The
Contemporary Relevance Of The Theories And Ideologies Of Robert Mangaliso
Sobukwe In South Africa
This paper assumes a post-structural approach in
response to the question of the relevance of Pan African Nationalist ideologies
in the present South African political landscape. The paper will demonstrate
how these philosophies can positively contribute to the progressive development
of South African society and the upliftment of the black people of the country;
by examining the role of race and equality in the stratification of South
African society.
Neo Mobita
Vuka Muntu Omnyama
“It is meet
that we speak the truth before we die”
-Robert Sobukwe 21 Oct 1949, Fort Hare University
Robert Mangaliso Sobukwe, was one of the most astounding
characters in the socio-cultural, academic and political revolutionary history
of South African society. He was a university lecturer by profession, and an
exceptionally intelligent man too, according to those who were privileged
enough to have met him.[1]
He represents a proud assertion of blackness and a deep love for the African
continent. A man who was never shy to articulate his beliefs despite the
consequences, but who did so in a way that was so eloquent and moving, that it
threatened to cause a national shift toward black consciousness. As
justification for his unlawful and excessive incarceration, the apartheid government
at one point, described Sobukwe “as a more radical and difficult opponent than the
regular ANC prisoners.”[2]
His mannerisms and way of thinking were beyond reproach, honest and very
forthright.
Sobukwe was
a Pan African Nationalist who was unequivocal and unshaken in his beliefs. He
believed in African nationalism “because of its deep human significance:
because of its inevitability and necessity to world progress,”[3]
according to his understanding. He asserted that the liberation of the world
depended on Africa, as world civilization would not be complete unless the
African has made his full contribution.[4]
Of all political and philosophical assertions about African politics, there can
be no denying that an African civilization is sorely lacking in the global
political schematic. For the average political party, the idea of nationalism
seems to have been left behind with liberation ideologies and the euphoria of ‘independence’.
In
contemporary South African politics too, nationalism is an ideal which is vaguely
projected in the long term future and defined in obscure fantastical terms of
‘inclusiveness’ and ‘rainbows’.
It is from
this premise that this article would like to assert that the theories and
thoughts of the great Robert Mangaliso Sobukwe, are not just relevant in
contemporary South Africa, but critical to the future of the African continent
and all of her native inhabitants.
“Because there can be
no greater guarantee against political and economic instability than the final recognition
of the supremacy of African interests in Africa.”[5]
The social order
The current South African society is littered with muted
groans and low murmurs about racists, racism and racist people. The subject of
‘skin colour’ is one which is considered taboo to speak freely about in public
platforms and media forums. The question of apartheid is even less addressed,
for fear of being seen as a ‘racist’. In spite of these social and moral
beliefs about the subject of race, it is no secret that South Africans still
live, earn, get educated, receive medical treatment, interact with the judicial
system and play economic roles; along very tangibly racial lines.
If one were to walk into any retail store, whether it sells
food or household goods; the hierarchy is always the same. The security guard
is a black person, as is the cleaner, the shelf packer and the till worker. The
supervisors and managers that oversea the ‘black staff’ are almost always
colored and indian people; while the top management and owners are always
white. It’s startling the continuity of the apartheid labour divide, despite 18
years of a ‘democratic dispensation’!
Policies such as Affirmative Action and Black Economic
Empowerment and Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment, have been implemented
in an attempt to ‘bridge the racial wealth divide’. It is propagated that the
country is ‘free’ and everyone has ‘equal opportunity’, however, the majority
of black South Africans still experience the same political oppression, social degradation,
economic exploitation and group discrimination that they did under apartheid.
Why does this remain the fact in spite of South Africa being led by a
‘non-white’ majority government?
The Race Groups
The racial
discourse, and by extension the discourses of the liberation and development of
South Africa, was one which Sobukwe tread with a very definite point of view.
He believed that there were categories of people in society, who could be
grouped according to the perceptions that they held about the social order and hierarchy.
He defined ‘White’ people as a “racist and capitalist class,”[6]
which he described as, a “European foreign minority group which has exclusive
control of political, economic, social and military power.” He was also very
distrustful of this group of people, arguing that their intentions towards the
African majority were impure and more derogatory than anything else. Sobukwe
saw “the white ruling minority, western capitalism and international
imperialism”[7]
system, as a societal framework whose entire existence rested on the
manipulation and domination of “cheap black labour”[8].
