White people do not express themselves with political accountability

THE historically advantaged – that is, white people – generally do not express themselves with political accountability.

When whites pass judgment about the alleged poor performance of the government or President Jacob Zuma, they believe their right to do so should not be questioned.

Much as it may, in some instances, be justified criticism, it is mostly self-righteous criticism against blacks that is only a façade for deep-seated racism about inherent black inferiority. In fact, white criticism is often oblivious or in denial of the privileged position they enjoy.

It is very rare for a white person to have transcended prejudices and stereotypes to understand a black person at an intimate personal level to the extent that they can claim to know them. Yet white people always assume they know. They think they “know and understand” black people.

After all, everything that South Africa is today is due to their presence and hard work at the southern tip of Africa, as the overcelebrated first-time author, Ferial Haffajjee, argues in her essay book, What would South Africa be like if there were no whites?

However, when a black cultural figure like Somizi Mhlongo, or any other black person for that matter, makes a remark that focuses on white attitudes or highlights white racism, they are immediately attacked by critics and detractors to justify their “racist”comments or explain themselves.

When you are black, you are taught to count your words when you speak about white people.

You have to prove that you know what you are saying. In the end, if you cannot justify your sentiments you will be forced to apologise.

In South Africa white people are not interrogated about what they do or don’t know about what they talk about.

It is enough for them to go out in the streets to demand #ZumaMustFall and #ANCMustFall.

Embedded in this idea is the racist assumption that white people know everything simply because they are white.

It does not matter that they have never met a David van Rooyen, for instance, but their right to question his integrity will not be an issue.

Does anyone know who the minister of finance is in the Netherlands, Germany or the UK? The leadership that appoints these men is not interrogated on their choices or forced to reverse their decisions.

Ironically, it is black people themselves who give the power and authority to white people to have the final word on things that pertain to what Zimbabwean author Tsitsi Dangaremba calls the “nervous black condition”.

More than any group, it is black people who allow white activists to set and define the agenda for them on the new frontiers for struggle in education, health, the environment, economics, arts and any other issue you can think of.

As a consequence of this growing pattern, whites have, slowly but surely, resumed leadership positions in the black struggle and have been elevated to authority figures on black experience and contemporary history: Right2Know, Section27, Anti-Corruption Watch etc.

At the risk of sounding racist, if white people really want to help support the black struggle, they must first address themselves on the issue of colonial land dispossession and economic inequalities.

More than any other group, white people have grossly benefited from the legacy of colonialism of a special type that has seen most of them with large pieces of land, inheritance, wellpaying jobs and relatively good middle-class lifestyles that enable them to eat at restaurants almost every night. It is most unthinking and careless of black people that, 21 years into freedom and democracy, they are allowing whites to ascend to positions of power and authority.

We might fool ourselves to say we have witnessed the resurgence of Steve Biko’s Black Consciousness philosophy of black pride and self-assertion with the advent of #RhodesMustFall and #FeesMustFall movements.

But the image that lingers is of white students coming forward to protect black students from police violence.

Also, whites were quick to join their so-called black comrades to storm the citadel of black political power that is Parliament.

Without legitimate political power, blacks are nothing and have nothing.

Frankly, there is no more effective way to cripple black power than to undermine the legitimacy of a black-dominated Parliament. But a little upfront interrogation is needed here. This will teach a lot of whites to think before they say anything or act.

While one appreciates the right to freedom of expression, it would be a good thing to encourage every citizen – irrespective of their race, background or political creed – to think very hard before they say anything or act in any way. What is the ultimate objective? It is the absence of pressure that makes it easier for whites to think that they can get away with anything. But they should be compelled to examine their complicit role in perpetuating white hegemony and economic domination.

Whites in general lack the awareness and conscience more than any other group about the adverse impact of colonial land dispossession and economic inequality on lack of progress in the country. Blacks are not even encouraged to teach whites about the centrality of these two issues in national development.

In fact, there can be progress with a direct resolution of the land question and economic inequality.

Even the National Social Cohesion Summit held at Kliptown, Soweto, in 2012 established that the biggest stumbling blocks to social cohesion are economic inequalities and spatial divisions.

Luckily, in many instances blacks have begun to think critically about controversial political developments like #ZumaMustFall in the country.

They are increasingly demanding that whites state where they stand on the issue of land dispossession and economic inequality.

Will whites who are unconditionally opposed to colonial land dispossession, economic inequality and racism please stand up?

Memela is a journalist, writer, cultural critic and public servant. He writes in his personal capacity.