MCEBO DLAMINI
IN SOUTH Africa, black people have to work hard to be integrated in a system that was meant to exclude them and, once in the system, they have to ensure they do not offend those who control the system.
Dali Mpofu is under fire again after his appearance at the Judicial Service Commission during interviews for the chief justice position.
The General Council of the Bar has stated that it received several complaints about the senior council’s conduct and they believe he has “brought the advocate profession and administration into disrepute”.
The accusation is that he descended into character assassination, he has sexist tendencies and unacceptable behaviour.
Pseudo pundits also had opinions about Mpofu, one called Adriaan Basson went as far as calling Mpofu “a legal nincompoop and scoundrel”.
If we existed in a country that was not deeply divided and obviously failing to conceal these divisions, we would perhaps read the statements as objective remarks or an innocent practice of the freedom of speech but they are not.
In this piece I am not too invested in defending the allegations levelled against Mpofu although I do acknowledge the arbitrariness and the laced racial undertones associated with the allegations. It is important to take note of the fact that most of the senior members of the Bar are white.
In our South Africa that presents a façade of a united rainbow nation, it’s easy to see this detail as insignificant.
But the reality is that despite the many attempts to conceal the fact that South Africa is deeply racially divided, many incidents show how the problem of this county is the colour-line.
The uneven distribution of wealth, fear, pleasure and desires is hugely determined by race. The economic and social hierarchies place white people at the top and black people at the bottom. We cannot wish this reality away. It is the basis from which our analysis ought to emanate.
There are black people who have worked extremely hard and have managed to be incorporated in the sectors and spaces that were previously an exclusive preserve of white people.
Their incorporation does not necessarily mean that they are free from the effects of the after-life of apartheid.
To remain in the spaces they have to be a particular kind of black person. They must not be too loud, pro-transformation but not too much, they have to speak in a certain way and be sure not to call out white privilege.
This is to say that for a black person to enjoy a sustained existence in the spaces they have to be palatable to white sensibilities. Failure to do this often results in exclusion.
It must be remembered that the curse of the black is that they are hated as much as it is necessary, necessary as labour, to fill quotas so that companies can qualify for procurement.
The call for Mpofu to be removed must be read against this backdrop. What has he done to ruffle the feathers of the untouchables? How did the Bar reach the conclusion? Has there been other instances or has he put the Bar into disrepute over the incident of the past couple of days?
The fact that Mpofu is openly a member of the EFF is, I assume, unappreciated by many of the members of the Bar, given how the EFF is openly against racism and its pro-policies that seek to disturb the comfort of those who unduly benefited from apartheid.
Yes, it always involves politics and the lie propelled by liberals that the law is not affected by the politics of the time. The Adriaan Basson article is a perfect demonstration that most of the critics who want the interview processes to be re-started could be disappointed that their preferred candidate was not recommended.
Mpofu is not the first black professional who is made to feel inadequate and unfit for his job. Many black professionals experience this daily in their respective spaces of employment.
Frank Wilderson always suggests that the unconscious is important in that in many ways it informs the conscious. This is why people deny and sometimes do not even see when their actions and judgements are informed by their prejudice towards the black image.
What is also important to note is that a black person does not need to necessarily be opposed to the interests of the white to be excluded.
Exclusion sometimes happens gratuitously, meaning there need not be any substantial evidence, for example, that Mpofu in fact did put the Bar into disrepute or is indeed a nincompoop.
It is enough that those who have the power have named him.
Mcebo Dlamini is a Black Consciousness scholar, and an LLM student majoring in Jurisprudence, Constitution, Bill of Rights and Administrative law.
Daily News