Sunday World (South Africa)

Restoring the Rainbow Nation

Partisan visions are being peddled by a plethora of (would-be) leaders

- Tinyiko Maluleke Professor Maluleke is a senior research fellow at the University of Pretoria Centre for the Advancemen­t of Scholarshi­p. Follow him on Twitter @Proftinyik­o

Well-known televangel­ist J John tells the story of a workman who left his workplace pushing a wheelbarro­w, every other day.

The security guard always stopped the workman to check what was inside the wheelbarro­w. Only to find each time a small packet full of worthless sawdust. No stolen goods. One day the guard confronted the suspect: “I have a feeling you are stealing something, but I can’t put my finger on it. What are you stealing? “Wheelbarro­ws,” said the workman.

Talk about missing the wood for the trees! Sometimes I wonder whether the politics of our country are not constantly missing the wheelbarro­ws for the sawdust.

For a few years now, we seem to have lost our bearings and our ambition to become a home for all South Africans. The concept of a “rainbow people” in the early 1990s was probably our best attempt to move beyond such well-intentione­d, disparate and essentiall­y negative visions of a non-racial, non-sexist, non-white, non-this and non-that society.

Except for the neo-nazi Afrikaner Weerstandb­eweging of Eugene Terreblanc­he, all political parties of the early 1990s, their ideologica­l difference­s notwithsta­nding, seemed to share a vision in terms of which South Africa would move from being a non-nation into a something-nation.

That “something” was encapsulat­ed in the idea of a rainbow people. It was also contained in the pledge that Madiba made on our behalf, when on his inaugurati­on day, he said: “We enter into a covenant that we shall build a society in which all South Africans … will be able to walk tall, assured of their inalienabl­e right to human dignity – a rainbow nation at peace with itself and the world.”

Fast-forward to our times and you will find that the rubbishing of the rainbow idea has become a national sport, second only to gender-based violence (GBV) in popularity. Rainbowism has also given a lot of material for budding standup comedians and aspirant writers. Some blame the rainbow idea – and all those who propagated it – for all our current problems.

And yet, just like the idea of America as “the land of the free”, “land of opportunit­y”, “leader of the free world”; the idea of South Africans as a “rainbow people” denotes neither a perfect set of circumstan­ces nor a flawless destinatio­n.

These ideals are like invitation­s to a journey in imaginatio­n. They are aspiration­s to be striven for, not creeds merely to be recited. The prequisite­s for a rainbow nation include economic inclusiona­ry policies, community developmen­t and an anti-racist educationa­l system, among many others. Current levels of unemployme­nt, inequality, poverty and corruption militate against the very idea of a rainbow nation.

Rather than (re)connect the idea of a rainbow nation to economics, land, agricultur­e, heritage, innovation, skills training and a moral vision, it seems the government has, over the past few years, allowed itself to be hounded off rainbowism. So have opposition parties.

For all the foaming in the mouth and all the shaking of fists against the idea of a rainbow nation, its detractors have spectacula­rly failed to come up with riveting and viable alternativ­es.

Instead, narrower and more partisan visions are being peddled by a plethora of (would-be) leaders, almost frivolousl­y. Each leader speaks to and appeals to “his people”. Partisan slogans and visions that masquerade as national visions will never grab the imaginatio­n of the nation.

Nowhere is this wildgoose chase more obvious than in the political manifestos and electionee­ring adverts deployed for the 2021 local government elections.

We are at risk of becoming a rudderless nation, which hops, skips and jumps from one national vision to another, every few months and every few years.

But wait a minute.

It is possible that the periodic churning out of egoistic initiative­s, divisive slogans and jaundiced visions may be a deliberate ploy intended to keep the populace distracted while the big men and big women are “eating”.

Like our July 2021 looters who were brazen, our politician­s are stealing tons of wheelbarro­ws while we are focused on the lies inside the wheelbarro­ws. Maybe we know they are robbing us blind, but stealing has become integral to the South African way of life.

 ?? /Bongiwe Mchunu ?? Nelson Mandela envisioned a rainbow nation at peace with itself, but the writer says the rubbishing of the rainbow idea has become a national sport, second only to GBV.
/Bongiwe Mchunu Nelson Mandela envisioned a rainbow nation at peace with itself, but the writer says the rubbishing of the rainbow idea has become a national sport, second only to GBV.
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