Shengesblog

Bright young thugs

2011-07-25T02:10:00.000-07:00

Bright young thugs: "With my hands tightly tied behind my back, and my 87kg body neatly packed and folded in the boot of a hired Renault hatchback – after being hijacked and robbed – the least I expected was to engage in the national discourse about why, as a black person, I’m better off than millions of fellow black men."

Mail & Guardian publishes one of Shengesblog's posts

2010-12-13T23:12:00.000-08:00

Hi, Have a look at the following story on the Mail & Guardian Online:

Do we want a nation of coconuts?

During a late-evening conversation with my six-year-old son, I was gobsmacked by his reasoning in asserting that he is not Zulu. “Dad,” he said, “I’m not Zulu, I’m English. I don’t speak Zulu and I don’t like speaking Zulu.” “But ...

Read the rest of this story at

http://www.mg.co.za/article/2009-10-28-do-we-want-a-nation-of-coconuts

Blacks …..are just pawns in a new white man’s power game

2010-12-02T07:23:00.000-08:00

The epic failure of black empowerment policies have paved way for a new kind of apartheid in South Africa which seeks to maintain the status quo at all costs, and perpetually keep black people at the lowest rung of the social and economic hierarchy.
The introduction of black empowerment policies such as Black Economic Empowerment (BEE) and Employment Equity (EE) sought to right the wrongs of the past. However, when one looks around the business world today, white power still rules the roost. Decisions that matter are still made by white executives and black professionals are sheepishly overwhelmed by the white corporate juggernaut. Unfortunately, there is nothing much they can do about it, except the random rants from Jimmy Manyi and Julius Malema.

Employment Equity (EE) reports, one after the other, show a disturbing trend of whites getting the lion’s share of training, promotions, at the expense of blacks (African, Indian, coloured), 16 years into the new dispensation.

What is more worrying now is the emergence of a new kind of apartheid, where Africans from the north of the Limpopo River are used as new pawns in a white man’s power game. To illustrate this, a white Zimbabwean chief executive officer, at the helm of a local company, cursed the ANC government when he was told his black Zimbabwean protégé did not quality to be classified as an EE candidate. “What the f… is wrong with this government, this guy is competent,” he retorted.

By just a random headcount of black faces in the various professional teams (within organisations), whether accountants, auditors, equity analysts, computer programmers, or even marketers, the trend is, there will be only one black African (local) in a team of say, 10 team members. If they really have to hire another black African, they will cross the borders and recruit a Zimbabwean, Zambian, Kenyan etc. It’s very rare to find two or three local black Africans working in the same team. I guess white bosses are still haunted by the past, fearing that too many local blacks will conspire and cause trouble. So, the solution is to hire a foreign African, who’s in SA to better their lives and not interested in advancing SA’s transformation agenda.

I have nothing against my Indian and Coloured compatriots, but they too, are used as pawns in this white man’s power game. Generally, they are not interested in the bigger agenda of transformation, except advancing their careers and hence are less of a threat to the white establishment and susceptible to manipulation by white power. Those who believe the corporate world is an extension of liberation struggle trenches to advance the goals of a more equitable society are considered as a bunch of ‘misfits’ and relegated to the periphery of all the corporate action.

Dear reader, this new of kind of apartheid is so effective that the acronyms EE and BEE have, at worst, been cursed, and at best, relegated to an admin “pain in the butt” of the corporate world. Any mention of these acronyms in a conversation, except at a mandatory EE forum, is tantamount to career suicide hence the silence of many a black professional. The feeling among many is: “Mfwethu, I’m just here for a stint to learn the ropes before I venture into my own thing”.

Meanwhile, their white counterparts are being encouraged to socialise with the brokers of power – the ones who decide who to hire and fire, how much performance bonus to pay to whom? Who to promote, over a game of golf, touch rugby or over a round of drinks, after hours? This is how corrupt the system is. I have often wondered: why these corrupt practises of white corporate bosses do not make newspaper headlines? Thanks to the Competition Commission, some of the sleaze in corporate SA is beginning to come out. But what the commission has uncovered is just the tip of the iceberg.

The politics of dishing out patronage is not the sole preserve of the ANC, as some newspaper columnists and the Democratic Alliance would like us to believe. You would often be told, “… it’s not about what you do, but it’s who you know”? If you are not connected to the brokers of power, climbing the corporate ladder will be a perpetually deferred dream or as a consolation, do what most black professionals do most, hop to another job, even if they are offering just a pittance more.

In terms of black African executives – the less said about this lot the better. With a few exceptions of black excellence, many of this lot have become whiter than their white masters. I recall sitting in a meeting addressed by a black CEO, a colleague of mine remarked that it was quite refreshing to hear Bra Tee (not his real name) talk about BEE for the first time ever in his five-year tenure as CEO. Another colleague expressed shock when invited to Bra Tee’s house party in Sandton to find the whole house teeming with white people and not a single black face, but Bra Tee’s, obviously.

