ANC must not point fingers
THE debate about honouring former Bophuthatswana leader Lucas Manyane Mangope is raging in newspaper pages and on the airwaves.
When someone called me on radio to say the ANC must leave Mangope alone and not interfere with plans to name a residence at the University of North West after him, I got so excited, thinking this would provoke a heated debate.
Surely a black person calling for the honouring of a Bantustan leader, whose relationship with the apartheid government is seen to have been instrumental in the oppression of black people, would evoke strong dissent, especially among black people?
As this person sang the virtues of Mangope, I rubbed my hands together in glee, anticipating a showdown and a riveting debate. I was convinced that other listeners would phone in, tear the speaker apart and disagree vehemently.
Alas! there was no debate because only two out of about 50 callers - the majority of whom were black - disagreed. They all felt Mangope deserves honour.
Their reasons had less to do with Mangope's achievements than with the ANC's lacklustre service delivery record. They argued it was rich of the ANC in North West to point fingers at Mangope, when their own municipalities were dysfunctional.
Ten years ago I doubt that a whole hour on a radio show would be dominated by black callers arguing for Mangope to be honoured.
One caller asked: "What is the value of democracy if it comes with corruption and poverty?"
Obviously, the former homelands were built on the silencing of dissent, corruption and one man being more important than his people. But callers were prepared to overlook that and wax lyrical about Mangope.
How could recently liberated people have such short memories? And then it dawned on me that they were not longing for that diabolical ideology called apartheid and the grouping of black people along tribal lines, but rather for the basic things in life, such as housing, sanitation, food, jobs, safety etc.
All they wanted were hospitals that work, schools that function, houses that don't collapse and municipalities where money does not disappear.
This, they argued, was what Mangope achieved.
And then the sadness overwhelmed me.
Barely 17 years after the storming of Bophuthatswana and the euphoric celebration of its reintegration, are people now in mourning?
Was it nostalgia or a profound disappointment at a democratically elected government that has promised much but delivered little?
I was sad that South Africans have been duped into believing they deserve so little. That somehow the only choice available is a homeland that comes with basic services but no civil liberties and a democratically integrated country with no service delivery.
Both systems are equally revolting, but somehow the shattered dreams of today make the past seem glorious.
The reminiscing about the past did not end there. As former president Thabo Mbeki launched his foundation, black and white callers to the station were heaping praise on him for his "splendid" interviews, composure and intellect.
This is the same man who two years ago was "cold, austere and out of touch with the people".
This week he was described by listeners as "presidential, insightful and a visionary". Clearly, his handling of HIV-Aids, Zimbabwe, "trust me on Selebi" and his pursuit of a third term as ANC president were "minor" faults, according to his many praise-singers.
One listener insisted I must concede the "genius" of Mbeki. No matter how many times I invoked the negatives to bring perspective to the debate, the listener said: "If Mbeki were asked about the rand, would he have answered like our president?"
In response to a question about the strong rand hampering export growth, JZ had answered: "These matters are always discussed. It's a matter we are discussing. Even economists don't have one view."
Clearly affability and dancing skills do not make a president!
The ANC should learn from this. Being complacent and arrogant is not going to work.
People cannot be fed the liberation diet for much longer. They know that food, housing, health care and education are just as crucial as democracy and liberation.
They must worry that the things that were hard to bear now seem sweet to remember.
