The DA’s judgement has been handed down on Helen Zille,
muzzling her from any party related communications in future. She said that colonialism wasn’t all bad. Her tweet was insensitive but true,
the backlash furious and nonsensical. Why? I blame black guilt, which I
understand very well, because I’m white.
The Old Way
‘I grew up in
Rhodesia,’ I said out loud recently, whilst taking a walk with my son (he’s 35,
I’m 69).
His face soured.
‘Why do you have
to say that? Why can’t you say Zimbabwe?’
‘Because they’re
not the same thing. Rhodesia was different to Zimbabwe. I never lived in
Zimbabwe. Rhodesia is where I grew up.’
There was a tense
silence.
‘Why do I still
identify with Rhodesia?’ I wondered. ‘Why do I hold onto some old imperialist
identity? Is there really a difference, and is that difference important enough
to insist on, out loud, in the face of all the damage colonialism has done?’
Rhodesia and
colonialism were wrong. Agreed. But why not talk about them? In fact, in a
country reeling from a poverty crisis that is only escalating, and will tear
this nation apart if something meaningful is not done (and soon), how can we
not talk about them?
Because
Colonialism is not over, not by a long shot. That ‘wrong’ history is repeating
itself.
The New Colonialism
Colonialism has
been on the go since 1415. The nations of Europe, with their armies and the
cross of Jesus at the fore, have conducted a vicious assault on ‘non-whites’
everywhere with the stated goal of promoting Christianity and Capitalism, while
hauling back to Europe all of value. The various independencies of previous
colonial territories would seem to have been the end of that process, but they
were not.
Colonialism is
still alive and well, except now we call it ‘globalisation’, ‘free trade’, etc.
Today, instead of
the European nations of old, the drivers of colonialism are the massive
corporations and bankers. There are new owners of the world’s capital. They
define which currencies are worth what and they own the banking system, armies
and armaments. They have taken over ownership of the government from the people
and their goal is singular – maximum profit.
They are
headquartered wherever the taxes are best but mainly in the US and Europe. In
their operational areas, such as Africa, they employ through corruption and
bribery a new class of manager – the local African who wields the power of the
vote.
Mostly they’re
Black Africans, men and women who substituted their socialism and people
advancement dreams for wealth and cover-page status - exactly how we whites
controlled the population in Rhodesia, until they rose up and bit us.
Freedom?
In 2007 there were
6,200 black millionaires in South Africa. 14,700 in 2014, and as late as 2015
over 17,000. [i] The
new black middle class has more than trebled over the past 12 years to 5.81
million, completely overshadowing the fast declining white middle class, now
estimated at about 2.5 million.[ii]
How much the South
African middle class earn is difficult to work out. Standard Bank reports the
‘low emerging middle’ class annual salaries start from R51,000, the ‘emerging
middle’ starts at R111,000, and the ‘realised middle’ range from R240,000 to
over R380,000.[iii]
And there is the
growth in government and city and municipal council employment of mostly non-whites.
Government employment, as at 2014, has jumped to 2.7 million employees.[iv] The
assumption has to be made that the government (and compliant city and municipal
councils) is committed to at least the minimum wage for every single one of
those employees.
University of Cape
Town marketing professor John Simpson is quoted as saying ‘the black middle
class is keeping the economy alive …’ Well with those salaries it would be the
driver, but it isn’t necessarily a mark of prosperity for South Africa. Most of
South Africa’s big exports are raw resources sent overseas to have value added
to them. It is a process that has been followed since Rhodes’ time. The little
exports of finished goods South Africa does manage is of small consumer type
items such as food stuff, and it all goes to her poor(er) neighbours.
This means South
Africa’s new emerging middle class is not adding value. Instead it’s buying and
selling houses, cars, insurance, food, eating in franchised restaurants and generally
creating debt, the mainstay of the Corporacy and its banks.