I thought to myself, how do you confidently talk about BEE and expect to see real transformation taking place when you have surrounded yourself with whiteness? It is as if black CEOs have been bewitched with whiteness. They are too scared to affirm and empower people from their own backyard. They too, are the pawns in a white man’s power game. I guess they like to see abelungu stroking their slave egos, every now and then, and abelungu are expert suckers. Just as it is difficult to talk with your mouthful, the same goes for our black executives, they cannot imagine themselves opening their share-options mouthfulls and be humiliated with all this EE, BEE stuff. This is a classic case of slave mentality and self loathe in the extreme!

Surely, Steve Biko must be turning in his grave. As for Verwoed and his dead cohorts, the chuckle must be deafening in hell!

Khulubuse Zuma does not use his 'connections' - my response to Sithembiso Msomi's article in th Times

2010-08-26T13:38:00.000-07:00

Khulubuse Zuma does not use his 'connections'

Aug 1, 2010 11:34 PM
By Khaya Buthelezi, by e-mail

Khaya Buthelezi, by e-mail: S'Thembiso Msomi's article on Khulubuse Zuma (President Jacob Zuma's nephew) refers. While I agree with most of your views in your column, I would like to vehemently disagree with you on Khulubuse Zuma. First, Khulubuse is not wealthy as you suggest.

FATCAT AMONG THE PIGEONS? Don't accuse poor ''big guy" Khulubuse Zuma of using his proximity to his uncle, President Jacob Zuma, to get rich - he can't even pay the domestic worker, says a reader.

I don't think a few deals here and there make anyone wealthy by any standards. Some of us in business understand these things very well. Most of the much-talked-about deals are heavily geared. Put simply, it's borrowed money that he's using from banks and other financial institutions who are investing in these business ventures, after having satisfied themselves that they will get a return on their investment.
The oil deals in the Democratic Republic of Congo have not yet generated even a cent and the media is already screaming about Khulubuse's wealth. What wealth? As you put it, Khula was selling newspapers as a boy. Shouldn't we be celebrating his achievements, rather than lambasting the successes of another black brother?
Your comparison between Khulubuse and Saki Macozoma and his friend, Bulelani Ngcuka, is unfair. Khulubuse started from the bottom, owning a taxi, and later a security company, which gave him many sleepless nights. He is a true entrepreneur who used his close proximity to his uncle to his advantage, like any other entrepreneur would have, if given the opportunity.
On the other hand, Macozoma and Ngcuka were handed their wealth on a platter, literally. Today, both men have interests in various companies without breaking any sweat because of their high-profile names and close proximity to the chief, Thabo Mbeki, in his heyday as the boss in Luthuli House and at Union Buildings.
Khulubuse was making deals when the name ''Zuma" was a swear word in business circles. Where was the media during these difficult times? Why are we only hearing about him now? Again, the media is failing South Africa's transformation project by misrepresenting successes of black entrepreneurs.
If indeed Khulubuse is this wealthy because of this close proximity to President Zuma, why would he let MaNtuli (Zuma's second wife) struggle financially, even failing to pay for her domestic worker?
Msomi, I understand your neighbourly jealousy, but I think Khulubuse Zuma should not be the target.
A little homework for you and other jealous scribes of your ilk: investigate how SA's nouveau riche whites got their wealth, and how over the past 16 years of our democracy they have made more money beyond their wildest dreams? These are stories you guys should be telling, not chasing after poor "big guy" Khulubuse Zuma.

PS. I hold no brief for the Zumas.

