A simple strategy that works magic with the masses

Xolela Mangcu asks why mob mentality has reared its ugly head in our politics again

MONDLI Makhanya got it only half right the other day. He rightfully asked how it is that a country of an international reputation such as ours should be led by people who believe in fairytales. He was, of course, referring to the stupid — and there is no other word for it — intelligence report talk manufactured by Zwelinzima Vavi’s enemies to discredit him in the labour federation Cosatu.

The other half of the question is why South Africa’s citizens, once the wonder of the world for their struggle against apartheid, believe in such fairytales?

There was a time that I used to boast about how intellectually sophisticated black South Africans were. I used to tell tales of young people barely in their teens grappling with concepts such as conscientisation, non-racialism, capitalism and socialism.

I always marvelled at how a fairly complex concept such as black consciousness could be spread around the country, like it was in the 1970s by Steve Biko and his generation of leaders. We understood the concepts and we thrived on them.

Those were the days when the word “intellectual” was a badge of honour and not the swear word it has become. Those were the days when we could listen to each other in political debate without calling each other names, let alone killing one other.

Yes, there was a golden period of black politics, which was swept aside by the young lions of the 1980s. In many ways we are reaping the seeds that were sown.

In the whirlwind of the 1980s, there was a breakdown of authority in the black community. It was the era of “liberation before education”, a frightening slogan if ever there was one.

I was reminded of that period earlier this year when I had a debate with Frank Chikane at the Guild Theatre in East London. I was booed by the crowd because I disagreed with Chikane’s version of how wonderful things were on Thabo Mbeki’s watch.

Chikane turned to me and said something I have never shared with the hosts of that debate or with the public. He said: “You know, Xolela, this is not the platform to have these kinds of discussions.”

It sent a chill down my spine in a depressing kind of way.

If we could not have a decent political debate in our communities because of the intolerance of those in attendance, the only space for such was a university or Exclusive Books, or some other such larney venue.

But what is it that makes this kind of behaviour possible? I am not a psychoanalyst, but I dare ascribe it to mob psychology.

If a leader stands up to say something is right — however wrong it may be — the mob follows the leader. Terrible things happened in the 1980s because of this mob mentality, and it has begun to rear its ugly head in our politics today.

One of the most common things the leaders used to say in those days was that someone was CIA. In the 1960s, the Americans must have been directing the activities of everyone who disagreed with the leadership. And so, in our township, civic organisation members used to chant in front of Steve Biko’s house: “u-Steve Biko, i-CIA! U-Steve Biko, ICIA!” Some of these people were kids who could not spell CIA if you asked them. But the mob psychology worked like a charm.

This strategy is rising again, and it is as dangerous as ever. When Mamphela Ramphele launched her political party, senior leaders of the ANC said she was a CIA agent. They did not have a shred of evidence to support it, but no matter.

The “intelligence report” on Vavi and others who are said to work for the CIA — Dikgang Moseneke and Cyril Ramaphosa, among others — is a part of a long-standing practice that works by the simple magic of creating doubt in the mind of the public.

Imagine the chaos that could be unleashed if someone manufactured a lie that the reason we have done so badly over the past 20 years is that Mbeki, Kgalema Motlanthe and Jacob Zuma were planted by the apartheid government and the CIA to make sure that South Africa became such a poor country that things would be as chaotic as they are in places such as Marikana.

The US could then intervene and recolonise South Africa and take control of the precious minerals. How hard would it be to convince desperately poor people of this fairytale?

Mangcu is associate professor of sociology at the University of Cape Town

There was a time that I used to boast about how intellectually sophisticated black South Africans were