Madikizela’s insecurity laid bare
The unfair treatment of Mbali Ntuli by acting DA Western Cape leader over a Facebook post has exposed his subservience to the party’s ‘white cabal’ and dislike for rising fellow blacks
ON FEBRUARY 26, after Bonginkosi Madikizela was elected as DA Western Cape acting leader, I declared: “With Madikizela at the provincial helm, with his submissive ‘careerist’ posture, black people in the DA will never stand up and demand justice. He is too subservient to the white DA cabal, killing the rising generation of younger blacks like Mbali Ntuli who are aggressively asserting their rights. Madikizela is too subservient to bring change as DA provincial leader.”
Almost prophetically, the independent thinking Ntuli, who had been among young and promising leaders who were giving the DA some modicum of a new identity over and against the entrenched white cabal culture, has been charged by the DA for something that defies ridiculousness as liking a Facebook post, in a logical and contextual conversation, a conversation that logically showed that “Helen Zille can only be racist”.
Is Madikizela, the very person I had warned about, who laid the charge against Ntuli, claiming that Ntuli must be prosecuted for liking that particular comment.
I am convinced that Madikizela knows that the white cabal is still not convinced that he is the most suitable person to lead the DA and as any insecure person does, he then spends tons of energy ensuring that he overcompensates, especially regarding matters relating to other black people and leaders.
Madikizela has always been a careerist who would rise by any means necessary and other blacks who are smart and rising, in a white party, pose a threat to his aspirations.
My sentiments about Madikizela came after the unceremonious and irrational resignation of Patricia de Lille as provincial chair, barely over a year into her tenure.
Again, I had been puzzled by the silence of leaders like Madikizela and other black leaders who I had felt had let De Lille down by not standing up for her and demand better answers on her resignation than the frivolous “she wants to focus on her mayor duties.”
But Madikizela, lurking at the edges as De Lille’s deputy, with a history of seeking to rise at all cost, saw this as a golden opportunity and sought no answers whatsoever. Madikizela, as De Lille’s deputy, should have been her first line of support, against all forces, inside and outside the party.
Ironically, after the Zille tweet, Madikizela himself said, “There is no way we can defend it. Of course it has offended people who were oppressed by colonialism. It will make our work of attracting the black voters a bit difficult.”
Madikizela continued: “This is bringing to the floor the debate of white superiority… when you imply Africa would not have what it has without whites, you are saying Africans are incapable of doing it themselves.”
What else could racism mean if not to imply white superiority and black inferiority?
For Madikizela to then turn on Ntuli for agreeing with him is the classic “black on black race on who is the whitest black of them all”.
In fact, in the run-up to the DA Western Cape leadership race, Madikizela accused some DA leaders and running mates of using race to discredit him.
So Madikizela can indulge his insecurities and use the race card when it threatens his career, but will be the first to point out other black leaders in the DA for doing the same.
Despite lamenting the same racism in the party, Madikizela himself has continued his melodramatic and condescending treatment of young black leaders in the DA, because they pose a huge threat to his fortunes in the party.
Paraphrasing Eusebius McKaiser who once said, “Of course, if you speak into an echo chamber of mostly white applause, then you can go to bed thinking you had saved the party from black guilt, on your way to the next Kumbaya-themed white acceptance speech.”
The biggest problem in the DA, exposed by the treatment of Ntuli vs the treatment of Zille is that whites are expected to be, well white, and blacks are expected to be non-racial.
Madikizela and other black leaders must never lose sight of the undeniable truth, expressed by Zille in her Daily Maverick article and her speech in the Provincial Legislature, “No group, however benevolent, can ever hand power to the vanquished on a plate. Blacks must accept that the limits of the white cabal are prescribed by the endurance of those whom they control. As long as black leaders in the DA continue to have the ‘beggar thy white neighbour attitude’, instead of demanding equality, the white cabal will continue with their racist and oppressive system.”
Addressing the first convention of the Universal Negro Improvement Association in 1919, Rev Alexander McGuire, a strong supporter of Macus Garvey, declared: “The Uncle Tom nigger has got to go, and his place must be taken by the new leader of the Negro race… not a black man with a white heart, but a black man with a black heart.”
Ntuli must be supported and Madikizela rejected. Wherever a black man is, he/she must wipe off his/her humble submissive ‘Uncle Tom’ smile and henceforth stand up and demand justice and equal treatment.
Ntuli must not be prejudiced for demanding consistency.
Diko is the ANC spokesperson in the Western Cape.
THE YEAR began with a highly-pitched intonation around the land issue as part of political monologue from different political players, and the ANC is no less an interlocutor on the matter.
The land issue represents a stark reminder that in spite of the long road travelled since our democratic breakthrough, the footprints of colonialism and apartheid in our country are as deeply entrenched as before.
The issue of land dispossessions is synonymous with the struggle against white oppression in South Africa. In fact, the land question has always occupied the overarching political question for the liberation movement. The Freedom Charter dedicated many of the compelling clauses on land as a foremost urgent political question within the context of anti-colonial struggle.
It is because of its centrality to our complete restoration of human dignity that, even today, 23 years into our post-apartheid setting, the issue is still a dominant political factor for our people.
It is cause for great excitement that there seems to be a renewed interest from the ANC in tackling this issue for South Africa’s real freedom. I pray that this commitment does not become an ephemeral design of 2017, beyond which it will not come to pass. There can be no real social justice and redress of the racial past malfeasances until such time as land is returned to those from whom it was stolen.
KwaZulu-Natal is one of the largest provinces and therefore with large numbers of people who lodged claims on the basis of previous racist land removals. The province, through the state, owns 50% of the land, while 46% is in private hands. The remaining 4% is as yet unaccounted for.
More than 16 000 land claims were lodged in KZN by the deadline of December 31, 1998. At end of March 2016, we had settled 15 280 land claims in KZN. In the process, over 821 297 hectares of land have been approved for restoration to successful claimants. KwaZulu-Natal has a bigger number of claimants than other provinces.
Government has spent in excess of R10 billion (R6.7bn on land acquisition R2.2bn on financial compensation, R1.2bn on development support) in settling these land claims and providing development support to some beneficiaries.
Currently, the province is left with about 1 900 land claims that are yet to be settled. One of the challenges that confronts the commission is the absence of adequate internal research capacity to research the outstanding land claims.
To mitigate this challenge, the commission is working with research institutions to finish research on all outstandingclaims.
On July 1, 2014, the legislation that reopened the lodgement of new claims by people who had missed the 1998 cut-off date came into operation. In KZN, we had two lodgement centres that claimants could use, Pietermaritzburg and Vryheid. During this window, in the Pietermaritzburg lodgement centre, about 33 341 lodgements were made while 6 389 lodgements were done in the Vryheid centre. The lodgement had to be halted because of the Constitutional Court ruling last year against the Amendment Act
As at end of March 2016, the number of new land claims lodged in KZN was sitting at 39 730. The government was taken to the Constitutional Court by Lamosa, challenging the validity of the Amendment Act that gave effect to the reopening of new claims without sufficient consultations. The Constitutional Court declared the Amendment Act invalid because of the failure of the National Council of Provinces and Provincial Legislatures to comply with its obligations to facilitate public involvement in accordance with the Constitution.
Parliament has been given 24 months within which to pass an Act that will re-open lodgement of claims. The Constitutional Court recognised that Parliament has an option whether to pass such a law.
Mthembu is the MEC for Agriculture and Rural Development in KZN.