ANC’s loss in Gugulethu marks a painful decline of the peoples’ movement

2010-06-06T09:11:00.000-07:00

Mcebisi Skwatsha might have lost the provincial chairmanship of the African National Congress in the Western Cape but he still wields immense power and influence in the townships of Gugulethu and other key ANC strongholds in the province. According to some sources in the ANC, the by-election loss of the ANC in Ward 44 recently, is partly attributed to Skwatsha’s faction, which insisted on fielding a less-known black female candidate, as opposed to a Muslim candidate, who commands support in both the communities of Gugulethu (predominantly black) and Heideveld (predominantly coloured). By the rate with which the stature of the ANC is declining in the province, they may as well kiss running any part of the Western Cape goodbye, for a very long time. This begs the question, could this mark the painful decline of the peoples’ movement in other parts of the country?
Let’s look at the facts: the white and coloured middle classes which played a pivotal role in the struggle for liberation have deserted the ANC in favour of the Democratic Alliance (DA). Many of these people feel that the ANC has deviated from its noble ideal of non-racialism in pursuit of a pure Africanist agenda. Julius Malema’s ranting about a lack of black Africans in the country’s economic cluster bear testimony to this. In addition, this group finds it difficult to reconcile the ideals of justice, equality and liberty, as espoused by the ANC, with what has become of the ANC – a party ravaged by internal strife for positions, corruption and the sickening culture of materialism.
On the other hand, the coloured working class, in spite of their strong ties to Cosatu and having produced struggle heroes like Allan Boesak, Trevor Manual and others, they have never really trusted the ANC – seeing it as ‘swart gevaar’ (black danger) from the Eastern Cape, with potential to usurp them from their status as second class citizens of the province, after whites. The fact that the ANC had some support in some coloured working class townships, had to do with Nelson Mandela whose larger-than-life personality and impeccable struggle credentials, transcend all barriers, racial or otherwise.
In the absence of Madiba, Allan Boesak and Trevor Manuel’s waning star in the ANC – it seems the party is at a loss as to how to tackle the unique political dynamics of the Western Cape. The threats by the ANCYL of making Cape Town ungovernable are not only ludicrous, but also reveal the levels of desperation and frustration of playing second fiddle to the DA.
Furthermore, hanging on to the black electorate with its dear life is not going to help the ANC, going forward. And black voters are not going to be patient with the comrades’ shenanigans forever, at some point, they must start delivering on the promises they have made. Murmurs can be heard from the ordinary township folk, complaining that once they’ve voted the ANC into power, “they forget us when travelling in their big cars”. Service delivery protests and the like, bear testament to the impatience of the black electorate.
The ANC is also faced with even bigger and complex challenges which, in a way, force them to demote the issue of service delivery to the lowest rung of their priorities. The fact that a political office guarantees an incumbent access to the state largesse has turned comrades against each other. The cadres now see the ANC as a one-way ticket to instant riches and celebrity status. And those who stand in the way are eliminated, as evidenced by the murders of ANC leaders in the smaller municipalities of the Free State and North West.
The days when the ANC was a warm, open family where cadres were brothers’ keepers are long gone. Today, new members are viewed with suspicion and potential threats to those who have their eyes on leadership positions. This has resulted in the mushrooming of powerful cliques and networks whose only interest is what they get out of the ANC, instead of making a meaningful contribution. This is a marked shift from the days of their forebears who nurtured talent and young leadership as Walter Sisulu did to Nelson Mandela when he was still a struggling law student in Johannesburg. And I am certain these are the headaches that keep Jacob Zuma and his lieutenants awake at night.
Dear reader, you are probably asking, what’s the solution? The solution is very simple but very difficult to find. Here it is: the ANC must find other livelihoods for its cadres, other than those connected to government, otherwise, they will continue to bleed the ANC to death with their scavenging over positions of power. In the meantime, the DA will continue to chip away at their support base – I am afraid, even in black townships.

Black elite calling for their own Mugabe to reverse the gains of colonialism

2010-01-03T04:10:00.000-08:00

Have you ever wondered why the crowds and dignitaries alike cheer whenever the name Robert Gabriel Mugabe, President of the Republic of Zimbabwe is announced from the speakers at the Union Building during our presidential inaugurations? Well, I think I have an answer for you.
A conversation with a colleague recently shed some light to this anomaly which bedevils the Union Buildings whenever we anoint a new president. A female colleague of mine explained very eloquently why South Africa needed a Robert Mugabe-type leader to ensure that land is returned to its rightful owners and black people share a bigger spoil of the economy.
What triggered her annoyance with the state of affairs in the economy and country in general was a dinner in some trendy Sandton restaurant to celebrate her husband’s birthday. “You know what,” she prefaced her poignant narrative, “I was so disturbed when I realized that the only blacks (at the restaurant) were Zimbabwean waiters and the rest, management and patrons, were all white.”
This, according to my colleague, told a story about who was still in power and reinforced the master/servant relationship of the bygone era of colonialism and apartheid.
My reply to my colleague’s frustration was dismissive of what I thought was unwarranted concern, especially coming from a well-off person like her. It was as if I had pressed the overdrive gear. She went completely berserk. “That’s exactly is the problem with you black people, you are so insulated in your cushy corporate jobs and think that you’ve arrived. All what you getting are crumbs falling-off the masters table. Real power lies in controlling the heights of the economy and a Mugabe-type leader will ensure that we achieve that.”
By now, my colleague had raised her voice, and seemed to care less about the other people who were, wittingly or unwittingly, listening in to our conversation. I think her intention was to ventilate her feelings beyond the confines of our corner open-plan office – and this became a little too hot for our poor boss (white male), he stepped outside for a quick smoke. Talk of woman power!
To say I was shocked is an understatement. I had never seen her snap like that and I thought: her uncontrolled, raw anger was unbecoming of a refined, anglicized and educated (black) person like her. Private school education, commerce degree, MBA, designer clothes to match her powerful position as portfolio manager with R3 billion assets under her management, count for something, I imagined.
I am also told her family is one of the wealthiest in Soweto, boasting a vineyard somewhere in the Cape as one of the family’s assets. By all accounts, she belongs to the elite of the new South Africa and should leave the anger-venting business to the masses of Diepsloot and Khayelitsha shack settlements. This tripe-spewing business is Juju’s (Julius Malema) modus operandi, whose H symbol in Woodwork in his Matric certificate, in a way, justifies his pollution of our public discourse.
But what happens when one of the black elite, who together with the majority of our white compatriots, enjoy the trappings of good life, also expresses frustration with the slow pace of economic transformation? What happens when the black elite is calling for their own Mugabe to unwind the economic imbalances of the past? Dear reader, as I write this, Mugabe’s government is putting together a bill that seeks to transfer 51% of all foreign-owned companies to state ownership.
This is happening at the time when commercial farming has been brought to its knees by illegal land-grabbing in the quest of transferring land into black hands. The merits and demerits of this is a debate for another day. The fact of the matter is 25 years ago – the madness that now characterise life in Zimbabwe was unthinkable.
A Zimbabwean acquaintance of mine seems to think what befell Zimbabwe will soon be SA’s fate. And listening to my learned colleague’s venting the other day – I now fear – the inevitable is nearer than I imagined.
This is happening against the backdrop of a 2008/2009 Employment Equity Report which showed that white men represented 61% of top management, enjoyed 48% of all recruitment and made up 45% of all employees promoted to this level. At the top management level black men represented 10%, enjoyed 13% of all recruitment and made up 13% of all employees promoted to this level.
In the private sector white people had the highest representation with 74%, followed by black people with 13%, Indians with just less than 6%, coloureds with 5% and foreigners accounting for about 3%.
In addition, it is estimated that black-owned companies only account for less than 10% of the Johannesburg Stock Exchange’s market capitalization. Added to this is the fact more than 70% of commercial land is still in white hands, 15 years on after the advent of democracy. So far, only 5% of commercial land has been given back to black communities.
Without a doubt, the above state of affairs is untenable and recipe for chaos waiting to happen, especially in a deeply polarized country like ours. Economic inequality remains the biggest threat to our young democracy and could be fertile ground for tyranny, exactly like the one our neighbours north of the Limpopo river are experiencing. And when the black elite sing from the same hymn book as the impoverished masses – we have all reason to be very afraid!

