Avoid diluting Winnie’s radical stance
IN THE past 50 years of liberation struggle, Winnie Madikizela-Mandela was among the few committed radical activists truly desiring genuine African freedom. She fought for it throughout her life.
Her attitude and conduct led to her murder and death while she was alive – that is, the deliberate suppression and marginalisation of her voice. It is possible to live to 81 when you died at 55 years old.
Mama Winnie, as she was fondly called, boldly declared through her life example that she would rather live for the rest of her life in Soweto among the poor than as a black bourgeoisie in the suburbs.
Thus her life was a lesson that to be a committed black radical is dangerous in a supremacist, patriarchal, capitalist economic system. It is a political posture so threatening that it is punished with rejection, isolation, banishment and death.
It is frightening therefore, to think that women currently wearing doeks to pledge allegiance to her legacy, declaring “I am Winnie Madikizela-Mandela”, may in fact, be diluting and whitewashing her image.
Of course, Madikizela-Mandela has emerged as a popular favourite political icon now that she is dead. Almost everyone in the country is fixated by her image as a fearless anti-apartheid freedom fighter.
But we should caution against superficial over-celebration and trite declarations. Unlike their newfound heroine, many of these women support capitalist clothing boutiques. We need only look at the myriad ways – including wearing expensive weaves and imported designer labels – that many women reject the genuine African image Madikizela-Mandela portrayed.
One need not provide details about how black people, including women, have embraced and integrated into the unjust and unequal economic system that Mama Winnie fought against.
The obvious point needing reiteration is that black people in general, including high-flying men and women, have seized on the opportunity over the last 25 years to become part of a system that MadikizelaMandela challenged and opposed.
Most don’t realise that by choosing to live, die and possibly be buried in Soweto, she testified that no leader can be intuitively connected to the community or deliver freedom if they do not live among the people. Madikizela-Mandela attempted to show that radical black feminist commitment is achieved by talking in a certain way, wearing certain clothes and choosing a life of internal exile rather than being an out-of-touch rich bourgeoisie.
It is ironic that many men and women who have abandoned Soweto or the townships to be part of the unjust economic system see themselves as radical and progressive at the same time.
Few can deny that the celebration of Madikizela-Mandela’s life is a ritualistic manifestation of how the critical thinking faculty of the black bourgeoisie has been blunted by the economic system.
Unmistakably, the black collective psyche has, to a large extent, been reshaped and influenced by three centuries of colonialism and apartheid. It is now a way of life to carry on with – talking, walking, eating, drinking, driving and dreaming of moving to the suburbs, to be part of the system, and in this way leave the masses in the townships to their fate.
Also frightening is that black people have been co-opted into the unjust system so intensely that any reflection or understanding about the meaning of Madikizela-Mandela will be diluted and distorted anyway.
Most folks today are in denial or do not want to openly admit that MadikizelaMandela evoked fear and loathing in the minds of those who benefit from the prevalent injustice.
One of the things learnt the fastest after the unbanning of the liberation movement, the return of the exiles and release of the Rivonia trialists including Nelson Mandela, was how to demonstrate a positive attitude to reconciliation and the preservation of the economic system.
Truth be told, being a MadikizelaMandela is a political stance that is rarely promoted or appreciated in everyday SA. In fact, anyone who resembles or emulates her is deemed suspect, dangerous and threatening. Her struggle was uncompromising in the fight against land dispossession and economic deprivation.
What seems difficult for many liberals and progressives to understand is that in a context where inequality and dispossession remains intact it is easy for people to dismiss freedom as a myth.
It is no secret that freedom has been achieved without any significant changes to the status quo. In her lifetime Madikizela-Mandela suffered disillusionment when Mandela started “working within the system” and helped preserve white control of the economy. To her this was confirmation that it was easy to succumb to the lure of what the economic system had to offer – at the expense of the genuine aspirations and hopes of the people.
For her, freedom required the return of the land to its indigenous owners and/or the redistribution of it for all to enjoy the benefits of the mineral rights.
Over the last three decades we saw Mandela and Thabo Mbeki, among others, often reluctant and unable to support the raw radicalism epitomised by MadikizelaMandela.
How ironic that black progressives and leaders now identify with and protect selfinterest in an unjust economic system. Largely, it is material comfort, position and rank in society that determines perspective and relationship with the disadvantaged.
Many progressives condemned Madikizela-Mandela as “reckless” and a wanton “charlatan”. This fed off the supremacist narrative that viewed her as a bogeywoman while apartheid leaders and supporters embraced, as the new Messiah, Mandela, who was once called a terrorist.
The paucity of uncompromising black radicals who will not backtrack on authentic African nationalism and its demands is now evident in the tendency of talking tough but with little action taken on land redistribution and economic injustice, for instance. Seemingly, there are far too few black activists today who are not involved in politics for reasons of selfbenefit and to access state resources. Politics pays just like business.
Madikizela-Mandela was an insurgent intellectual and activist who consistently refused to live according to the system’s values and way of life. By choosing to stay in Soweto, for example, she wanted to define and reflect the profound rootedness of what it means to be with the people.
She called on all citizens of the country, including whites, to be active citizens who stand up for what is right, that is, equality and justice. Madikizela-Mandela boldly stated her case and made choices that made many feel uncomfortable and afflicted. Interestingly, many of her peers and comrades believe that working within the capitalist system is the best option and that people can acquire a “better life for all” if they work hard and give government a chance.
The view gaining ground is if enough black bourgeoisie are co-opted into the system, SA will move in the right direction. But it never dawns on the progressives that what is wrong with SA was not the voice of Madikizela-Mandela but the deeply entrenched inequality of capitalism.
It’s naive for anyone to think MadikizelaMandela or any organisation could defeat a socioeconomic system that determines the thoughts, behaviour and attitudes of society. But what Madikizela-Mandela understood was that supremacy and economic injustice must be challenged and opposed on a daily basis – even if it is not immediately defeated or, at least, radically transformed.
For South Africans to live in harmony and prosperity without people being killed in their homes for plasma TV screens and cellphones, there must be economic equality and justice for all.
No doubt over the last six decades Madikizela-Mandela wanted to critically awaken and re-ignite defiant, fearless and self-determining African nationalism. She wanted to call a spade a spade: this land belongs to the indigenous people and they deserve a fair share in ownership and enjoyment of its wealth. But politicians are over-cautious about speaking about radical economic transformation or the return of the land.
What this means, unfortunately, is that Madikizela-Mandela's radical political wisdom, insight and commitment also has no place today. Over-celebrating her now that she is dead will divest her of her radical image and thus co-opt her to the conventional way of thinking.