Given that from the apartheid dispensation to the present,
the white population group has remained the highest earning per capita in
income; continue to own 83% of the land in South Africa; and, has the lowest
unemployment and highest literacy rate in South Africa, it is clear that the
status quo remains the same as it was during Sobukwe’s time[9].
Sobukwe also speaks of another racial category called the
‘non-white’. In his view this societal grouping consisted of “people who
believe in the superiority of whites”[10].
This group can clearly consist of people of any racial grouping. It was their
belief in a specific set of values that distinguished them from other members
of their racial groups. Indeed Sobukwe used terms like “puppets and sellouts”[11] to
describe people who he believed, had espoused and propagated “white racism and
capitalism”[12] by
“working with the government for personal gain”[13].
This description seems to be a fitting portrayal
of a lot of politicians and ‘business people’ in present day South Africa.
Sobukwe rejected the state and its institutions, calling
them “apartheid and enemy bodies”[14], on
the basis that they “dispossess and oppress Blacks on behalf of the capitalist
class”[15].
This non-white grouping is today represented by the plethora of ‘liberals’ and ‘entrepreneurs’ who claim a free and equal
society, in the face of the overwhelming wealth and living standard divide that
stratifies the South African population into white and non-white enclaves of
affluence; and predominantly black areas of underdevelopment and poverty.
This social class of liberal entrepreneurial non-whites is usually the social rank from
which the leadership of the country is chosen. In this way, Sobukwe argued that
the system of oppression and domination was thus kept in place by “the creation
of bodies calculated to maintain and develop the relations of dominating and
dominated, as well as to condition the minds of the dominated for the
unquestioning acceptance of their role as collaborators in the perpetuation of
their own dominance.”[16] In
other words, if you adhere to the directives of the staged (and co-operative)
leadership, you can enjoy a life of false and unfair privilege with the ruling
classes; the only condition, is maintaining the heirachy.
The third category of people, were indian people, whom he
regarded with suspicion, asserting that the leadership of the indian people
came from an emergent merchant class “which had become tainted with the virus
of national arrogance and cultural supremacy… (and who) like the “sympathetic
whites”, is concerned with protecting its own sectional interests.”[17]
The final group or category of persons was the Black population
group whom he described as a “politically oppressed, socially degraded,
economically exploited and discriminated against”[18]
South African societal group; that “identify together as one oppressed people
in a common struggle”[19]
against the vices that they are forced to endure. He described “everybody who
owes his loyalty only to Africa and accepts the democratic rule of an African
majority” as an African”[20]. In
recognition of this fact however, Sobukwe held the view that “Africans are the only people who,
because of their material position can be interested in the complete overhaul
of the present structure of society; as Europeans who are intellectual converts
to the African cause…benefit materially from the present set-up…they cannot
completely identify themselves with that cause.”[21]Sobukwe
goes on to explain that “whenever Europeans “co-operate” with African
movements, they keep on demanding checks and counter-checks, guarantees and the
like, with the result that they stultify and retard the movement of the
Africans…consciously or unconsciously protecting their sectional interests.”[22]
Blackness in democratic South Africa
Black people are still politically oppressed in the sense
that they have not been given an opportunity to express the full spectrum of
their political beliefs. The conception of a multi-cultural rainbow nation, has
been proliferated at the expense of black nationalist, socialist and
traditional ideologies; all of which have been relegated into the democratic
political desert for being too ‘radical’, too ‘Africanist’, not ‘progressive’
and ‘exclusionary’. Black people are also still socially degraded; accounting
for South Africa’s position as the “protest capital of the world” with over 600
service delivery protests occurring in South Africa daily. The disgruntlements
of these protesters range from issues about policing, tariff hikes, worker
disputes to social protest against state rulings and policies. 98% of these
protests occur in predominantly black areas.[23]
Economical
realities
Black people in South Africa are still the most economically
exploited social group, constituting 100% of the cheap mining, agricultural,
services and manufacturing sectors labor forces.[24]
According to the 2011 national census report, the average black-headed household
earns R 60 613 per anum, or R 5 051 per month. The average
coloured-headed household earns R 112 172 per anum or R 9 347 per
month. The average Indian-headed household is said to earn R 251 541 a
year or R 20 961 per month. And unsurprisingly, the average white-headed
household is said to earn R 365 134 per anum or R 30 427 per month. [25]
What is the meaning of Black Economic Empowerment and Broad Based Black
Economic Empowerment if 52,9% and 39.8% of black South African women and men,
respectively, are unemployed? How have the liberal and inclusive policies of
‘non-discrimination’ aided the black person to find their place in the global
political economic arena when the lowest other per capita income in other race
groups, is atleast twice that of the black population groups? The truth is
that they clearly have not. Instead, the present dispensation can be said to be
plunging the black person deeper and deeper into poverty and alienation, by not
recognizing the unique and exclusive interventions that are necessary to truly
liberate the black person socially, economically and most importantly,
mentally.