Where the hell are the darkies?

2009-10-15T12:21:00.001-07:00

Have you ever felt like screaming – where the hell are the darkies? Well, I have had these moments a zillion times in my short life. And for some strange reason, the urge to scream my lungs out was in even stronger when I realised that there were only two people of the darker pigmentation (sorry, I am not colour blind) in a plane I boarded to Joburg recently.
A myriad of thoughts raced on my mind about the reasons for this strange phenomenon. And I thought to myself, seeing that it’s a cheaper flight (1Time), most people on the plane should be financially shrewd entrepreneurs running their own businesses on very tight budgets. Unlike the excessively fed government officials (read black and fat) who prefer SAA’s business class with an extra-large leg room to house their hanging bellies. The less said about this lot, the better.
Back to my whiteys on the plane. If the hullaballoo about the government’s empowerment policies is anything to go by, one would have expected this plane to be a mixed bag of black/white entrepreneurs/professionals. But all I saw were laptop-cladding, blackberry-glued whiteys heading off to or coming from another business meeting. If this was 1995, a year which marked the breaking of my plane-travelling chastity, I would have understood. But I am no longer a virgin (plane-travelling that is) neither is South Africa. The hymen of South Africa’s racial chastity was broken in 1994 to make way for easy darkie/whitey interaction and mixing at all levels of society, at least, legislatively speaking.
If this is the case, where the hell were the darkies in the damn plane? Is this some European country or what? Where are the voluptuous African ladies travelling with their chickens and goats or sangomas on their way to perform a ritual for some fat, lazy politician, wanting to outmanoeuvre his fellow comrades in lending a lucrative tender?
Not even Black Economic Empowerment (BEE) entrepreneurs clad in their forever conspicuous Armani suits or Prada jeans could be spotted. You know darkies with their designer labels. Not even a Kwaito star smooching a groupie at the back seat was seen. Truth be told, I looked around to no avail, except for a skinny, pencil-looking black waitress who kept on smiling (esineka), whenever I looked her direction.
Oh, I almost forgot, the once ANC’s rising star and now forgotten Saki Macozoma once opined BEE was never intended for the poor. Hence the status quo remains except for a few politically connected gluttonous fat black oligarchs who have instantly turned multi-millionaires, thanks to the ANC’s deployment policy of jobs and tenders for pals. Damn, I hate it when I’m in agreement with the lily white Democratic Alliance (DA).
And yes, do you remember what the new friend of the poor and ‘shack-sleeping’ Tokyo Sexwale said back in 1996 to a group of aspiring black millionaires: “We’ll make you filthy rich”. Mr Sexwale, can you please tell me where are these filthy rich black people except yourself and a few ANC oligarchs. Mhhh, I like the word, ‘oligarchs’. It apparently refers to a small group of people who rule a nation or control an organisation, often for their own interests.
Aha! Gotcha! Dear reader, the once revered and beloved Congress or Khongolose or Nkongolo Ya Bantu (Congress of the People, not Shikota) as our parents and grandparents fondly referred to the ANC has been hijacked by a small group of people who are using it for their own ‘devious’ ends. So, the service delivery protests, children schooling under the trees, 15 years into our nascent democracy should not come as a surprise - the masses were never meant to benefit anyway.
Ok, ok! I’m told some clever guy from the Presidency, remember that dude by the name of Joel Netshitenzhe? The one who presided over the official ceremony to anoint former Deputy President Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka (may her (political) soul rest in peace) after Thabo Mbeki fired JZ. You got that right. Apparently, he says the lot of black people has improved since 1994.
In one of his latest research papers, he says: “More than 13 million people now receive social grants, compared to 7.87-million in 2004/05. Income inequality in South Africa was not reduced even during the years of economic growth: while income of all sectors has improved, that of the richer segment (read whites) of the society seems to have improved at a faster rate”.
Typical of Mbeki people, Joel likes playing with figures and throwing around some weird hypotheses about as simple an issue as being poor or jobless in pursuance of sounding ‘profound’. Sometimes too much formal education can mess-up your brains. These technocrats must learn to use simple English and refrain from messing with our Bantu Education minds with their so called research papers mumbo-jumbo.
To put it bluntly, whiteys rule the roost in the economy and by extension the country and have enjoyed the crème-de-la-crème of the financial markets’ bull run of the past five years or so, leaving the darkies scavenging over the crumbs falling off the table, like vultures fighting over dead, smelly carcasses. This is the sum-total of darkies 15 years on after the advent of democracy in 1994.
This begs the question: what is the ANC doing with its political power? For four consecutive elections, darkies have given them massive mandates to enact policies and programmes that will improve their lives economically and otherwise. Instead, all what the people have seen so far are government ministers splurging on luxurious vehicles at the taxpayers’ expense. Talk of cheating in the highest order.
Back to my whiteys on the plane! Maybe, just maybe, seeing that my flight was very early on Tuesday morning, the BEE entrepreneurs decided to reschedule and pushed their business engagements by another day or two to recover from an excruciating hangover after yet another ANC Youth League weekend party where whisky flows non-stop. On the other hand, my whiteys on the plane were crisscrossing the skies, wheeling and dealing, and making money in the process. If indeed this was the case, shame on you darkies!

