Zille’s outburst on colonialism is not at all out of character for her
Denialism of the suffering of SA’s majority is unforgivable
HELEN Zille’s latest declaration that colonialism cannot be compared to the Holocaust deserves to see her spend time in jail. The denial of the pain of billions of people globally who are direct and intergenerational carriers of the pain caused by colonialism and its interrelated systems of slavery and apartheid should be declared a crime against humanity.
The statements and controversy which began with a tweet she later claimed was in reference to how Singapore has done well in the post-colonialism era deserve to see her expelled from the DA and removed as Western Cape premier.
We can no longer accept leaders that don’t understand that making statements such as Zille’s over the years is a denial of people’s past and current suffering. The survival of people of colour in spite of the genocide and persecution doesn’t mean that colonialism was not all that bad, but rather that we are survivors. Zille and her ilk of all ages and generations must be relegated to history books, which must record her role in telling the story of Steve Biko and building the DA, her fall from grace and her racism. Just like the statue of Rhodes fell at UCT, all South Africans must stand united and demand that #ZilleMustFall.
We can longer accept leaders that deny colonialism, even as it continues to affect the lives of every black child in Africa and every person of colour in the world. It was colonialism and in particular the legacy of Cecil John Rhodes, which laid the foundation for the Marikana massacre.
It is colonialism that laid the foundations for apartheid. It is colonialism that broke the family structure of Africans and has led to a population with majority of children being raised by single mothers. Global inequality between the north and south, hunger, poverty, ill-health, high infant mortality rates and many other societal ills continue to plague former colonies. Colonialism continues today globally while the world celebrates colonial masters such as Queen Elizabeth. Whiteness continues to erase blackness and define human identity. Western knowledge and thought continues to dominate universities and public discourse at the expense of African, Asian, South American and other thought. Colonial regret and apology remain pipe dreams while racism, sexism and homophobia continue to grow across the globe in the name of “conservatism”.
When I read of the statement and listened to the podcast of Zille’s latest interview on Power FM, I wondered if victims of colonialism would agree that no genocide took place. Would the few remaining Native Americans who were almost wiped out in the US, the few remaining Aboriginals who were almost wiped out in Australia agree there was no genocide? I wonder if those who lost their limbs and were maimed in the Congo would agree. What about the Herero and Ovambo who were also almost wiped out in Namibia? Would the descendants of the Khoi, the San, the Griqua and all the other groups of South Africans whose ancestors were classed in the same category as game and killed by colonisers agree? I wonder if when making her statements Zille thought about those of us who are descendants of Hintsa, who was mercilessly murdered and then had his skull taken across the world, Makana, who died trying to esape from Robben Island, and the many others who lost their lives as a result of colonialism and its close relative, apartheid. We need a law that bans colonialism and apartheid denialism and it should come with a minimum of a year for the guilty. We are a young democracy that grapples with a long and brutal history and we can’t continue to be disregarded, especially by a politician with millions of followers, power and influence in society.
Zille is the highest official in the Western Cape, which has the second largest economy in the country. Her statements carry huge weight and affect the way people think and act. If she really believes the things she has been saying are innocent and harmless then we have an answer for why the Western Cape continues to be one of the least welcoming provinces for African people in the country.
I believe Zille was able to make the statements she made recently because she has a history of making racist statements and getting away with them.
There are at least five incidents of racism that stand out and missed opportunities for the DA to discipline or expel her. She once lamented about the Western Cape being bombarded with educational refugees from the Eastern Cape each year. She claimed the unplanned nature of the emigration for education from, particularly the Eastern Cape, made it impossible for her provincial government to provide schooling for all.
Despite her comments on colonialism, Zille must have been aware that during apartheid, Africans were declared illegals in Cape Town and given residency in the bantustans.
Companies were incentivised financially to institute apartheid laws and not hire Africans, laws that to this day sees Africans struggle to make careers in the Western Cape.
Zille labelled people educational refugees and alienated them in their democratic country of birth. She was fully aware that for most of the apartheid days, the government would routinely pick up black men and women found on the streets of the city and “deport” them to the Transkei and Ciskei. Coloureds who were deemed too dark, Basotho, Mapedi, AmaZulu, Cape Xhosa and all types of people found themselves dumped in the Transkei and having to walk back to Cape Town to reclaim their lives.
To be a leader in the province and still make statements like Zille’s was deserving of at the very least a disciplinary hearing if the DA she led was serious about eradicating racism and nation building.
In yet another instance of racism she told songstress Simphiwe Dana to stop being a “professional black”. In a country with such a long history of pain committed by white people on black people, she had no right to make such a statement. In doing so, she again was denying that black people suffer real pain and have reasons to be angry because of the intergenerational trauma from colonialism and apartheid as well as fresh scars from the daily racism and micro-aggression from those who support and think like Zille.
She again showed her racism when she claimed to have “made” Lindiwe Mazibuko – a woman who met Zille as an honours student at the University of Cape Town (UCT).
This was yet another instance of erasure of a black person because her statements denied the effort and hard work that Mazibuko put in getting a matric pass good enough for her to be accepted to study towards a degree at UCT. This fails to acknowledge Mazibuko’s own abilities to recognise opportunities and realising her own career path.
At the height of the #FeesMustFall protests, Madame Zille saw it fit to suggest that if the protesting students did not like UCT and its rules and methods they must just leave or the university must cut off their funding.
This was yet another instance of erasure of black people and dismissal of their current and intergenerational pain.
She had forgotten that we live in a country with a constitution that declared that “South Africa belongs to all who live in it”.
I won’t even go into the absurdity of someone telling students that belong to the overwhelming majority population of a country to leave an institution in their home country because they did not agree with colonial rules and wanted them changed. South Africa belongs to all who live in it. This means that Africans belong in Cape Town as much as in East London or any other city in South Africa. It means students of colour belong in any university they deem good enough for them and they have a right to demand that the university change and accommodate them if it is alienating to them and people like them, especially when they are the majority in the country.
SHE HAS FORGOTTEN THAT WE LIVE IN A COUNTRY WITH A CONSTITUTION THAT DECLARES ‘SOUTH AFRICA BELONGS TO ALL WHO LIVE IN IT’ WE ARE A YOUNG DEMOCRACY THAT IS GRAPPLING WITH A LONG AND BRUTAL HISTORY AND CAN’T CONTINUE TO BE DISREGARDED BY ZILLE AND HER ILK