In 2010, 16 years
after the ANC adopted the White Nationalist Party’s Capitalist principles by
which to run the country, the average income for South Africa’s Black folk was
R10,000 per year.[v] Some
60% of South Africans, 99% of them non-white, still live under poverty
conditions, scratching away a living in informal settlements and the old
homelands.
At the same time
there has been a surge upwards as hundreds of men and women who twenty years
ago promoted themselves as liberators have embraced the Greed system and become
rich beyond dreams – Ramaphosa, Gordhan, Sexale, Motsepe[vi],
Mbete[vii],
Trevor Manuel[viii]
and wife[ix],
billionaire Mbeki, Mboweni[x] … the list rolls on.
There doesn’t seem
to be much trickle down to the ordinary folk. To me South Africa seems just
like the old Rhodesia, with the few living off the backs of the many.
Through The Looking Glass
Surely it would be
both logical and reasonable to argue South Africa’s horrible inequality world
record is, in the main, now black driven? Aren’t the new elite treating their
own kind as objects out of which to make money in exactly the same way as
Imperial Britain treated South Africa?
Is it not logical to
point a finger and say the ANC-led government are the new colonists by
behaviour and employment of capitalism and religion?
Why didn’t the
President forget all the colonial bull, cut out the mythological and announce
he and his government are going to stop corruption? The talk is that corruption
has cost South Africa R700 billion, and I’m guessing that does not include all
the contracts to mates to do what they quite clearly cannot do.
What isn’t falling
apart? Water is, electricity, health,[xi]
schooling, railways, harbours, airways are.
‘Why is Africa, a
continent blessed abundantly with natural resources and excessive value of
human capital, yet to find its rightful place in world politics? Africa is very
rich with natural possessions such as fertile soil, enough rain and sunshine
for cultivation, raw materials, oil, gas, gold and many other major resources,
but corruption and bad governances are the major reasons for the visible
miserable poverty, unmanageable sufferings and deaths on the continent’ is the
statement of Front Page Africa.[xii]
Africa is yet to
find its rightful place because the old system of Colonialism is still active,
now driven by the continent’s current leaders.
I see a mirror of
the privileged society I grew up in. Capitalism is not freedom, but continued
slavery, colonial style.
We Must Act
The 23 year old
ANC government can play a huge role
in the growth and development of South Africa.
It has a by ‘no
means insignificant role of state capital in the South African economy – owning
and controlling approximately 30% of the economy in highly strategic sectors
such as state banking, information technology, energy, transport, aerospace and
the weapons industry, communication, among others. In addition the state owns
about 25% of land, and has an array of regulatory and administrative apparatus
to influence the behaviour of capital. There is also the question of pension
funds and union investment funds, which currently play and could be geared to
play an even more strategic role in the economy’ wrote Mcebisi Jonas just last
week. [xiii]
And Jonas asks,
‘so what are the implications of this understanding for growth and
transformation?’
Inequality has a
lot to do with the failure, but to continue tagging the white 8% and the once
white-only colonialism isn’t cutting any cheese anymore.
‘Africans make up
77% of public sector employment compared with 66% in the private sector … In
terms of the skills profile, the public sector is more skills intensive. Almost
45% of all public sector employees fall into the top three occupational
categories, compared to 26% in the private sector.’[xiv]
The ANC and its
MPs are not representative of the nation or of the 80% blacks – it was voted in
as a party and is a party having a party with an overpaid Head of State. And
worst of all, those who are meant to be really representing the workers, the
major union bodies, are in it.[xv]
‘We need a
paradigm shift, underpinned by a new consensus,’ explains Jonas, ‘a new bargain
around which the state, business, labour and civil society can cohere – to move
us out of our low growth and high inequality trap. We must not be naïve and
think this will be easy to achieve.’
Capitalism, far
from going away, is going to become leaner and meaner. Unless we begin to act
in a moral way that is inclusive of all, fewer and fewer families are going to
become richer and more in control. As we have seen with the Gupta reveleations,
those with power will manipulate those what want it.
