In
the midst of the political confusion that has gripped our country many people
are wondering if we have come to the end of South Africa.
The answer is simple: the
thing called an "end" does not exist, not in relation to a country. SA will be there long after Jacob Zuma is gone.
What Zuma has done is to make
us come to the realisation that ours is just another African country, not some
exceptional country on the southern tip of the African continent.
During the presidency of
Nelson Mandela and Thabo Mbeki, some among us used to believe that the black
people of SA are better than those of other African countries.
We must all thank Zuma for
revealing our true African character; that the idea of rule of law is not part
of who we are, and that constitutionalism is a concept far ahead of us as a
people.
How else are we to explain
the thousands of people who flock to stadiums to clap hands for a president who
has violated their country's constitution? Such people have no idea of
constitutionalism.
Now that we have reclaimed our place as
another African country, we must reflect on and come to terms with our real
character, and imagine what our future portends.
In a typical African country, ordinary
people don't expect much of politicians, because people get tired of repeated empty promises.
In a typical African country, people have
no illusions about the unity of morality and governance. People know that those
who have power have it for themselves and their friends and families.
The idea that the state is an instrument
for people's development is a Western concept, and has been copied by pockets of Asian countries.
Africans and their leaders don't like to
copy from the West. They are happy to remain African, and do things "the
African way".
The African way is rule by kings, chiefs
and indunas in a setting of unwritten rules. Is there anyone who has seen a book of African customary laws?
The idea that a commoner can raise
questions about public money spent on the residence of a king is not African.
The ANC MPs who have been defending Zuma are true Africans.
Asking a ruler to be accountable is a
foreign - Western - idea. In a situation where there is conflict between a ruler and laws, Africans simply
change the laws to protect the ruler. This is why no single white person has
called for King Dalindyebo to be released from jail.
The problem with clever blacks is that
they think they live in Europe, where ideas of democracy have been refined over centuries.
What we need to do is to come back to
reality, and accept that ours is a typical African country. Such a return to
reality will give us a fairly good idea of what SA's future might look like.
This country will not look like Denmark. It might look like Nigeria, where anti-corruption
crusaders are an oddity.
Being an African country, ours will not
look like Germany. SA might look like Kenya, where tribalism drives
politics.
People must not entertain the illusion
that a day is coming when SA will look like the US. Our future is more on the
side of Zimbabwe, where one ruler is
more powerful than the rest of the population. Even if Julius Malema were to
become president, it would still be the same.
African leaders don't like the idea of an
educated populace, for clever people are difficult to govern. Mandela and Mbeki were themselves corrupted by
Western education. (Admission: this columnist is also corrupted by such
education.)
Zuma remains African. His mentality is in
line with Boko Haram. He is suspicious of educated people; what he calls
"clever blacks". Remember that Boko Haram means "Against Western
Education".
The people who think we have come to the
end of SA don't realise that we have actually come to the beginning of a real
African country, away from the Western illusions of exceptionalism. Those who
are unsettled by this true African character need help. The best we can do for
them is to ask them to look north of the Limpopo River,
to learn more about governance inAfrica.
What makes most people restless about the
future of SA is that they have Western models in mind, forgetting that ours is
an Africa country.
The idea that a president can resign
simply because a court of law has delivered an adverse judgment is Western. Only the Prime Minister of Iceland does that; African rulers will
never do that.
Analysed carefully, the notion of SA
coming to an "end" is an expression of a Western value system - of
accountability, political morality, reason, and so on. All these are lofty
ideas of Socrates, Kant, Hegel, and so on. They are not African.
All
of us must thank Jacob Zuma for introducing us to the real African Republic of South
Africa, not some outpost of European values.
By
Prince Mashele | May 09, 2016
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