Discrimination
as a norm
Black South African people are still discriminated against. Constituting
79% of the South African population, black people still only own 13% of the
available land in the country, and that ownership is exercised mostly, through
the state. The average size of a township yard is 220 square meters, while the
average suburbian yard is almost 800 square meters. [26]The
irony is that with the advent of the ‘non -white’ government, the state
continues to authorize the building of so-called ‘RDP houses’, which are little
matchbox units on 220 square meters of land. Why is it justifiable for black
people to live in smaller houses than other non-black racial groups? Black
South Africans make up the majority prisoners in South African jails.[27]
8 million black South African children go to bed hungry every night[28].
Only 2% of the 40million black South Africans have university degrees[29].
Is this just a coincidence that black people have to have so many odds stacked
against their development and equal recognition as human beings? It is clear
that there is a systematic anomaly that structures society and all of its
structures in such a way that black people are always on the fringes and
outskirts of the true governing system. They remain on the educational,
financial, religious, medical, legal and social borders; always hankering to
get involved, but never being seen as competent enough.
These realities underscore the fact that the philosophy of
the South African state and governing structures is not informed by the desires
and realities of the majority of black South Africans; instead it is informed
by the interests of capital and imperial power. The dominance of the western
political discourse is evidence of the fact that the “victors” of the
liberation movements, compromised too much, to get the little pseudo power that
they use to enforce western values.
The value of knowledge
The ruling elite drive the ideologies of the governed. They
determine the laws, the norms and values of the society, and in so doing, have placed
black people into inferior and subordinate social and class positions. It is
through state sanctioned institutions only, that people can be coersed and
conditioned into accepting the ideology of the ruling classes. These bodies
designed to inculcate particular teleologies are manifested in the form of
churches, education systems, the media and a superfluous judicial system. Sobukwe
distrusted these institutions, accusing them of not only being racist, but of
“serving the wishes of the rulers and the capitalists”[30].
The institutions in South Africa are still no different in
the sense that the government education system designed to cater to the needs
of almost 86% [31]black
children who cannot afford the private schooling systems; is still very framed
in the ‘bantu education system’ terms. The schools in townships have not got
fully equipped science and biology laboratories, how then do we create
scientists? The schools in the townships do not have well maintained sports
facilities, if they have them at all. When looked at in comparison to non-black
schools, the schools in the township are indicative of the fact that they had
(and most likely still get) ten times less
funding than their counterparts.[32]
The system of democracy can only be effective in a society
that has educational institutions that place all citizens on an equal knowledge
footing. A democracy relies heavily on the feedback, engagement and
deliberation of an educated electorate. South Africa can never purport to have
created the grounds for democracy to flourish, because to this day, the bantu
education ‘holes’ in the form of township schools; are still being used to teach children. The continuation of this
practice begs the question of how the mould of a rectangle can be used to
produce a circle. It is this inability to be straightforward about the issues
and challenges facing our society that we find that many social questions
remain unanswered and many social issues remain unsolved. Sobukwe argued that
African policies “must flow from the logic of the African situation and from
the fundamental long-term interests of the vast African millions”[33] who
he saw as “the key and very life of the struggle for democracy”.[34]
For this reason Sobukwe strongly held the belief that Black
people should not collaborate with those who did not pledge allegiance to
Africa. “We must fight for freedom – for the right to call our souls our own.
