Sipho Seepe
no blows barred
It is unfortunate that the 11 black signatories of the advert in the Sunday Times preferred to attribute President Thabo Mbeki’s unimpressive record as a president to right-wing conspiracy in the media.
While the signatories argue that the media is on a campaign to discredit blacks in powerful positions, they present these blacks as hapless victims of the triumphant white media.
The thrust of the advert places blacks in the pathetic position of beggars for representation of their views in the white media. Black people are thus reduced to mere objects that are acted upon. What should rather happen is that black people become the subjects of their own history.
An examination of the political context, the timing and silences in the advert, reveals a combination of political mischief, dishonesty and intellectual naivety. Furthermore, we should not discount the signatories’ economic self-interest, especially if one considers the current political and economic arrangements in which individuals are generously rewarded for sheepishly ingratiating themselves to the powers that be. For his part, Mbeki was quick to acknowledge his appreciation.
To reduce criticisms of the government to right-wing and anti-democratic forces is insulting to black organisations, institutions and respected individuals that find Mbeki wanting in various aspects. If truth be told, the harshest criticism on economic, political and moral fronts has come from black people themselves.
It is a matter of record that both the Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) and the South African Communist Party have consistently blamed the current massive job losses, increasing poverty and weakening economic growth on the government’s macro-economic policy. When opposition mounted against the introduction of the growth, employment and redistribution strategy (Gear), it was the triumphant Mbeki who accused delegates at a South African Democratic Teachers’ Union (Sadtu) Congress of wanting to be “seen as the greatest pretenders to the title of representative of the revolutionary agenda and militant opponents of Gear”.
The SACP was not spared the wrath of the president for opposing Gear. An overconfident Mbeki castigated the 10th Congress of the SACP for spreading falsifications about the African National Congress, suggesting that if the party is of the view that “the ANC is set on a reactionary path of development, it is better that this is stated openly and substantiated with objective arguments”.
Ironically, it is not the representatives of the millions of the working class that showered Mbeki with praise for adopting Gear. Rather, he was praised by the so-called right-wing press and Western capitalists for committing South Africa to becoming part of the global marketplace and resisting the temptation to succumb to short-term gains by playing to a generally poor and impatient black electorate. Incidentally, if the signatories’ thesis was correct, this would show Mbeki to be a hapless victim of white interests.
Cosatu and the SACP joined a chorus of the local and international medical fraternity in the condemnation of Mbeki’s stance on HIV/Aids. In a scathing attack on the president, Cosatu argued that the government’s unwillingness to provide anti-retroviral drugs, particularly to prevent mother-to-child transmission of HIV, and the denial of treatment for the millions of victims is tantamount to condemning HIV/Aids patients to an early death. Denouncing Mbeki, the trade unions indicated that the “current public debate on the causal link between HIV and Aids is confusing. For Cosatu, the link between HIV and Aids is irrefutable, and any other approach is unscientific and, unfortunately, likely to confuse people.”
Joining a cautious Nelson Mandela, South Africa’s eminent immunologist Professor Malegapuru Makgoba warned that “politicians cannot become scientists by learning through the Internet, and one cannot replace the training and experience gathered over many years of learning and practice at the bench by surfing the Net overnight”. Ironically, the majority of dissidents in support of Mbeki are neither black nor African.
If whites are to be accused, it is for questioning Mbeki’s intellectual standing. This followed his tendency to either misquote or to use quotes inappropriately. His impertinence into venturing into intellectual terrain has only served to expose the paucity of his intellect. One glaring example being his bold declaration before Parliament that “a virus cannot cause a syndrome”.
The challenge to Mbeki’s intellectual standing coincides ironically with his consistent attacks on black intellectuals. He has accused them of being an embarrassment to the black community; that they do not read and/or some of them are no better than the branch leaders of his organisation. This is interesting as it comes from someone who is seen as having surrounded himself with academically challenged and intellectually frail individuals.
It is interesting to note that the support of Mbeki comes shortly after the fictitious “plot”. Instead of reinforcing Mbeki’s political standing, the allegations revealed a disturbing picture of someone who will use dubious methods to cling to power. It seems to escape the signatories that Steve Tshwete’s plot allegations and Mbeki’s eccentric views and obsession with power have portrayed “the country and its leaders in the most negative manner possible”.
If followed to its logical conclusion, the advert suggests that the critical stance adopted by predominantly black organisations like Cosatu and Sadtu and black commentators is a direct influence of the white racists who are leftovers of the apartheid era. Nothing could be more insulting to black people.
The uncritical endorsement of Mbeki while remaining deafeningly silent on his problematic positions on HIV/Aids, his attacks on black intellectuals and his turning a blind eye to incompetence reflects political dishonesty and moral bankruptcy. As long as blacks continue to be duped by a desperate and vulgar appeal to racial victimisation, they will continue to rally around leaders who preside over disastrous political decisions.
Moral and logical reasoning is required if we are to liberate ourselves from the racial guilt of opposing morally dubious black leadership. Such an approach will lead to “a framework that encourages moral assessment of a variety of the perspectives held by black people and selects those views based on black dignity and decency that eschew putting any group of people or culture on a pedestal or in the gutter. Instead of a closing-ranks mentality, a prophetic framework encourages a coalition strategy that solicits genuine solidarity with those deeply committed to anti-racist struggle” (Cornel West on The Pitfalls of Racial Reasoning).