Dad – I’m not Zulu

2009-09-24T04:52:00.000-07:00

During one of the late evening conversations with my six-year old son and I was gob-smacked by his level of reasoning on why he’s not Zulu. “Dad, I’m not Zulu, I’m English, I don’t speak Zulu and I don’t like speaking Zulu,” he retorted.
“But you are Zulu, you are Buthelezi for god’s sake”, in extreme annoyance, I yelled back at him. By the look on his face, he was equally annoyed, but as the boss of the house – my word is final. Whether he speaks French or Greek, that doesn’t change his Zuluness, in his veins runs the blood of Ngqengelele, Shenge, the army generals of the Buthelezi clan who built the mighty Zulu nation with King Shaka, I murmured to myself.
As I reflected on this conversation, I was disappointed that it took the mind of a six-year old for me to see the connection between language and identity. As far as my son’s logic goes, there was no way that he could be Zulu since he didn’t speak isiZulu. The fact that he speaks English all the time - that should make him English, even though his mother and I speak isiZulu to him at home, except on few occasions when correcting his sentence construction and pronunciation.
The only other language spoken at my son’s school is Afrikaans and hence the Afrikaans songs which he likes to belt out when taking shower with me. I thought of lecturing him about what the Afrikaners did to the Zulu people at Impi yase Ncome (Battle of the Blood River) just before the turn of the 19th century or the scores of young people who died in Soweto in 16 June, 1976 in protest against Afrikaans as the medium of instruction at their schools.
So, to address this challenge in my household, I have thought of taking him to township schools. But this will not help either. In Cape Town, most township schools use isiXhosa and English as mediums of instruction. Packing my belongings and heading for the land of the Zulus is ideal but not feasible, given the fact I have bills to pay. The wife has suggested we hire a Zulu tutor. Given the recessionary economic environment, I have taken it upon myself to teach him the language of his ancestors.
Dear reader, you might be thinking, what the heck is wrong with me? What pipe have I been smoking for subjecting my child to my prejudices and obsession with my Zuluness? You’re probably thinking, for goodness sake, it’s a new South Africa and I must just let my child be, whatever that ‘be’ means. But being the stubborn Zulu that I am, I’m not about to neglect my fatherly duties of bringing up a proud Zulu man.
It wouldn’t be far-fetched to think that the above analogy mirrors the experiences of many African families in South Africa today who have adopted former white suburbs as their homes. In an attempt to protect his Pedi heritage, a friend of mine imported maids from Limpopo to look after his first-born son. This he did on three occasions, and each time, he had to take them back within a short space of time after complaining of boredom. And life in the suburbia where you mind your own business and unfriendly (white) neighbours – could really traumatise a village Pedi girl.
Granted, trying to preserve ones unique cultural identity might seem like a futile exercise in the face of the onslaught of globalization where boundaries between nations are becoming more and more blurred. Probably, our obsession (me and my Pedi friend) with our languages is misplaced. Maybe, I stress, maybe we should give up everything that defines us a people in exchange for advancement in commerce and trade.
But, which nation has done this and earned the respect of other nations? The French, Germans, Italians, English, Chinese, Japanese have advanced commercially, without necessarily losing their cultural identities and languages. Today, the Chinese mandarin language is being exported beyond the borders of China together with Chinese economic influence and power. You can call this another form of colonialism by the Chinese – but as a nation they have every right to spread their cultural influence hand-in-glove with their economic power.
Let’s bring this conversation closer to home. You’re probably thinking, surely there is no way that South Africa can develop 11 eleven official languages to the same status as English or French, which are today used widely in commerce and politics. There is neither the political will nor economic resources to carry out a project of this magnitude. True indeed!
But this matter was never about government in the first place. I honestly don’t see them attending to this matter with the seriousness and urgency that is deserves. Unlike the Mandelas and Tambos of the past era, today’s leaders have discovered a new fetish for the finer things in life – luxury cars and sipping fine red wine at the country’s exquisite restaurants. They have sacrificed the noble project of nation-building at the altar of crass materialism.
And hence it is my belief that it will take the activism of my Pedi friend and many others like him in our country to reclaim the dignity of indigenous languages and by extension, the dignity of black people. Let’s bring back the spirit of activism and influence school governing bodies to introduce isiXhosa, isiZulu and other indigenous languages in Model C schools. We certainly don’t want to build a nation of coconuts, do we?