And we must pay the price. But the price of freedom is blood, toil and tears”[35]. He urged Black people to be “conscious of the
fact that they have to win their own liberation, rely on themselves to carry on
a relentless and determined struggle instead of relying on court cases and
negotiations on their behalf by “sympathetic whites”. He believed that the duty
of leadership was to embody the people’s aspirations and never to show any
signs of ‘broadmindedness’ or ‘reasonableness’ in their quest to realize those
aspirations.
He believed that for a nation to be a nation, it required
experts to be trained in fields such as sociology, economics as well as high
level, rapid development of African studies.[36]
He was of the strong view that the African pedagogy should be an expression of
African thought and feeling, while also being the embodiment of Africans
aspirations. He believed that the education of Africans, was a service to
Africa. He believed that what was necessary was a system of education that
would cater to addressing and servicing the needs and problems of Black people.
For Sobukwe, the aim was to “concientise, politicize and mobilise Black people
through the philosophy of Black Consciousness, in order to strive for their
legitimate rights”[37]. Like
education, for Sobukwe, religion also needed to be interpreted “as a liberatory
philosophy relevant to the struggle”[38]
of the Black people.
Pertaining to the economy, Sobukwe was a strong proponent of
a planned economy and the most equitable distribution of wealth; frequently
being heard to say that ‘equal opportunity is meaningless if it does not take
equality of income as the springboard from which it shall take off’.[39]
This belief about economic socialism would be governed by a politically
democratic government, rather than the typical totalitarianism that
historically accompanied socialist states.[40]
“Africanists reject totalitarianism in any form and accept political democracy
as understood in the west. We also reject
the economic exploitation of the many for a few…Borrowing then the best
from the East and the best from the West we nonetheless retain and maintain our
distinctive personality and refuse to be the satraps or stooges of either power
block.”[41] In
current South African politics, the economy is structured in such a way that it
favors capitalist and individual interests as opposed to being about ‘the
people.’
He believed that ethnic organization of the South African
population was a politically deliberate “disruptive, sectional and divisive”[42]
strategy used to “misdirect and weaken opposition to white racism and
capitalism”[43].
“In Afrika, the myth of race has been propounded and propagated by the
imperialists and colonialists from Europe, in order to facilitate and justify
their inhuman exploitation of the indigenous people of the land. It is from
this myth of race with its attendant claims of cultural superiority that the
doctrine of white supremacy stems.”[44]He
advocated for a total rejection of such values, encouraging Black people to
unite under the banner of their oppression, exploitation and degradation, their
blackness.[45] For
society, Sobukwe stood for “the full and complete development of the human
personalityand the active creation of conditions that will encourage the rapid
disintegration of group-exclusiveness and the emergence of a united African
nation, devoted to the tremendous task of developing the country and creating a
distinctive African culture.”[46]Sobukwe
desired to create a united, unstratified, anti-racist socialist continent where
ownership of all resources were to be under the management of the Black Azanian
people[47].
Sobukwe today
Seeing the hatred and confusion that is rife in South Africa
today, demonstrates to us the extent to which our society is ill and
injured. A woman is raped in our country
every 4 minutes. On million murder cases go unaccounted annually in our
country. More than half of the people in our country go to bed hungry every
night. A good majority of the children in rural areas in South Africa go to
school under trees. A third of the urban populations in South Africa, live in
shacks or informal dwellings. The statistics go on and on, revealing a sad
picture of an unequal and muted society wallowing in its own guilt and self
hatred.
The call of Sobukwe is to the black person, the one who is
in the majority, the one whose native land is getting pilfered and swept
beneath their feet. It begs the black person to reclaim their glory, to stop
seeing themselves as anything except a divine and honorable creation. The call
is for every black person to awaken from their induced slumber and resist oppression
and discrimination; to reverse the cultural and social degradation and to take
back control of their native land.
This is not a call to racism. In Sobukwe’s words, it is not
about being anti anything, it is just about being pro-black. It is instead, a
ululation to the black person, an invitation into a consciousness that serves
black interests, a summoning to the table of equality where blackness is the
standard. Black Consciousness is about re-infusing pride into the colonially
brutalized body of the black person. It is about invigorating the black
person’s soul with ideologies and philosophies of black pride, power and
greatness.[48]
We need leadership and institutions that have such strong
and nationalist ideas about blackness and Africa to drive our continent
forward. It is necessary for all South Africans to acknowledge that black South
Africans are in the majority in this country and that by virtue of that, the
philosophies that permeate the society, the traditions that are practiced, the
pedagogies informing knowledge’s and the structure of the economy; should be
reflective of the interests of that majority. The leadership in particular,
should guard themselves against allowing too many concessions from external
imperialist sources. All the policies that govern South African existence need
to be representative of the majority of the countries inhabitants, not a select
minority who hold monopoly of institutions by force and manipulation.
