#WhenDreamsCameThrough The longest flight of my life ..This man was so determined to bad mouth the ruling party in my presence. It is almost as if telling him of my disappointment from my long trip gave him ammunition to vent his ignorance. I was not sure whether he wanted to press for my views or simply wanted to impress me or wanted me to endorse his views. I was not in the mood and I was very tired from not sleeping two nights and days in a row but I had to tell him that political cadre ship did not start with the ANC, it was and still exist amongst his people too. I told him the reason we have run down farms in the former homelands came as a result of the then political cadre ship. Some of those farms were given to friends and loyalists of the then Heads Of States who knew nothing but most importantly were not interested in Agrarian Culture but a farm came with a certain status and respect within the community since it was associated with whiteness/supreme to live in a huis. Till this day, if you have a farm no matter how unproductive it is, the popular comprehension amongst most black people is Hes got money for he has a farm. I had to remind him that some of those fathers and mothers leading in the front line had gone through extreme forms of abuse and torture by the regime and so to attain some of the valuable tangibles that were previously attached to white people became an automatic reflex to feed superiority complex issues that came as a result of such abuses. They secretly wanted to feel like a white man and to obtain what is conventionally expected upon a white man would automatically put them above their fellow black people in society. They had the farms, the hotels, the political connections, the shops, their children went to Model C and boarding schools and thus were respected men and women in society because of what they possessed than what they could do with it. He looked at me like I was crazy for defending the ANC, especially the unfortunate position I was in. I swear he stopped himself short of saying that but he instead opted for a more safe comment. I pray you are not saying that just because Im white my friend but this ANC is corrupt Here is a thing, if I dont agree with you, I will never let anyone be ignorant about you just to spite you no matter our differences. I refuse to be used to score the so called friendships. I felt pressed to defend the ANC from someone who seemed determined to hear me say negative things about the ANC since he knew that I do not agree with the ANC. What made it worse was that, this person was a white man and symbolically I could and will never snitch on the ANC to a white man. My answer to his corruption allegations started by pointing out that corruption is planted and the perpetrator most of the time is a victim and that the ANC was corrupted in exile by the very same super powers of the world who are claiming such corruption from the ANC. The logic is simple, be a friend in times of need and in politics, no leverage is greater than a friend in times of need. The error was not having a soft policy on corruption while they were in exile to prevent issues of blackmail from such friends to score business should they come into power. I once asked my brother Marx about this and he concurred by saying ey it was the armed struggle and we were dying as a people everyday mntakwethu, there is no such a thing as a corrupt way to fight death That is a simple diagnoses on the history of the corruption virus in South Africa. I however found it more painful to me when I had to remind the white man that had the ANC told us everything, there would have been no peaceful transition in this country. Imagine being told that besides the huge monies spent arming the SA Defense Force by Botha administration to fight off natives, the apartheid regime had deliberately looted and bankrupted the country (sanctions aside) and for the ANC to fulfill their wish list in the RDP they had to scramble and make things happen by sending an old man in father Nelson to go around asking for donations to build schools and clinics. I told him to give respect where its due no matter how painful it felt. I swear to God at that moment he secretly wanted to change seats during the longest flight of my life. Taken from #WhenDreamsCameThrough A book by Luckeez Mfowethu
Posted on: Fri, 18 Jul 2014 06:02:37 +0000
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