or new Randlords?
Pallo Jordan: CROSSFIRE
The commencement of the 20th century came at the height of what historians call the Age of Imperialism and in the midst of the Anglo-Boer War, a war between two colonising power structures to determine which of them would design modern South Africa. Sixteen years earlier, in 1884, Africa had been shared out among the powers of Europe. By 1900, with the exceptions of Ethiopia and Liberia, no African country enjoyed sovereignty.
In the islands of the Caribbean and the Antilles, apart from Haiti, the peoples of the African diaspora too were subject to colonial rule. In North and South America, African Americans were the objects of a regime of the grossest forms of racial discrimination, exclusion and oppression.
The last independent African kingdom in South Africa, Venda, was annexed by Paul Kruger in 1898. That same year a group of distinguished Africans from the continent and the diaspora gathered for the first Pan African conference in Paris, to give voice to the aspirations of the African peoples.
Consequently, one of the leitmotifs of 20th- century history has been the struggle of the African people for the restoration of their most basic human rights, dignity and sovereignty. The instrument our people forged to wage that struggle was a movement founded on January 8 1912.
The history of the struggle embodies the striving by hundreds of South Africans to build a movement for democracy and non- racialism in a society dominated by a white autocracy. They moulded the movement into an association inspired by the ideal of human solidarity. It became an inclusive fellowship that drew together people of various religions and beliefs driven by the certainty that South Africa and its people deserved better.
They were convinced that no matter how powerful the oppressive regime was, it could not last forever, and that its demise would be hastened by the concerted, united action of all those who suffered under its yoke. They had no assurance, other than their own conviction and determination, what the outcome of their struggle would be.
In their endeavour to cope with new and unforeseen issues, they learned how to fuse the experience of their country and struggle with that of others. They succeeded in building the most powerful and pervasive national democratic movement in South Africa.
This movement bears the distinction of being among the oldest in the world. It was the pioneer movement in sub-Saharan Africa from which a host of sister movements in Southern and East Africa drew inspiration.
Because of the intensity with which South Africa’s previous rulers pursued racial domination and oppression, this country was destined to become the site of the most protracted struggle for African freedom. The African National Congress thus became the last movement to achieve success.
As the second millennium draws to a close, bringing to an end a century of struggle against oppression by the peoples of Africa, the liberation of South Africa is rightly regarded by all Africa and peoples of African descent as their collective achievement.
It is only the wilfully blind who can’t see that South Africa today has an infinitely better government than at any previous time this century; that the overwhelming majority of our people for the first time in decades are filled with hope; that the economy of our country is on the mend after decades of mismanagement in the pursuance of the hare- brained schemes of white supremacists; that South Africa now takes its rightful place in the councils of the continent and the world.
But South Africa still has to be transformed into a truly democratic, non-racial, non- sexist society.
South African democrats of various political hues struggled to nurse the tender seedling of democracy, non-racism, non-sexism and civil liberties in an extremely hostile environment. Surrounded by robust weeds of racial hatred, political persecution and repression, that young plant survived and is now the law of the land because its roots are embedded in enduring, universal principles.
The imperatives of nation-building have persuaded many that our country should also adhere to the second generation of human rights, arising from the experience of the industrial revolution and the emergence of a predominantly urban society. These rights empower the citizen by defining the limits and obligations of the government, and increasing his capacity to cope with the complexities of life in the modern era.
Building a united nation requires that we bridge the gulf between rich and poor, which in the South Africa translates into white and black. Those who read a socialist agenda into these aims would do well to remember that even an arch-Tory like Benjamin Disraeli decried the disparities that divided his country into two nations, one rich, the other poor.
Not surprisingly, the profile of the emergent black bourgeoisie excites comment. The visibility of these families should, however, not deceive anyone. They number far, far fewer than their white counterparts. The vast majority of blacks remain working people in the cities or on the land.
Ironically, it’s the historically white political parties who appear to appreciate most acutely the role the black bourgeoisie could play in the country’s future despite its puny numbers. Betraying their anxiety that black talent could challenge whites’ dominant position in the civil service and economy, National Party, Democratic Party and Freedom Front MPs fulminate against affirmative action. They are greeted by a remarkable consensus among the ANC, Inkatha Freedom Party and Pan Africanist Congress, their differences notwithstanding.
Though small, South Africa’s rising black elite could set the tone for the rest of society. But who will be its role model? Should it be the “Randlords”, renowned for their reckless wheeling and dealing in which dog ate dog and it was the first bite that counted? Should it be the ethnic mobilisers of the Broederbond who initiated the creation of Volkskas, Sanlam and Gencor and bankrolled the NP? Should it be the post- 1948 Anglo business elite who privately whispered their loathing of apartheid and voted for the United Party, while quietly co-operating with the NP?
Descended as they are from the ranks of the most oppressed, exploited and marginalised in our society, we have every right to expect a higher morality than the size of its share portfolios from the black bourgeoisie.
History offers it a rare opportunity to set a new agenda of corporate social and civic responsiblity. South Africa’s future depends on policies that will tap all our country’s human and material resources. By lending its energies to that transformative task, the black bourgeoisie can pose an alternative vision of the future to that coming from the boardrooms at Anglo American and Gencor. It will earn the respect of the black community by so doing.
Two years hence we enter the third millennium AD. We have arrived at a moment when, for the first time in more than three centuries, the political sovereignty of the peoples of Africa is not under threat.
South Africa today stands at the threshold of a new epoch that will demand the same degree of dedication, skill and courage as the struggle for democracy.