I was always ashamed of myself for never having seen the film, Amandla!: A Revolution in Four-Part Harmony.
Fortunately it was one of the films I watched last weekend at a friend’s place. It’s about the role that music played for freedom fighters, political activists and all black South Africans during the almost 50 years of apartheid.
Watching it in South Africa 2011, I had goose bumps from beginning to end as frame after frame delivered frightening but astonishing sounds and images of our recent history, revealing how unbelievably offensive life was in this country.
Among the heated conversations that followed, one was about the history and the legacy of the ANC.
The film reminded me how indispensable the ANC was in ensuring a democratic South Africa, how the ethos and ideals of the party were worth suffering for and how important good leadership and a significant cause are to a nation. ‘Who else can black people vote for if not for the ANC?” somebody asked. ‘Things are the way they are because of the ANC.”
On one hand she’s right — I am a beneficiary of the ANC’s years of toil and labour. On the other hand, one can argue that the high crime rate, the screwed-up education system, the ailing health system and the breakdown in the civil service are all that way precisely because the ANC is in power.
I used to defend the ruling party when opponents vilified its progress; I would silence most critics by blaming all of South Africa’s problems on apartheid.
To an extent it’s true that most of our socioeconomic issues stem from apartheid’s legacy of inequality but 17 years into the ANC’s leadership it’s really difficult to use that argument and win.
One can’t drive through any town in this country without noticing the definitive theme at the core of our disharmony — segregation.
Whether you’re in Nieu- Bethesda, Johannesburg, Uniondale or St Lucia, there is still a stark difference and separation between the clean white-occupied suburbs and the dirty black-occupied townships.
Why is this still the case when blacks rule the country? It’s difficult to believe in today’s ANC when you listen to President Jacob Zuma’s fact-free hot-air speeches about what the ANC still plans to do.
The ANC might have done immeasurable deeds to ensure freedom for black people but there isn’t much to celebrate about the kind of party it has become, especially in the past three years.
Watching that film led me to ask some important questions. Do I as a black South African relinquish my ideological ties to the party that, for the most part, is the most representative of South Africa’s collective hopes?
Or is the onus on me to ensure that the ANC becomes the party that it started out as? Come the 2014 national elections, what will people facing a similar conundrum actually do?