“We are what we are
because the God of Africa made us so. We dare not compromise, nor dare we use
moderate language in the course of our freedom. Africa will not retreat! Africa
will not compromise! Africa will not relent! Africa will not equivocate! And
she will be heard! Remember Africa!”[49]
Foot Notes
[1] “How Can Man Die Better: The Life of Robert Sobukwe: Sobukwe and Apartheid”, Benjamin Pogrund, Jonathan Ball Publishers, 2006
[2]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Sobukwe
[3]“Fort Hare University Opening Address 21 October 1949”,Robert Sobukwe, http://www.sahistory.org.za/archive/robert-sobukwe-speech-university-fort-hare-president-students%E2%80%99-representative-council-21-oct
[4]“The PAC Case”(1959)Robert Sobukwe,Norman Bethune Institute, 1976, pg 12
[5]Ibid.pg 13 and 14
[6]“Time for Azania” (1976) Historical Papers, The Library, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2001
[7]Opcit.“The PAC Case” (1959), Robert Sobukwe,pg 10
[8]Ibid.
[10]Opcit.“Time for Azania” (1976) Historical Papers
[11]Opcit.“Time for Azania” (1976) Historical Papers
[12]Ibid.
[13]Ibid.
[14]Ibid.
[15]Ibid.
[16]Ibid.
[17]Opcit.“The PAC Case” (1959), Robert Sobukwe,
[18]Ibid.
[19]Ibid.
[20]Ibid. pg 12
[21] Opcit, “The PAC Case”(1959)Robert Sobukwe, pg 11
[22]Ibid.
[23] “Insight: Anarchy is ANC fallback” Bantu Holomisa, http://www.dispatch.co.za/insight-anarchy-is-anc-fallback/, 2013
[24] “Capitalism and cheap labour-power in South Africa: from segregation to apartheid” Harold Wolpe, Economy and Society 1(4), 1972, pgs 425 - 456
[26] “Guideline Document for Higher Density Residential Development,” Metropolitan Town and Regional Planners, Housing Department Ekhuruleni Metropolitan Municipality, 2005
[27] “Inmate Gender and Racial Composition as on the last day of 2011/02” http://www.dcs.gov.za/WebStatisics/inmate-gen.aspx
[28] “Social inequality and high food costs leave millions hungry,” Renata Galavo, The Food Bank South Africa© The Big Issue SA, April 10, 2012 http://www.gigissue.org.za/news/social-inequality-and-high-food-costs-leave-millions-hungry
[29] “South Africa: Black graduates quadruple in two decades,“ Sharon Dell, University World News, Issue No. 70, 30 January 2011 http://www.universityworldnews.com/article.php?story=20110128230457673
[30]Opcit. “Time for Azania” (1976) Historical Papers
[32] “Unequal Schools; Unequal Outcomes” Youth Group Fact Sheet 1 2011 www.equaleducation.org.za/.../Fact%20Sheet%201_Unequal%
[33].“The PAC Case” (1959), Robert Sobukwe,pg 11
[34]Ibid.pg 12
[35]Opcit.“Fort Hare University Opening Address 21 October 1949”,Robert Sobukwe,
[36]Ibid.
[37]Opcit.“Time for Azania” (1976) Historical Papers
[38]Ibid.
[39]Ibid.pg 13
[40].“Time for Azania” (1976) Historical Papers
[41] Opcit. “Inaugural Speech of PAC Opening April 1959”,Robert Sobukwe
[42] Opcit. “Time for Azania” (1976) Historical Papers
[43]Ibid.
[44]Opcit“Fort Hare University Opening Address 21 October 1949”,Robert Sobukwe,
[46].“Time for Azania” (1976) Historical Papers
[47]Ibid.
[48] Opcit, “I Write What I Like” Steve Biko
[49]Opcit.“Fort Hare University Opening Address 21 October 1949”,Robert Sobukwe,
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