South Africa has never been great.

Recently, I have been seeing in social media and hearing people talking about how this country is declining and how bad and terrible things are getting. Believe it or not, it’s young black people saying this. I’m used to this rant coming from middle-class and rich white who have always had it good. Their comments have left me wondering because in my experience and knowledge of this country, my country, South Africa, has never, ever been great.

I started thinking back to instances in history past and recent that might create the illusion of greatness that my fellows might be referring to. Maybe it’s that month in 2010, when the world cup was on (it sure did feel good), or maybe it was when Bafana and the Bokke last won major tournaments. Maybe just maybe, it is the spirit of 94’, when the future held so much promise. These fleeting moments don’t make South Africa great, sure they felt great at the moment but as soon as it was over reality took over and the veil was lifted to reveal the sad reality that is South Africa. I thought that maybe this greatness maybe existed prior to 1652 before the white man landed on our shores and brought physical and psychological tools for enslavement.; but this would be a dream like the Africa-American’s fantasy about being king and queens before the slave trade shipped them to the Americas.

A quick search of the internet reveals some interesting facts that purport to make South Africa great, for example; the world's biggest hospital is the Chris Hani - Baragwanath Hospital in Soweto, but there is no mention of the dead babies, doctors getting raped and the usually terrible service. Another interesting fact: South Africa mines deeper than any other country in the world, up to depths of  2.5 miles at the Western Deep Levels Mine. The world's two largest platinum mines are located near Rustenburg but there is no mention of the slave labour that created all these great mines and how this industry was at the forefront of pushing for racist legislation that created apartheid and guaranteed them slave labour while destroying the black nuclear family.

Another fact: While only occupying 4% of Africa's landmass, South Africa boasts more than 50% of the cars, phones, automatic bank tellers and industrial facilities on the continent but they fail to mention that we live in a white controlled oligopoly that we exist under or the fact that black business entrepreneurship is virtually no-existent .  

Well, this is what I believe; a country is made great by the people that live in it. If the citizens believe that they are heard, that with hard work they can fulfil their dreams, people who feel and know they have a fair share of the pie and that access to opportunity is not linked to party allegiance, race or politics, a people who feel that they are equal in the eyes of the law and with each. Well none of these describe South Africa and I don’t think anyone believes that South Africa is this kind of country.

South Africa has the highest Gini coefficient in the world, making it the most unequal society on the planet, the worst part is that this inequality is divided along racial lines. This is the legacy, (dare I say it) of Apartheid. But we cannot just blame apartheid, the current minority control of the economy, the quasi-Apartheid in which we find ourselves in is due to a negotiated settlement (sunset clauses) in the early 90’s that keep the majority of people poor, unemployed and with limited opportunities to break out of the cycle; while for the majority of whites nothing has changed really. We have a ruling party that claims to speak for the poor yet does everything in its power to keep the poor, poor; while its members fight for space at the trough.

This country as I know it; has never been great. All that is happening now is just a continuance of the status-quo. People see fleeting moments as signs of greatness; for the majority of poor and disenfranchised, reality hits hard on a daily basis as they watch from the periphery unable to take part in the economy, opportunities or even in the fleeting moments. And in any society as unequal as ours, something must give, eventually the poor must fight back, we’ve seen service delivery protests, xenophobic attacks (which are actually Afrophobia). This struggle has not yet reached its climax when it becomes a class war that will engulf the establishment and the nouveau riche; who’ve already forgotten their roots. Unfortunately we have yet to see the best way (democratic way) to steer a country to greatness; and there is one simple solution yet a complicated one in the South African context- Voting; in order to keep politicians accountable to the people.  Until the people build the country they want to see from the ground up, it’ll never be great.

'Stop singing, start swinging'

Recently, I have listened to the late activist Malcolm X's speeches. Besides being inspired by his oratory skills, I have been stuck by the similarity that the African Americans faced then and now, but more importantly how we as South Africans are also suffering from the same malaise that Malcolm X refers to in his “Ballot or the Bullet” speech.

As we approach election time, the speech reminds me that we have a long way to go and as a people have no sense of history and have not been able to learn from that history.

The first thing that I was struck by is that Malcolm refers to the singing of freedom songs in his speech; as we go through this the Malema hate speech trial, the similarities are striking. This led me to think about the current use of Struggle songs in SA. The ANC is using these songs as a way to corral the emotions of the electorate and with the recent memory of apartheid seared into the majority of this country it is an effective way of constantly reminding people exactly who took them "out of Egypt" so to speak. What is also interesting is how these same songs are sung by those who are also protesting against their ANC councillors or municipalities. The use of the same songs during these protests is just another reminder that although they might be unhappy with service delivery, they expect that this will be remedied by the ANC itself and no one else. We've seen service delivery protests in communities across SA and the most striking and disappointing feature is that these unsatisfied citizens never change their voting patterns. As Malcolm said in his speech; "too much singing, not enough swinging', as long as you keep singing struggle songs even though you have gained suffrage, your government has failed you. We can’t deny their importance in our history, but if they are still relevant and have weight in this day in age, your government has failed you.

