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ANC must fight real issues

FOR ANC general secretary Gwede Mantashe to publicly support a racially charged song borders on our country slipping away from reconciliation.

FOR ANC general secretary Gwede Mantashe to publicly support a racially charged song borders on our country slipping away from reconciliation.

It is good of him to note that the song Dubula ibhunu is a historic one and some things are better left not resuscitated from the archives of the tragic history of South African.

I can defend the relevance of the song back in the time of the apartheid government because that government had a repressive mentality.

That is why there were the PAC's Poqo and the ANC's Umkhonto we Sizwe armed wings.

The song was meant to stir the cadres in the barracks with determination and venom to take out the Boere government because it was oppressing black people in their native land.

Songs such as Dubula ibhunu agitated hatred against white people, but at the time it could be justified since the struggle was a racial one.

When such an emotive song is sung in today's context it automatically puts a lot of black people into reminiscing mode.

It brings back memories of suffering and oppression under white hands. It reignites hatred for white people.

Today most of the land in the country is still in white people's hands and economic activities are still inclined towards white people.White people, especially Afrikaners, still have Afrikaans only schools and Afrikaans-based institutions of higher learning.

The maintenance of these Afrikaner enclaves in public institutions is not going unnoticed (though they are protected by the Constitution) and white people are still seen as more favoured than black people in the workplace.

When one looks at the situation realistically it is very easy for a song such as Dubula ibhunu to instil anger and for a black person to seek vengeance.

The ANC should occupy themselves with reformist policies that will dilute ongoing white supremacy instead of talking about songs that could result in havoc.

Land reform has failed and only 6percent of the land has been successfully transferred to black people from the targeted figure of 30 percent by 2014.

It is policies such as these that must be revisited and white people must be brought on board to be part of charting the way forward for a more inclusive economic system and land ownership. Unless, of course, this government is not committed to policy discussions and changes.

For a long time we wondered why President Jacob Zuma was obsessed with getting his umshini wam, but the answer could be that it is to be used to Dubula ibhunu.

The ANC must stop all this idiocy.

Lukhona Mnguni, Umbilo

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