The corporate world – where selling your soul is the order of the day

2009-09-10T12:32:00.000-07:00

The Zulu saying, “umuntu ufunda aze afe” echoes in my mind as I observe the shenanigans that sometimes people employ to stay in the limelight or get to the top in the corporate world. I would like to believe that as the human race we base our relationships on the principles of honesty and respect for other fellow human beings. We Africans believe in Ubuntu, which is centred on the principle of “Umuntu ngumuntu ngabantu”, literally meaning “A person is a person through other persons”.
However these very basic principles upon which we base our relationships as the human race are faked or even worse, thrown out the window in the corporate world. Or shall I rather call it the corporate jungle. If you are familiar with the famous television sitcom Friends, there is a particular episode where the rich, spoilt Rachel (played by Jennifer Aniston) decides to become independent and take up a job. Her friend Monica (Courtney Cox) then tells her, “Welcome to the real world. It sucks. You’re going to love it!”
I thought backstabbers, backbiters, gossip mongers and the like are mostly illiterate and have nothing to live up to except snoop their noses in other people’s businesses or at best, spread rumours about the latest urban legend. Ekasi , we call them “oMamGobhozi”. I didn’t know that they can also be sophisticated with degrees from some of our finest institutions in the country.
This begs the question, what could spur a sophisticated professional, schooled in all manner of mannerisms (excuse the pun) to stoop to these levels of shallowness? I have often asked the question! Well, dear reader this shows we are human after all, no matter our levels of sophistication. And humans by nature are fallible.
Besides this, the corporate world is the playing field where we work to achieve our goals. It is a place where people earn their living and individuals make a name for themselves. We compete with each other to get a piece of the available resources. While competition is not necessarily bad, it affects the behaviour of people.
As Francis J. Kong, renowned speaker and author, said in his speech at Asian Institute of Management during the launch of John Maxwell’s lecture in Manila a few years ago, “the corporate world can either make you a better person or otherwise”. It’s your choice!
A friend of mine once said, “Man, they will eat you alive.” He continued, “It is a place where only the strongest thrives, a place where you have to constantly watch your back, a place where you’re not sure who’s on your side and who’s not. You have to learn how to paddle your own canoe; do not expect help and assistance from your peers. If you cannot survive on your own, you will never make it.”
Depending on how you handle all these pressures, it would be correct to say some of us end up selling our souls in the process of climbing the corporate ladder.
Another interesting paradigm is when employees look up to management as the only most powerful group whose favour or wrath can make or break us. King Solomon, the wisest man who ever lived was correct in saying: “Many try to win the favour of rulers. And everyone is the friend of a man who give(s) gifts.”
Because of this, the people in the bottom and middle of the organisation will explore all means to get something from management. Sometimes, the time honoured rules are respected, sometimes not.
I have concluded. The most challenging thing to do in the corporate jungle is to be your own man or woman if you like, and climb the ladder on your own terms. And for those who have succeeded in doing this, I take my hat off for you. As one executive said to me the other day, “Even this comes at a price”. Ultimately, it’s your choice and you will live to face the consequences.

