Cape Times

Resentment of colonialis­m is clear

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SINAZO Alungile Novukela’s resentment of colonialis­m comes through clearly in her article published in the comment column of Tuesday’s Cape Times.

She says colonialis­m has “morphed into an imperialis­t sponsored liberation … sometimes called democracy or globalisat­ion”.

She gives the Commonweal­th nations under King Charles III as an example of those with the shared values of “democracy, human rights and the rule of law”.

Most people would consider these good values, yet Novukela criticises these values as “the manifestat­ion of the control of power, knowledge and being” by the “previously advantaged supremacis­ts”.

Then to somehow fix this, she proposes that we “delink our economy from the world economic matrix system”.

Novukela gives an eye-opening example in the Fees Must fall protests of 2015.

The real reason for it, she says, was to “decolonise the education system” and “include African morals in education”.

As she seems to consider herself an expert on the subject, I would like

Novukela to enlighten us on African morals.

Does she consider them something other than democracy, human rights and the rule of law?

Novukela also said it was important that the “African youth” should “learn the culture and value system of the oppressors” so as to “subvert the status quo”.

This gives me a little insight into the modus operandi of people who are resentful of people whose forefather­s are from Europe or who own land.

She refers to them as “economic oppressors who have created a system of dependency”.

The frequent use by Novukela of the word “oppressors” in her article has made me doubt the sincerity of her closing paragraph in which she says “de-colonial thinking does not centre on retributio­n and reprisals of the past injustices”.

I am especially doubtful of her sincerity because of her last sentence, “God save the king because the Africans are coming to reclaim their reawakenin­g”.

God save the likes of those who refuse to forgive the injustices of the past and continue in their resentment.

What happened to African morals? We don’t know what she considers them to be.

LI FADDELL | Claremont

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