mthombeni
The Dunning–Kruger effect is a cognitive bias in which an unskilled person makes poor decisions and reaches erroneous conclusions, but their incompetence denies them the metacognitive ability to realize their mistakes. The unskilled therefore suffer from illusory superiority, rating their own ability as above average, much higher than it actually is, while the highly skilled underrate their abilities, suffering from illusory inferiority. This leads to the situation in which less competent people rate their own ability higher than more competent people. It also explains why actual competence may weaken self-confidence: because competent individuals falsely assume that others have an equivalent understanding. "Thus, the miscalibration of the incompetent stems from an error about the self, whereas the miscalibration of the highly competent stems from an error about others."This is what South Africa is suffering from. Period!Report Abuse
chain247
Where is Ubuntu, you forgave a lot of whites and some married them. This man is the same as Bantu Holomisa who we accepted in the then sensible freedom movement, remember he was a soldier and he made himself Mr Pres! So the list is endless for those who do not know that most of the people ruling and administering NOW, had their education in Bop even lots of Celebs started there....GIVE THE MAN THE credit HE KILLED NO ONE !Report Abuse
Raps
Mr Mangope or who ever they call you, we dont need people like you in our country. You did not want to be part of the democratic government and felt you alone and you family deserve the best amongst the rest, please go to the nearest hell. As for those that want to rename the university residents about this mornac, you are playing with real fire.Report Abuse
TCTLHAPI
from what ive seen in ppl s comments expecially frpm ANC members who are against THE honouring of KGOSI MANGOPE voted by the students the residents of mmabatho north west BOPHUTHATSWANA they realy welcome this issue with both hand but the wil be sum zulu frm kwazulunatal or xhoza frm transkei or eastern cape arguing something they dont know but heard frm others and newspapers,sumthing that they never xperiense saying mangope was abusing his ppl dats bulkak!!!!lets not judge the person him self but his wrk
1 he build nys stadiams
2he build varsities WHICH anc did nithing to it
3he build casinos which ANC turns them in government properties
4he build broadcast which by now Anc DID NOTHING TO IT
5 he build colleges which anc did nothing to it
6schools which anc did nothing to it
7 the only city with its own international school in africa
8crime that tym was minimum
9unemployment that tym was minimum
10the list is endless
NOW WE CAN JUDGE HIM ON THOSE MATTER,I AGREE HE WAS SOME TYMS BE DIFFICULT WEN MADELA ASKED HIM TO JOIN HIM AND SAID HE WONT BE RULED BY LE PANTITI A PRISONER,but it seems he was rite luk now how thse prisoners still monies,
intshwarele melato yaka jaka ke itshwarela ba ba melato lenna ebereka mo kae?thapelo eo?
Report Abuse
tank
"ANC must not point fingers"Redi it's you, who is pointing a figure at the ANC. The ANC didn’t even border to respond to the radio because it does not give a rat ass what the Magope people are saying and proposing.
If Magope did so much for them why are they still in desperate need of the basic human needs as enshrine in our constitution (basic water supply, sanitary and basic housing)
The key word here is the word "BASIC"
Report Abuse
Boshula
Nostalgia is what this counter revolutionaries are suffreing from,how can we honour a man who befriended aparthied masters like ET,PW Botha,etc.a man who don't have respect for Man with principles(Dr Nelson MAndela)calling Tata Madiba by "Lepantiti" & is driving me nuts.You Bantustan devotees from former Bothutatswana go & join your brothers & sisters in Orania.Manyane Mangope does'nt deserve to be honoured whatsoever,the man was a snake that fed by apartheid regime.Report Abuse
Boshula
@TCTLHAPI,calling real leaders "Mapantiti" is moronic of u & your beloved Manyane wa go pokelwa ke ditonki.@tank,Redi is not attacking anyone,I realised ppl don't understand the Journalism of this Intellectual(Redi)
Report Abuse
Makonese
@TCTLHAPI... I doubt that a Xhosa speaking person from the former Transkei would be against Mangope being honoured by his people. Afterall the Xhosa speaking people from the former Transkei had their own imposed leaders.That said, as someone from the former bantustans myself, I can't help but agree with the article in the sense that what the pro-'Mangope being honoured' people are saying is true. The freedom itself has not come with much in terms of the basic human needs. If anything, in fact, it has destroyed many things like education, infrastructure, morality, etc. Like I said, coming from a bantustan myself, the few pretty places we had in those days have turned into slums. Roads, where they still exist, are full or potholes, schools are dilapidated, education has gone worse, respect for elders and the sense of community are a thing of the past.
What we see today is selfishness, greed beyond belief, tenderpreneurship, worshiping or idolising of individuals and the unimaginable belief in promises and lies. People have chosen to believe liers who claim to be their leaders, who say this today and that tomorrow, who claim to have their best interests at heart and yet the so called leaders are the ones whose lives are changing for the better. People are poorer than they were then, even under some gross injusctices such as group areas act. Now, the real question is what has this freedom really given to the people? Not much except the ability to walk down the streets of an affluent previously white suburb. What has it taken away? Everything that was human about us, particularly us black people.
Report Abuse