EFF’s ‘racial nationalism’ a threat to sound race relations in SA
AS SOUTH African political parties begin to prepare for next year’s general election there are indications of the fierce election campaign that will be waged by such parties.
For some time now the EFF has been propagating a political philosophy of what can fairly accurately be defined as racial nationalism.
This is the very antithesis of non-racialism as set out in Section 1 of the constitution, which declares that the South African state is based on the values of non-racialism and non-sexism.
Non-racialism is also propounded in the legendary Freedom Charter.
The EFF’s campaign will undoubtedly reflect its credo of racial nationalism. This is manifestly clear from the conduct of its chief whip and MP, Floyd Shivambu, and from his statements and conduct in the standing committee on finance of Parliament last week.
He accused a senior and highly respected Treasury official, Ismail Momoniat, of being “non-African”.
As a result, the parliamentary committee has correctly described Shivambu’s comments as a “crude attack” and has defended Momoniat by stating in unequivocal terms that he is an “extremely hardworking, honest (and) skilled” official.
Shivambu subsequently repeated similar derogatory statements on social media, alleging that Momoniat “undermines and disregards black, particularly African, leadership”.
This is an unequivocal manifestation of racial nationalism which does inordinate damage to sound race relations in South Africa.
Although the language used by Shivambu in the committee is protected by parliamentary privilege, his comments in the media are prima facie defamatory of Momoniat, which a subsequent statement by the committee described as unwarranted and inconsistent with the “non-racial principles necessary for a transformative agenda that addresses race, class and gender in South Africa”.
This kind of racial nationalism, which often is accompanied by hate speech, poses a singular threat to both nation-building and sound race relations in South Africa today. Mere condemnation and censure is not enough. It is time for action to be taken and for Shivambu’s conduct to be challenged in the courts.
Although the committee urged MPs not to exacerbate the growing racial polarisation in the country, the EFF issued a statement in support of Shivambu, in which it castigated Momoniat for his role, according to it, in acting as the “de facto minister of finance” and thereby, according to its statement, “dictating everything that the National Treasury does”.
The EFF and its leader, Julius Malema, have virtually from the party’s inception been fuelling racial nationalism with their hate speech such as Malema’s inflammatory statement that he “invoked his own authority to call on his devotees not to slaughter the white yet”.
This is also clearly reflected in his highly racially-charged statement to Athol Trollip, DA mayor in the Nelson Bay Metro: “Hahaha, you are going white man, I’ve got no sympathy for whiteness, it feels good for the black child to determine the future of the white one”.
This, together with the EFF’s encouragement to its members and others to perpetrate illegal land grabs, are prime examples of conduct facilitating an atmosphere conducive to racial nationalism.
Most unfortunately, the nearly 10 years of the Zuma presidency and administration has, because of its essentially corrupt and incompetent nature, exacerbated economic inequality in South Africa and facilitated the rise of racial nationalism as is prevalent in the EFF.
Racial nationalism as a creed is committed to total African domination in every sphere and aspect of government and society, and rejects non-racialism and national reconciliation.
It is manifestly reflected in the conduct of the Black First Land First Party and certain elements within the defeated Zuma faction of the ANC.
It must be cogently opposed for danger that it constitutes to both the body politic and social cohesion as being perniciously chauvinistic in character and fascist in strategy.
George Devenish is an emeritus professor at UKZN and one of the scholars who assisted in drafting the interim constitution in 1993.