There is no
democracy in Western Capitalism, ‘Corporations now govern society.’[xvi]
A New Way
And there is
another way. How about the Emergent Asian Capitalism of strong leadership
inducing Shared Capitalism?[xvii]
The new China not
only pulled hundreds of millions of peasants out of poverty but empowered them.
Their railways and etc. work. Last week they launched the ‘one road one belt’
initiative, [xviii]
a program that will possibly enable half of the world. And they are going to
mine the moon.[xix]
The system can be
changed without taking away the good points of Capitalism, creating something
along the lines of Asian shared Capitalism which, by the way, has for a long
time had significant Western investments. US and European banks and funds have
taken major shareholder positions in almost all Chinese firms of reasonable
size.
To borrow from
Rian Malan: ‘We should rather follow the truly revolutionary path of Deng Tsaio
Ping, who set forth in 1978 to “seek truth from facts” and deliver Communist
China from its misery and backwardness.’
And with their
brand of Capitalism they have and are doing it much better - to the anger of
the quite unreformed colonists of Europe and the US.[xx]
Desperately needed
in South Africa is a new system led by leaders who can take the country forward
beyond the legacy of Greed Capitalism.
The current system demands profit that comes at the expense of the
national reserve. The current system has become so profit driven, so full of
dogma and impossible promises, it is a religion. It has to go and along with it
all those who manipulate it to their own end, all these new colonial masters.
History Repeats Itself
‘Sometimes people
hold a core belief that is very strong. When they are presented with evidence
that works against that belief, the new evidence cannot be accepted. It would
create a feeling that is extremely uncomfortable, called cognitive dissonance.
And because it is so important to protect the core belief, they will
rationalize, ignore and even deny anything that doesn't fit in with the core
belief,’ said Frantz Fanon.[xxi]
I grew up in
Rhodesia. The British history I learnt from Grade 3 to university entrance
level taught me emphatically blacks were savages tamed by Colonial Christian
Capitalists – it was that simple. I believed all the memes of the time, memes
that declared unless we white Rhodesians ran the show it would collapse.
Like South Africa Rhodesia
was a White Nationalist Socialist State which, as the title infers, meant I and
roughly 200,000 other whites had all privilege while the non-whites
suffered. Most non-whites lived on
starvation diets in Trust Lands, were deprived of a reasonable education and
getting a job as a servant was to win a prize.
I knew nothing of
the duplicity and theft of colonialism until I joined the government as a
trainee administration officer. It took another 10 years of self-study to
change my mindset, to begin to undo my biases and irrational ideas. I came to
learn of alternates like the amazing community way – the support of the
extended family - of the Bantu, a way us Europeans (now white South Africans)
had dumped some 400 years before as we were forced from our bonded societies
into the process of the Industrial Revolution.
I understand that
Rhodesia was a flawed place, a place that should not be allowed to exist again.
But it does, here.
Mugabe, his
cabinet, generals, his inner circle and provincial land-lords have replaced
Smith, his cabinet, generals, his inner circle and provincial land-lords. The
only difference is numbers. Perhaps 10 or 20% of Mugabe’s 16 million
Zimbabweans live the good life, where under Smith only 200,000 of us did.
History is repeating
itself. Unless we get over public posturing, learn from the past, and demand
real change. To forget the lesson of Rhodesia is foolish, and so it is to miss
the real intent in Zille’s tweet, even if it was insensitive.
Her tweet was one
in a series of reflections on her trip to Singapore where she saw a society
taking the best of its past and building on it (I don’t agree though, I think
Singapore is benefitting from the Chinese in the same old Colonial way).
Zille herself is
not a leader associated with corruption. She has no legal charges against her
of any kind. No lying, no extortion, no bribery, rape, theft, duplicity. If
anything her crime is she is too honest and too white, qualities that it seems
do not benefit a politician.
South Africa should
be talking about the continued failure of the government to uplift their
people, to move on from Colonialism.
