Sad lack of cohesion mars visit
PRIME Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to the Durban City Hall on Saturday showed there is little, if any, social cohesion in our province.
The divide is so great that not even the MEC for Human Settlements, Ravi Pillay, knew how to treat King Goodwill Zwelithini.
Pillay is a member of the executive of the KwaZuluNatal government for who cares how long, but in front of more than 1 000 people, his Royal Highness gave him and those present a lesson in royal etiquette.
And come to think of it, KwaZulu-Natal is the Kingdom of the Zulus. If Pillay does not know, then how in hell can the very humble people of Unit 3B Chatsworth be able to welcome or understand not only how to treat His Majesty, but even their neighbours?
Yet Pillay was the man in charge of proceedings at this august gathering.
Exception was taken to the fact that he called the king to the microphone. He should have invited His Excellency.
The king, in his speech in front of Modi, picked not one, but two shortcomings, which did not augur well for Indian-African relations. Pillay should know better. While His Majesty did not take major issue, many of his subjects would not be so generous. This is bound to lead to tension between the two communities. God knows that there is already a great deal of prejudice, misunderstanding and even hatred.
We have shared this province for 156 years and I am ashamed to say that we do not know enough about each other – nor how to behave in front of a king.
While the shortcomings were evident to everyone inside the hall, red tape was strangling social cohesion outside when the special adviser to the premier of KwaZulu-Natal, Linda Zama, was prevented from entering.
She was stopped at the door because the only identity document she had was her driver’s licence. The clerk who was processing entry demanded a book of life. No, Zama was not going to be allowed into the “hallowed city hall” – even when she made it clear she was part of the premier’s entourage.
But Zama is no pushover and made sure she got in, and did not make an issue of it. That is because she is such a sweetheart.
It was very clear that there were three groups working the city hall stage: one from the eThekwini Municipality, another from the KwaZuluNatal provincial government and, of course, the Indians.
Once the microphones were set up, the Indians moved on to the stage and checked it out. It took three men to place two bottles of water in close proximity of the lectern.
When they left, the eThekwini people rocked up, fiddled with the sound equipment, then fished out a cloth and wiped the microphone.
Next, up came the staff from the province, who fiddled with the microphone again. That was not enough, and they used their own brand of tissues to wipe the equipment clean.
All this was going on in front of the people, and I watched, bemused but concerned that they were operating on their own. More disunity. Then I was told that the Indian delegation just took over and ran with the event.
It was very evident that we as a community could not come together at what was supposed to be a major event, not just for two countries, but also for Africa and Asia.
There must have been half a dozen television cameras and who knows who in the world would have seen this shambles. Just what kind of impression has it created about us?
The truth is, we do not know one another. And so there was no respect or sense of decorum.
This must never happen again. I believe that as a matter of urgency we must get together and really learn about each other.
A good starting point would be to learn how to treat King Goodwill Zwelithini. Both Indians and Africans must see and use him as a uniting force.
If we are to go on together, let’s learn how to treat one another. In order to establish dignity, the first step is to understand each other’s protocol.
Next comes respect, and how we should maintain it forever.