In the South African context, I look at 'swinging' in relation to the way we vote. Malcolm had an aversion to the idea of 'Peaceful Resistance’; he saw this as a passive aggressive way to reach your goals and to achieve your rights. Malcolm was at the time referring to the African American struggling for suffrage and equal rights. We in South Africa have seen very violent protests around service delivery and although our battle for suffrage and equal rights has been won; the final battle is yet to be acknowledged, and that is the use of suffrage to make a lasting difference in one’s community. This is what I see as the 'swinging' in South African context. I have always thought that black South Africans have only used their vote ones, perhaps twice for good. The rest of the time it is failure to understand politics and how it affects their daily life that led black South Africans to vote in fear and to keep electing leaders who do not put them as a priority. Malcolm avowed the re-education of the black community on politics and business. Two fundamental points in securing ones true freedom.

In his land mark speech Malcolm says that black people need to understand the politics of their community and what that politics is meant to produce and what part politics plays in our lives and until this maturity takes place, the electorate will always be misled, led astray and deceived into supporting someone politically who doesn’t have the good of the community at large. As black South Africans continue en mass to vote for leaders according to the history of the country or the fears that they have; they have not yet matured and understood politics. The fear or returning to apartheid over rides the fear of having a dysfunctional democracy; if at all the electorate is concerned about that. We have in South Africa a ruling party that does not bother to even promise the electorate anything for the past few elections, and yet they stand a chance to take most of the wards and municipalities in the upcoming election. Every time a community acts out as in Ficksburg, Emerlo, Diepsloot and Thokoza; a high level ANC politician is sent to placate the protesters and ensure that their concerns will be addressed. The fact that this works continuously shows that our electorate has not yet matured and understood how politics works. 
I believe that Malcolm’s point that communities need to take charge of their own communities is the only way to.
Ask yourself; “do I know who my ward councillor is. What does he/ she believe in and does he/ she even live in my community?” These questions and many more have been begun to surface recently as communities in the Eastern Cape and other parts of the country begin to awake to fact that they will be casting a vote for faceless individuals, cast upon them by the centralist leadership of the ANC. Malcolm also pushes for political education to further bring forward the maturity of the electorate, because if the voter is educated on politics he then begins to cast his vote with his communities interest at heart and individuals within those communities.  
The “Ballot or the Bullet” Speech also touches on the need for communities to develop businesses that benefit those and owned by people living within the said community. The word ‘beneficiation’ has been bandied about lately but in South Africa this means that communities will essentially receive raw materials from the white owned mines around them and then convert those into goods ready for market. But what happens to those communities that are not near mines? What kind of economics will they benefit from? The answer that Malcolm gives is that these communities need to create and support businesses that are from individuals from the community. As we all know political freedom is nothing without economic freedom; yet black South Africans seem only to be capable of only spending outside of their neighbourhoods or within businesses not run by natives. One of our President Jacob Zuma’s goals has been to put a mall in all communities in South Africa, essentially creating a system where white owned businesses can penetrate the townships like never before. This has caused many micro enterprises in those communities to collapse, the fluency and the speed of the leading economic class has allowed them to act quickly and to scoop up franchise opportunities and shop space. Instead of allowing communities to develop their economies and getting a helping hand from government as a facilitator, communities have been pushed deeper into debt and poverty, with the money that they spend not staying within their communities.  Malcolm X uses the example of Woolworth and many other businesses, which started out as small operations and are now huge corporations. The businesses in the black neighbourhoods need to be given the same opportunity to flourish, either through black patronage or government facilitation. Successful jobs in the community create jobs and jobs create self-reliance and most importantly steps are then getting closer towards economic emancipation that does not rely of white owned businesses or industries.
After recently reading the ANCYL’s discussion papers and their need to ‘nationalise’ all and sundry, I’m struck by how much businesses in the community have been left out of the document. How our economic emancipation is still reliant on the industries, mines and businesses created by our former masters.  As Malcolm says; ‘when you rely on your enemy for survival, you’re in bad shape!’
In these coming elections, I will urge people in Malcolm’s words, ‘Stop singing and start swinging’. Burning down your councillor’s house and toy toying without changing your voting patterns won’t help you. If you are still looking up at the formers rulers of this country and hoping to get what they got without building your own, it won’t help you. When are swept up in the fervour of struggle songs without realising the failures of the leaders that lead the chant, it won’t help you. You need to stop singing and start swinging.