South Africa
should be pulling the problem out at the root. Our problem is not racism, it’s
the quest for personal profit and personal gain at the expense of the whole.
History repeats
itself, until we learn from it.
[i] https://businesstech.co.za/news/wealth/121059/black-vs-white-millionaires-in-south-africa
[ii] https://businesstech.co.za/news/business/134749/black-vs-white-middle-class-in-south-africa/
[iii] https://businesstech.co.za/news/banking/176369/how-much-south-africas-rich-have-suffered-since-2011/
[iv] https://theconversation.com/south-africas-civil-servants-are-the-countrys-new-labour-elite-54269
[v] http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2013/12/06
[vi] ‘Motsepe initially built much of his fortune on his own and has
never been directly involved in politics, but he does have senior contacts in
the ANC.’ … http://www.fin24.com/Companies/Ex-freedom-fighters-get-rich
[vii] ‘… Baleka Mbete, and many others in the leadership of the ANC are
part of the rapacious mining elite that suck the blood and sweat of helpless,
defenceless workers for self-gratification’ … http://www.iol.co.za/sundayindependent/who-are-the-real-freedom-fighters
[viii] Remember he ‘retired from active politics in 2014 and shortly
thereafter made headlines when he became a senior adviser and deputy chairman
to the Rothschild group of companies.’ … http://citizen.co.za/news/news-national/1320364/listen-dont-fing-bother-manuel-says/
[ix] ‘Maria Ramos is the Chief Executive Officer of Barclays Africa
Group Limited. Prior to joining Absa as Group Chief Executive in March 2009,
she was the Group Chief Executive of Transnet Ltd.’ Wikipedia.
A British bank with mostly British
shareholders drawing money from South Africa, Barclays Banks’ association goes
back to 1902. Its philosophy was enable British manufacturers do business in
the colonies (European Banks and the Rise of International Finance: The
post-Bretton Woods era
by Carlo Edoardo Altamura), there has
been little change until very recently; ‘Barclays Group has made firm its
intention to sell its 62.3% stake in Barclays Africa Group (formerly Absa).’ … www.fin24.com/companies/.../barclays-makes-firm-intention-to-sell-absa
[x]
relationshipscience.com/mboweni-brothers-investment-holdings-pty-ltd … Mboweni
Brothers Investment Holdings (Pty) Ltd is a South African private company that
provides investment services.
[xi] Latest report … this week … ‘The biggest underachievers … in
Africa … it was Botswana, South Africa
and Lesotho.’ https://medicalxpress.com/news/2017-05-countries-healthcare.html?
[xii] http://www.frontpageafricaonline.com/index.php/op-ed/2991-the-curse-of-bad-governances-and-rampant-corruption-in-africa
[xiii] http://city-press.news24.com/Voices/moving-sa-out-of-its-low-growth-and-high-inequality-trap-20170219
[xiv] https://theconversation.com/south-africas-civil-servants-are-the-countrys-new-labour-elite-54269
[xv] ‘Another feature of the public sector labour market is the
relatively higher rate of unionisation, which is often associated with a wage
premium. Union members made up almost 70% (1.4 million workers) of all public
sector’s formal workers in 2014, up from 55% in 1997 (834,000 workers).’ See https://theconversation.com/south-africas-civil-servants-are-the-countrys-new-labour-elite-54269
[xvi] The Corporation by Joel Bakan
[xvii] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CiBdChog68Y
[xviii] http://www.mckinsey.com/industries/capital-projects-and-infrastructure/our-insights/one-belt-and-one-road-connecting-china-and-the-world
[xix] www.pbs.org/newshour/making-sense/china-wants-to-mine-the-moon-for-space-gold/
[xx] ‘What’s in a gold medal’ by Douglas Schorr
[xxi] ’Frantz Omar Fanon was a Martinique born Afro-Caribbean
psychiatrist, philosopher, revolutionary, and writer whose works are
influential in the fields of post-colonial studies, critical theory, and
Marxism.’ Wikipedia