There is nothing ‘lekker’ about township life

2009-09-08T10:35:00.000-07:00

It is very easy to insulate ourselves in privilege and be completely oblivious to the dire socio-economic challenges that still beset our country 15 years after the advent of democracy. A visit to my hometown, KwaMashu, north of Durban recently led me to conclude that there is nothing ‘lekker’ about township life.
The rows of match box houses, dilapidated schools, scores of youths roaming the streets, pregnant girls as young as 12-years of age, strutting their oversized bellies – tell stories of hardship, hopelessness and bleak futures.
Just opposite my family home, is a family of five orphans (grandchildren) whose parents died as a result of AIDS complications. The children mainly survive on their grandma’s pension. The orphans also receive a child grant from the state, which really helps to make ends meet. They go to school and lead ‘normal lives’ by township standards. To township residents, this is pretty normal.
However, a mere 15-minute drive to the up-market Durban North, one is met with a different set of standards for what constitutes a ‘normal life’. In Durban North, ‘normal life’ is synonymous with luxury – the kind of lifestyle that, while growing in the township, only existed in our dreams.
Why should it be normal for a family of 12 to scrape a living off R1000 a month or even less? To atone for this daily hardship, young and old people turn to drug and alcohol abuse, with dire consequences on the social fabric and moral fibre of township communities.
Criminality and other social ills are norms. These have become institutionalised and normalised. Scorn and derision are heaped on those who dedicate themselves to hard work and ethical ways of making a living. Stories of corrupt local councilors, policemen and other civil servants do the rounds with relative ease.
Cash-in-transit heist kingpins, drug lords, bank robbers are worshiped like small township deities. They are legendary Robin Hoods who steal from the rich and distribute to the poor, in that way, buying the silence of the community, the police and the entire criminal justice system. I pray that, heaven forbids this cancer from engulfing the whole nation.
The great trek, especially in the afternoons and over the weekends, of the black middle class to the township for a tipple, car wash or just hanging out and enjoying the easy and unconstrained life, on the surface, reinforces a misperception that all is well in our townships. Truth be told, our townships are getting sicker by the day, if not by the minute.
Perhaps, one of the positive things here is that, at least, they (black middle class) are still keeping in touch with their township roots. Townships give black professionals the space to take off their façade of meaningless work titles, university degrees and fade into the colourfull milieu of ‘happy’ and ‘carefree’ township life. They are only conspicuous by their posh cars and English-littered conversations, either about beautiful women or politics – favourite pastimes for many a black man.
Is this enough though? Is chilling at the township’s watering holes to drink away the office frustration about racist white bosses enough to turn the tide against abject poverty, lawlessness, and the increasingly declining standards of living in what was once the bedrock of the struggle for liberation? Hell no, this not it brothers and sisters!
We need to ask the question, how will this help us to write new stories of prosperity, excellence, pride hard work and self-sufficiency of black men in our townships?
Scoring straight As in Mathematics and Science should no longer be exceptions for a township child. The values of hard work and excellence should be fused into everything we do, in spite of our disadvantaged backgrounds.
The rebuilding of our township communities and reclaiming the human dignity of black Africans is not a government’s project alone – it belongs to all of us who have travailed our atrocious past to find our place in the sun of our young nation. If anything, I believe the past 15 years have taught us exactly that.
With an estimated two million blacks in the middle class strata of society – there exist now a significant number of people who can take the lead in shaping the destiny of their fellow black South Africans in the townships and other disadvantaged areas. Our patriotism calls on all of us to do just that.

Open letter to Minister S'bu Ndebele

2009-08-17T13:21:00.001-07:00

Whilst I congratulate you for doing the right thing by returning the gifts which the Vukuzakhe Contractors bestowed on you for doing a sterling job during your days as Transport MEC in KwaZulu Natal, we the members of the African National Congress who campaigned fiercely for our party on a ticket of clean governance are extremely disturbed that you even contemplated accepting the gifts.
Understandably so, it’s not an everyday thing that one gets presented with a R1.2 million top-of-the-range Mercedes Benz. I am saying this fully understanding the context within which the contractors wanted to thank you for a job well done. To Africans, giving and expressing generosity are things that come naturally and hence you saw nothing untoward in the good gesture shown by the Vukuzakhe contractors.
These practices are steeped in the African tradition. King Shaka, on many occasions, honoured his warriors for bravery in the field of battle by giving them hectors of land, herds of cattle and beautiful maidens. In isiZulu, we call this ukuxoshisa. The difference Mr. Minister is that during this ancient time, the Zulu warriors were not getting paid for defending the Zulu Kingdom, they did it out of national pride and service to their King.
On the other hand, you are getting paid handsomely for being a public representative and I am certain that after more than a decade in government, and your recent appointment as transport minister, your financial needs and that of your family’s will be well taken care of for many years to come. This is the least I can say about the majority of more than 11 million ANC supporters who voted for our party last month, many of whom, still live in abject poverty and squalor.
I am equally disappointed by the ANC and the presidency for advising you to declare the gifts and keep them afterwards. This is a smack in the face of ANC supporters. How quickly we forget! How can anyone justify this crass materialism in the face of so much want and helplessness among the citizenry of our country? There seems to be a fierce competition to amass as much wealth as possible, even if it means betraying the precepts of selflessness and humility, upon which our movement was founded.
The decent work that we want to offer our brothers and sisters should be accompanied by decent leadership and so far, it doesn’t seem you’ve passed your first test as a member of the executive. Decent leadership should be exemplary to those who are following on your footsteps. If I may ask, what lesson would we have learnt, as cadres of this beloved movement, had you accepted your German sedan gift? Although there was nothing illegal about this, however the burden of leadership calls upon you to think very hard about the precedent you are setting for the future generations of leaders.
Sadly, Mr. Minister, this sickening cancer of hogging resources to ourselves and those close to us at the expense of our people is spreading faster than we thought and hence debating this in the open will, I hope, nip this disease in the bud. The Polokwane revolt was exactly about these issues. The nation watched in disbelief as those who were close to the throne of the then President Thabo Mbeki rubbed their hands in glee in anticipation of the Telkom windfall. One of them, Smuts Ngonyama even said, “He didn’t struggle to be poor”.
Just last week, Vodacom made its debut on the JSE and the sale of the Telkom’s stake in Vodacom to Vodafone was approved. One analyst has estimated that the Elephant Consortium, of which Ngonyama, Gloria Serobe, Andile Gcaba are directors, stand to make more than R1 billion after paying all their debts in this empowerment deal. Going forward, we need to ask a very serious question: Is this what Chris Hani, Solomon Mahlangu, Andrew Zondo and many other martyrs died for?
Did the martyrs of our struggle die so that a few politically connected blacks could, in a very brazen and crude way, enrich themselves whilst the masses of our people starve and lack even the most basic of needs like education and healthcare?
Mr. Minister and President JZ, I would like to promise you one thing: As much as we didn’t fold our arms and watched in dismay as the white minority enjoyed the best of what our country had to offer while our parents scrambled for the crumbs falling off the masters’ tables, we will not watch, smile and clap hands as a select few leaders of our movement enjoy the fruits of our liberation at our expense.
Comrades, prove to us in the next five years that Polokwane was not a mistake and more than 11 million voters were not irrational, as the Democratic Alliance claim. We’ll be watching!

