While I agree with Malegapuru Makgoba’s view of spoiling by some white men and women (“Wrath of dethroned white males”, March 24), I find his solution — the “imitation” of the new dominant Africans by the subordinate whites — problematic and dangerous.
Unlike baboons, humans study historical records to learn. Ours shows that once upon a time a group of self-assured whites landed on our shores, conquered the indigenous people and declared themselves masters for eternity. The same record shows that the indigenous people regrouped and fought a number of battles until they regained power in 1994. We cannot afford to repeat the scourge of conquest and domination bedevilling the less reflective baboons and bonobos. After all, those whom we master today may, as we did, be impelled to regroup and resist our imperious conduct.
Unlike baboons, the good end of human life is not “mere” physical survival and domination, but the realisation of our rational principle. Human irrationality can be, and is, amenable to the power of reason and self-mastery so that our natural bias towards inferior sensual gratifications is controllable. It is the rational and moral duty of the now powerful African elite to find termination to the endless human history of conquest, domination and enforced mimicry.
I value Makgoba’s Africanist approach in so far as it helps the previously oppressed to debunk and impugn colonial and apartheid processes of domination and instances of continuing hegemony, but I find it unhelpful in providing us with a way out of the historical impasse created by antiquarian philosophies based on the domination of the “other”.
The lessons of the past 10 years, the insights provided by the disaster in Zimbabwe and the realities of a globalising world teach us that, as we build our democratic state, we should explore inclusive and non-threatening options. We need a polyphony of voices and mutuality of cultures and perspectives.
The new cultural and political identity we need to create has no room for hierarchies and domineering tendencies. While it is important for Dan Roodt (“You can’t have your banana and eat it”, April 1) and Robert Morrell (“White, male, democrat, African,” April 1) to learn to dance like Lebo Mathosa, it is equally important for Makgoba and myself to learn how to manage our institutions efficiently and how to go about the process of wealth-creation for the betterment of our people. What I find exciting is that our Constitution makes the imperative of mutuality possible. We have, since 1994, inherited a political philosophy of equality and diversity that we must protect jealously.
As Robert Mugabe has shown, it is easy for an all-powerful leader to extend the domination of the erstwhile colonialist into the oppression of fellow Africans, thus leaving no space for independent thought and expression. A culture of domination is self-perpetuating and requires the presence of the “other” to dominate, whether the “other” is white or African.
As the African elite, we have been entrusted with power, which we must exercise in a non-threatening manner for the common good. To exercise power in a gentler style is not “subservience”. It is an expression of unassuming self-confidence and comfort with one’s convictions and humanness. The challenge thrust on us by the responsibilities that come with power is to use it differently from those who once oppressed us.
Professor Marcus Ramogale is deputy vice-chancellor (academic affairs and research) of the University of Venda