Comments on: South Africa: A nation in distress

By: mgeve

mgeve — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 15:48:31 +0000

My Mistake, it came up late. I think the internet is a medium which Marshall McLuhan would say its a viral medium. Your ideas and narratives should target ordinary man in the street. African people are still not privy to this new technology, for a variety of reasons. I sense that your audience is not the poor and underpriviledged, but an attempt to reach the petty elites of this world. Propaganda, according to Jacques Ellul is a sociological phenomenon rather than as something made by certain people for certain purposes. Even Goebels insisted that the Wehrmacht communiques be as accurate as possible. I have a sneaky feeling you are still being evasive about simplifying what your thrust is in terms of making clear issues for the poor and ignorant about the state of affairs in Mzantsi. For example, we have in South Africa a school system that is based upon the psychology of White children and white People. Therefore, we have a school system that is based upon the white psychology for our African children, and these African children are bound to fail. African intellectuals use the same psyche to inform our people,which is not true, to somewhat educate our children and nation; this is bound to fail. If you are to be a good propagandist for African people, you need to tell the truth of historical, psychological, social, political and educational dimensions of our reality. I discern none of this from your diatribes. Knowing ones’s society is fundamental.

By: mgeve

mgeve — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 15:14:28 +0000

Ja, Vusi, yours is a long and winded article which does not address psycho history. History and psychology is what you were attempting to link, yet forgot about African History, and used as references authors and thinkers which leave unexplained and are less relevant to the issues affecting Africans and other races in South Africa. History in our country, African History specifically, has been made to seem irrelevant because it has been made to look unprofitable. I wonder if you are familiar with the Skinner Rat experiment.If you are, then we can proceed to other serious matters. Most of us are educated to be servants, and because of this,Europeans and Africans can never escape their condition of servitude. A higher education simply means we are just educated servants, nothing more, nothing less. People who are ahistorical, have little knowledge of history,are people who are more gullible. Yet,knowledge of history can become a basis for self criticism, a basis for self understanding, and more importantly, the basis for the understanding of the motives and the psychology of others. If you forget your past, you will not understand the present nor future. Past, present and future are one, and that proposition is at the center of an African centered psycho history and approach. This will also help us to clearly, simply and cogently offer solutions to our beleaguered nation, than just high flown analysis attempting to sound intellectual and barren. I think you should get on with the program.

By: Angus

Angus — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 16:15:55 +0000

Vusi,
The crime that we witness in this country especially the acts of violence of which there is no obvious monetary gain, such as rape and xenophobia, are symptoms of grave psychological distress within our society. Blame is made on poverty or our tumultuous past; conveniently for our political leaders. I believe this is in error and it is the gross level of inequality that exists to be the primary cause. Other countries with lower inequality levels (no matter of GDP/person or development levels) have less crime and we can therefore surmise better ethics. The widening between the haves and have nots creates animosity and jealousy and this is where our government has failed the psyche of our beloved country. I am dumbfounded about how inequality could have increased after an apartheid government system that was specifically designed to create inequality. All leaders in every facet of our country must address this problem for any semblance of social cohesion to exist.

By: Vusi Gumede

Vusi Gumede — Sat, 18 Apr 2009 18:29:55 +0000

PS: I am smitten, very much, by the point that Pascal makes around Nihilism. I am reminded of my readings of write-ups of Friedrich Nietzsche. I however wonder whether that is a kind of the space we want to enter for our dialogue on our challenges as a nation. We debate in order to try and find solutions. The philosophy of “nothingness” and associated logics are unlikely, for the purposes of trying to address challenges, to take us far – notwithstanding that I dearly enjoy that space!

Just to say that, like Pitso, I remain optimistic.

By: Vusi Gumede

Vusi Gumede — Sat, 18 Apr 2009 18:28:14 +0000

Thanks everyone (including those that wrote privately to me) for insightful inputs/comments/questions/arguments.

Let me single out Sarah, Sirjay, Brad, Kizito, Ali, Pitso, Nkadi and Pascal in my acknowledgement of those that have made encouraging and humbling remarks. I also accept that PM de Kock and Phillipa were not pleased. I have tried to make a point in the past that, for me, writing “polemics” for this Blog is simply a social science or rather an intellectual endeavour. As such, important question (and other points) that Nkadi and others made would be tackled in follow-on “polemics”. To some extent though, I think Kizito answered Nkadi’s important question of what should be done and by who: Kizito argues that “we all have a part to play…”. I would still make an attempt to address the fundamental questions/points that people like Noko, Andrew, Athol and Nkadi raised.

To those that made specific suggestions, for instance Athol and Sarah, thanks and I will try my best to ensure that your suggestions and proposals are filtered through, though my imminent career change might impact on that. Athol and Sarah: lets keep in touch. There is some roundtable that The Presidency’s Policy Unit is organizing around the proposals you make and others. Nation-building is too important to be left to a few folks, and as society we are found wanting on this important project.

So long.

By: Lyndall Beddy

Lyndall Beddy — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 10:39:14 +0000

Both Mbeki and Zuma are second rate leaders.

We would have had Cyril Ramaphosa if the communists had not ganged up to keep him out.

By: Pascal Maire-Amiot

Pascal Maire-Amiot — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 19:29:15 +0000

I just can declare my admiration for a wise article and a very clever thinker, despite i may disagree on some points pertaining to excess of optimism in human beings. Nihilism, paradoxically could pave the way to a radical approach but i will be arguing later with my dear friend Vusi on this topic.

By: Pitso Tsibolane

Pitso Tsibolane — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 14:08:24 +0000

As always, a brilliant piece Vusi. Ethics and more ethics is what we need in our public sphere. I am one of those who is suddenly questioning my previous optimism about South Africa. Recent events seem to be pointing in one direction, downwards!

However i do remain positive, I do not have any other home, things have to improve and I will add my two cents worth to make it work. The ruling party has just about destroyed the goodwill that it gained so far.

Thanks for this piece.

By: Phillipa Lipinsky

Phillipa Lipinsky — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 12:04:50 +0000

@ Peter Louw: finaly someone talks some sense when it comes to the whole Post-Polokwane debacle.
I was getting rather sick at hearing people compare Mbeki to Zuma. Indeed, Mbeki had his flaws but Zuma is a dictator who think this country is his fiefdom. The problem is that when we take a man of such integrity as Mbeki (who has made catastrophic mistakes, admittedly) and put him alongside Zuma, we trivialise the horrible and by no means amusing crimes which Zuma has (or hasn’t) done

By: Frank Nnete

Frank Nnete — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 07:32:41 +0000

Obviously very NB questions.

I think you are describing a society confronting its demons-its healthy, the false harmony was always going to unravel. I also think it’ll get much worse before it gets better. We hurt, in turn, we hurt…