South African politicians have discovered the miraculous powers of context, which heals even terminal cases of foot-in-mouth syndrome.
Whenever a politician is caught with his designer shoes wedged deep down his throat, the public is presented with the miracle cure: he or she was ‘quoted out of contextâ€. The pain inflicted on the hapless politicians disappears and they are revealed, like the oven chips in the TV ad, as having ‘goodness in” them.
The nature of the missing context, however, usually remains shrouded in mystery.
Just last week Cosatu secretary general Zwelinzima Vavi was forced to explain his statement to a funeral crowd that ‘Jacob Zuma is one of us, and he is one of our leaders, for him, we are prepared to lay down our lives†and to ‘shoot and kill†for him.
Trying to clarify the comment, he said he had been quoted out of context.
His words echoed those of ANC Youth League (ANCYL) leader Julius Malema, who told a Youth Day rally earlier this month: ‘We are prepared to die for Zuma, we are prepared to take up arms and kill for Zuma.â€
The correct context in this case, he said later, would have shown him to mean he was prepared to ‘pay the highest price†if Zuma did not become president.
Also in the same week Labour Minister Membathisi Mdladlana had to defend himself against charges that his comments on the court judgement that recognised Chinese South Africans as black in terms of the equity Acts were racist. He had said: ‘They can speak Chinese, of course, in their homes. I have absolutely no difficulty with that. But when we visit them, they must also remember that they are now coloureds. What I know is that coloureds don’t speak Chinese.â€
In Parliament on Wednesday, he said: ‘There has been much comment and, with respect, also distortion of facts and legal issues surrounding the application made by the Chinese Association of South Africa against this ministry.†He added: ‘I am not a racist, I have never been a racist and I never will be a racist.â€
Some are sceptical. Professor of journalism at Wits University, Anton Harber, said: ‘Being quoted out of context usually means that the person is quoted in a context they don’t want to be quoted in.â€
Guy Berger, professor of journalism at Rhodes University, said there is no distinct science in knowing whether a statement has been quoted out of context or not.
He said: ‘Context also includes mood. The same thing can be said at both a church and a rally and depending on the frame of mind of the crowd, the context of that statement may change.â€
Over the years there have been many examples:
- Former-ANCYL president Fikile Mbalula said last year one could be forgiven for thinking one was in Mumbai when visiting the campus of the University of KwaZulu-Natal’s Durban Westville campus. When the remarks were called racist, he said: ‘It’s a non-issue. It’s just that it’s blown out of context to peddle on racist undertones.â€
- Nine years ago the then new premier of Mpumalanga, Ndaweni Mahlangu, was cited endorsing Bill Clinton’s lies about his affair with Monica Lewinsky. He said that ‘lying wasn’t the end of Bill Clinton’s life and I personally don’t find it to be a very bad thing’.’
- Confronted with a storm of criticism, the ANC said his remarks were taken out of context. Mahlangu himself later said he had been joking.
- In an interview with The Guardian newspaper in December 2002 Health Minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang allegedly said South Africa did not have enough money for antiretrovirals because the country needed the money to buy submarines. ‘We don’t have the money. Where would it come from?†she was quoted saying. Afterwards, she said the statement had ‘obviously†been taken out of context.
- South African President Thabo Mbeki, on a visit to Zimbabwe in March this year, said there was ‘no crisis†in Zimbabwe. He later said the words were taken out of context and he had meant that there was no electoral crisis. Others pointed out an additional context: the opposition’s claims that 30 of its supporters had been killed in election violence.