THERE ARE ONLY SO MANY CROSSES YOU CAN ASK PEOPLE TO BEAR

By keeping a huge section of people “poor”... the regime hopes to keep a pool of followers who will be promised freebies every 5 years, argues Bantu Mniki

At the centre of every responsible South African’s mind is the question: How can we get back to a firm developmental trajectory which can be sustained for long enough to create the right amount of momentum into the future?

It is not an easy question, precisely because all of our problems, perhaps like most human problems, stem from the past.

Our colonial and apartheid past created systemic and structural weaknesses which continue to dog us to this day.

At the centre of this is the view that South Africa is there for the taking.

And for this to be ensured, a structure of extraction of wealth had to be established, and that wealth was largely extracted for the benefit of our former colonial masters.

One of the enduring signs of this structure was the extraction of natural resources from here to be developed elsewhere and returned as finished products offered at a premium price.

However the new democratic dispensation has not delivered what we hoped for.

Instead, on top of a skewed economic structure, it has established what can only be called a parallel state which is set up for the extraction of wealth for the benefit of the politically connected few.

Most of that wealth, once again, finds its way to foreign countries, like … eh, our former colonial masters.

However, this time, such extracted wealth is delivered there with the collusion of, and by those we view as leaders of the democratic dispensation.

If you dig a little deeper, you find a common belief among the leaders of these extractive regimes.

They all believe inequality is inevitable, and as a result, perhaps desirable. It is little wonder that SA is such an unequal country.

The earlier regimes went so far as to legislate inequality along racial lines.

And while the whole world is perhaps also seduced by a widespread acceptance of inequality, it was largely appalled by such blatant pursuit of racially enforced inequality. When done so openly, it clearly became immoral.

On the other hand, the present regime has used a different divide. It has used proximity to power as the divide which separates those who occupy the upper stratum of society from those who occupy the lower stratum.

Political connections, access to education, capital, a government job, a corporate job and other such indicators of proximity to power have separated the haves from the have-nots.

If you look at the language of the past, during colonialism and apartheid, skin colour dominated the conversation.

This obscured the real intention behind such dominant language, which was to entrench a structure of extraction with little or no resistance, and establish an acceptance of the fate of inferiority among our people. Thankfully, this never succeeded.

On the other hand, the present regime, is very fond of the language of the “poor”.

That language is so prevalent that you would swear that this regime, and possibly most current politicians would like to keep an economic structure where “poor” people remain an established part of our society forever.

By keeping a huge section of our people “poor” in identity and in effect, this regime hopes to keep a strong pool of followers who they will promise freebies every five years.

This is in return for a vote and a licence to control and extract state-controlled resources.

This is a structure designed for extraction.

Of course the language of race is still going strong. But this time, it is designed to keep the hurt of the past alive.

Ironically, this pain too is rou- tinely extracted by politicians for one purpose, to win votes, to gain control of state resources and extract some more.

However, in the very same space, the fear of “black” corruption and ineptitude is similarly extracted for one thing, to hopefully dislodge the current regime of extractors and entrench another one.

As long as we do not take the long view required to pull us out of our seemingly deep conviction towards the inevitability of inequality, and if we don’t begin to passionately work towards revising our views and vocabulary, we will keep turning in circles.

It is the regime which decides to see people as the country’s most valuable assets that will turn things around – possibly within a single generation – and soon supply South Africa and the whole world with expertise, wisdom and creativity from our very own shores.

...during apartheid skin colour dominated the conversation