Can ANC survive the protest marches?
Tuesday, April 11, 2017
When the ANC was banned by the Apartheid regime in 1960, a social acquaintance from among the Alex sages, came to console me by telling me: ‘Mlike, don’t worry, relax! The Boers cannot kill the ANC; the ANC is rooted among the oppressed of SA.’ He went on to explain why and how the ANC was an integral part of the oppressed of South Africa. I disabused his mind of the utopianism in his head, and told him the ANC won’t sit back and expect history on auto-pilot. No, I told him ,the ANC will go underground and mobilise a revolution to overthrow the apartheid regime. Feigning nonchalant confidence was not going to work; it would only help the enemy consolidate the upward scale of oppression.
My acquaintance , nevertheless had a point. South Africa’s oppressed, were unlikely to swallow their oppression and forget ANC committed role for their freedom struggle. From the time of its formation, the ANC was known as, ‘Parliament of the people,’ the oppressed, not only of South Africa but the High Commission Territories: Basutoland, Bechuanaland and Swaziland protectorates. The Southern African Native National Congress (SANNC), as officially known at its inauguration, counted people of these territories as members. When dikgosi/chiefs in these areas, and it was the majority of them, joined the organisation, all tribespeople under the kgosi became members. The SANNC was an inalienable tradition of the Southern African colonised and oppressed natives. Moderate, modest and loyal, SANNC in its own courteous way, tried to endear itself to the foreign rulers by good manners hoping to be recognised in time. Jaw-jaw, not war-war was the wisdom of dikgosi. The Native Representative Council (NRC) was devised by the powers-that-be and for a while appeased some, until Paul Mosaka one of the firebrands then, pronounced it as a “toy telephone “ and advocated withdrawal!
The chieftainship spats between Seretse and Khama’s uncles have purely degenerated into a permanent elephant in the room and it does not seem anyone cares to ensure this hurdle is dealt with promptly for the attainment of peace for GammaNgwato’s bogosi.Just as the proverbial, when two elephants fight, it is the grass that suffers aptly suggests, and so is the state of the institution of bogosi in GammaNgwato.Such is the case because the...