Why is land suddenly appealing to our people? The land question is nothing new. The fiercest wars and battles for land against the white people began in 1770 in the Eastern Cape and are still being fought in one way or the other. The leadership in these wars and battles has always been provided by our most able, respected and popular organic leaders. The popularity of these leaders came about as a result of their ability to lead which earned them respect among their people. Populism played a role in the success of our leaders, especially as a means to maintaining unity. It was however, not the only requirement to leadership. Wisdom, knowledge, courage and love for the people were the most important. The popularity of Makana Nxele came after he proved himself to be wise, intelligent, courageous and able; and thereby earning respect of the people he so loved. We can say the same about Shaka, Moshoeshoe, Mogale, Sekwati, and Ngungunyane, Pixley ka Seme, Tshekiso Plaatjie, Muziwakhe Lembede, Rolihlahla Mandela, Mangaliso Sobukwe, Bantu Biko and Thembisile Hani. We often tell stories about the movement of Bantu from the Sahara to the great lakes and to Ningizimu Afurika. In our stories we highlight that the Bantu had lived in what is now Republic of South Africa before the turn of the first millennium and mining the ground since the first century. We also talk about how the land was forcefully taken from Blackpeople, how we can reinstall the sense of pride of where we come from as people and how we can reclaim our place in the sun. We often emphasise the need to correct historical distortions and speed up land and economic restitution. As we tell these historical stories, recounting our losses as Afrikan people, and trying to establish how we can reclaim our place in history; our observations, definitions and the subplots in the primary focus of our stories are meant to be critically interpreted to enable our compatriots who are wise, intelligent, courageous and able to chart a way into the future. The focus of these stories is always on what is emphasised rather than on what is not. The wise, able and respected leaders in Afrika had for centuries drawn from the subplots in the stories that played out before them to plan and deliver services to their people. The primary focus in the stories we tell in most cases tell us about priorities and what is good and what is not; the subplots informs us of the ways forward. Often when we look back on these stories to explain our present, we are often astounded by how ignorant we are about what has been left out. In our recent history in 2007, when the primary focus was winning the presidency of the ANC, we ignored the subplot playing out that could have prevented the political drama now on our stage. The subplots we ignored were: 1. The decaying moral fibre 2. The compromised principles 3. The rules of nature, among them the adage that what goes around comes around Any true Afrikan (M’Afrika Poqo) will tell you that if you weed around an umHlosinga, it will grow to prick you. Also M’Afrika Poqo will know that the Afrikan has a very strong parent complex. The ancient Afrikan believed that a community can produce only one great leader at a time. The people would look upon such a person...the person would become a parent symbol, an embodiment of all their aspirations and unity. This person shall be given all their love and loyalty. The person would be the symbol of all their ideals and dreams. They would rally around this person in times of evil and want. This has not changed, though we do not want to admit it. This kind of a leader is created by circumstances around the people. If this leader is an umHlosinga, naturally the leader will be a thorn on the side of the people. The people would weed out this tree from among them. If this leader happens to be a stiff, proud Masasa, he will alienate his people. The Masasa is always snapped and hurled to ground when there is a tornado. The people often preferred a slim Munga for a leader. The Munga is adaptable, it bows its head and yields to the anger of the wind, and when the hurly burly is gone, it stands erect again. When the struggle leaders were rounded up and thrown in jail by the apartheid regime and some escaped into exile, the people needed to identify a parent symbol. Mandela was picked with the dubious influence of the liberal whites. He seemed to be a Munga but proved to be too flexible and bend too much in the face of the fury of the wind. Mandela was succeeded by Mbeki, a Masasa. In dealing with a Masasa, the people weeded around the fever tree. The Mbeki era was plagued by rapidly decaying moral fibre. Corruption was getting out of control. He was a proud, intellectual giant surrounded by the not so bright and moral dwarves. Moral dwarves always see an upright man as a threat. When political winds started blowing, naturally, being a Masasa, he was uprooted. The fever tree had to prick the people around it to survive being uprooted itself. In doing so, this umHlosinga alienated the people who gave it the power it now enjoys. The people started weeding around a Leokana (a little fever tree) to give themselves an alternative parent symbol. To cover up corruption and lies, one need to create more lies and corrupt other people. The principles of the struggle and democracy were compromised. The rules of nature dictates that what goes around must come around. One corrupt deed deserves another. We ignored this natural progression of things in our quest to find a parent symbol. Our ideals and aspirations were not being met. The Leokana we were weeding around became aware and took the baton. The little fever tree is rapidly becoming our parent symbol, an embodiment of all our aspirations and unity. We are giving him all our love and loyalty. He is the symbol of all our ideals and dreams. We are rallying around him in the name of the land that must be returned, the mineral resources that must be nationalised and corruption that must be eradicated. The return of the stolen land is nothing new. It is the fight the Blackpeople are committed to. Nothing really is new. What we need to look into is how we find our leaders, that one parent symbol the Afrikan searches for to fulfil his/her dreams. That leader is among us. Look carefully.
Posted on: Wed, 16 Oct 2013 10:30:20 +0000
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