The Coloured question – an opportunity for dialogue for all

2009-08-17T12:56:00.000-07:00

“Coloured people have given the Western Cape to white people, again, as they did in 1994.” This is the sentiment doing rounds at trendy taverns in Gugulethu after the Democratic Alliance (DA) won the province convincingly in April.
To most Africans, this was unthinkable that after more than 300 years of suffering under white oppression, coloured people, who suffered the same lot as Africans, could betray the struggle for freedom in such a callous manner. I have been completely bewildered myself. In an attempt to find answers, I conducted an impromptu survey among my ‘coloured’ fellow citizens as to what got into their minds to vote for the “Madam”, as they affectionately refer to Helen Zille. The answers I solicited were very blunt in their total disdain and to some degree, hatred for the African National Congress (ANC).
The responses were varied: infighting, corruption, lack of service delivery and so on in the ANC. However, what was most shocking were, what I thought, pure racist remarks about black South Africans. At one of my hang-out spots in the northern suburbs, I almost fell off my chair when, when one gentleman, a little light and curly hair screamed, “what is it that Africans want in the Western Cape?” To me, this question alone, revealed the extent of the deep-seated nature of the divisions between the Coloured and African communities in this province.
This divide is what our former oppressors exploited and arguably, is what Helen Zille capitalized upon. This is despite the fact both these communities fought for liberation and produced struggle heroes who are today the leading lights of our society. The latter begs the question, what then is the cause of this very acrimonious divide?
Coloured people as a mixed race are genetically connected to both black and white South Africans. Spiritually, they are connected to Europe and Africa. Symbolically, they truly represent the ideal new South Africa we all so long for where colour will be of no significance. In fact, they represent a future race which is neither black nor white. In a way, they are the glue that holds all of us together.
As Tokyo Sexwale, mining magnate turned new minister of Human Settlements in Jacob Zuma’s government once lamented, “If blacks get hurt, I get hurt. If whites get hurt, that's my wife, and if you harm coloured people, you're looking for my children. Your unity embodies who I am." Their children (coloured) with Judy, Sexwale’s wife, are the glue that holds them together.
However, it would seem that, our coloured brothers and sisters have chosen to be on the side of our former masters. As was the case prior to the new dispensation in 1994 when they were regarded as second class citizens and entitled to better education, better jobs and many other trappings, it would seem they have, very sadly, retreated back to that laager again.
The case of ‘house slaves’ and ‘field slaves’ where the former (coloured people) thought are better than the latter (black Africans) has come back to haunt us. This is more prevalent among the working class of the Cape where competition for scarce government services such as RDP houses, primary health care, employment and other services is rife. The spirit of cohesion and brotherhood that used to characterize the struggle for liberation and the resistance heydays of the United Democratic Front (UDF) died with the birth of freedom in 1994. How ironic.
In Cape Town, as a black person, a minor confrontation easily results in being told, by a white or coloured security guard to go back to the Eastern Cape or to the ‘location’ where you belong. And yet, I cannot recall a scuffle in a restaurant or mall where I have heard a ‘darkie’ telling a ‘whitey’ to go back to Europe.
Sadly, politicians, from across all spectrum have failed to address the ‘coloured’ question. Since 1994, I have witnessed politicians manipulating the coloured vote for their own political ends instead of addressing the fundamental question: why coloured people in general, do not feel a part of the new South Africa. As they would say, during the apartheid era, they were not white enough, and now, are seen as not black enough.
The ANC in particular, has failed miserably to address the false perception that it does not cater for the needs of coloured people. The rise of the so called ‘Africanists’ to the helm of the ANC in the province has not helped either. Coloured people felt more and more alienated and hence I support a call by the ANC Youth League for the disbandment of the Provincial Executive Committee (PEC) and the holding of a fresh elective conference. Mcebisi Skwatsha and his Gugulethu acolytes must make way for a truly representative and multi-racial ANC in the province.
Coming back to the coloured question, I have often wondered why our coloured brothers and sisters speak with candour and pride about their German, Scottish, Spanish or English heritage but almost with shame and regret that the African blood runs through their veins as well. Does this mean that their allegiance lies more with Europe than Africa?
This ‘messed’ up state of affairs plays itself out especially during international games such as the current FIFA Confederation Cup. Out of patriotism, I have supported Bafana Bafana through and through and I expect the same from all South Africans, including my mates from Michelle’s Plain. But alas, all I hear is how pathetic our boys are compared to their international counterparts.
I have always held the view that apartheid ‘messed’ us all up psychologically with whites at the top of the list – they whine at every given opportunity, they pack for Perth or build laagers and it seems, coloured people are following hot on the heels.