, for most whites (Yet I cannot assume blacks) apartheid belongs to the past! Goverment should be about leadership, ethics, morals and values. I would go so far as to say that 80% of the whites would vote for the ANC tomorrow, if they could sort out these issues along with some departments like Health care, Police & crime, education and the home affairs dept.
@sting-of-truth: “……it would be dishonest not to acknowledge the obvious deterioration of public infrastructures and service. Yes we black have colonized no country in the world but what good do we do to ourselves ?”
Maybe start colonising your own country in the style of the previous colonisers: develop and maintain strategic infrastructure first. Strategic priorities? Food, food, ….dig up natural resources for home production and export of the surplus.
Independence is based on hard work and clever planning, exploiting your advantaged position.
@Sting-of_Truth
Respect
Wish all our SA brethren were of your ilk. If they were, we would be forging ahead together.
People or may I say the media, wants our leaders of the ANC to answer in everything they write about. But let me tell you that these leaders are representing us, the rural majority and the urban poor, and the media represent the….you know!! So when they would be answering, we would really be confused or we will say they have sold us to the whites again. Iphepha-ndaba lelokuphemba nokutshaya kuthi hayi into yokuphendulwa ngabantu abakhulu.
For all those feeling lost, read this!
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/15/opinion/15rogers.html?pagewanted=1
anaurdie
100 % with you…Etv doesnt finish its hourly news without reporting about Malema.
@ Tinyiko – “President Jacob Zuma, in a hastily arranged recorded TV address to the nation, read out a statement calling Terre’Blanche a “leader of (his) standing” — did I hear that correctly?”
Zuma and most African leaders also see Robert Mugabe as a “leader of standing” .. any auditory problems with that?
Currently there is an attempt by certain Afrikaner – Steve Hofmeyr among them –to revive a sagging ethno-nationalism among the ‘Afrikaner community. At the same time Julius Mamela is attempting to enhance his own power and prestige among a certain constituency through naked populism that could signal the beginnings of a new Mamela-style-ethno-nationalism. Frantz Fanon described the problems facing young African democracies confronted by the specter of ethno-nationalism well when he said: “national consciousness is nothing but a crude empty shell…the cracks in it explain how easy it is for young independent countries to switch from nation to ethnic group and from state to tribe which is terribly detrimental to the development of the nation and national unity”. Ethno-nationalism is a discordant discourse that breeds intolerance and a distinct fear of the Other. As South Africans we have lived under the violence of ethno-nationalism for too long. In the past our national anthem, our monuments, our education system, our art and even our history were twisted and rudely contorted under the vile direction of such an ethnic nationalism. Let us not repeat the mistakes of the past and allow depraved ethno-nationalisms to define our future.
Tinyiko, can you also offer an opinion to the horrible fact that when both the South Africa and British Media trade all sorts of derogatory and vulgarish lebellings against a President Zuma, not just Malema, I mean a president of the Republic of South Africa, a very respected country, who among your right-wing circle come out to condemn it or do we see journalist emotions flying high like that of a spoiled-child, calling editors’s forum, declaring all sort of crisis to “media freedom” and our hard-earned constitution in a completely show of frustrations caused by subjectivity which prevail in the media houses in our country – A journalist calls a president of a Republic a “sex begot”, “bafoon”, and so on, that is called media freedom, an angry boy, Malema calls a journalist “bastered”, there is an imminent danger to “media freedom” and constituion – Whats wrong with your reasoning line guys?