George Devenish
Richard Pithouse has written a thought-provoking piece, titled “A force for political renewal”, in the Cape Times of March 25 and “Rhodes: remnant of repression cause for discomfort, then distress” in The Star of March 27.
The present furore occurring on the campuses of English language universities, such as UCT, Rhodes and UKZN, demands a concerted reflection by English-speaking persons on the consequences of British colonialism in South Africa, 21 years after the advent of democracy.
The oppression of the indigenous persons of South Africa and, indeed, all persons of colour, was not exclusively the result of apartheid and Afrikaner nationalism, but also has its roots in British colonialism and imperialism that took root with the coming of the British at the beginning of the 19th century, with a policy of divide and rule.
The British were ruthless imperialists, who, like Caesar, came, saw and conquered both the Nguni people and the Boers. There was much shedding of blood on the battlefields. Such conduct acquired for them an empire on which the sun did not set.
Both colonialism and imperialism were premised on the accepted inferiority of indigenous people, who were unconscionably subjected and exploited for the benefit of the metropolitan and imperial power.
More than any person in the history of southern Africa, Cecil John Rhodes epitomised the avarice and exploitation of indigenous people with political ruthlessness. It was a painful and disastrous legacy that has outlived, by more than a century, Rhodes and his ilk to still be with us today. It demands a response from us who, together with our forebears, were privileged from and benefited by the exploitation of the indigenous people of this land.
The question is: how do we as a nation address this issue? There is no simple answer to a serious and complex issue at a time when our society, economy and body politic is in need of urgent and meaningful transformation.
Julius Malema has proposed a ruthless, irresponsible and simplistic response. As reported in the press (The Sunday Independent, March 22, 2015, “Malema calls for destruction of apartheid-era symbols”), he has challenged South Africans to break the law and tear down any symbol that reminds them of apartheid, including the statue of Louis Botha outside Parliament. He wants them to “crush” the Cecil John Rhodes statue at UCT. He has intimated that he is not worried about being arrested for public violence.
What he is saying is that it is permissible to use violence as a political tool, and he is inciting others to do exactly this. Malema, by his own admission, is advocating conduct that is both illegal and unconstitutional. The Malema option must be categorically rejected. This does not mean that as a country we do not need urgent transformation, and that this process must include the symbols of a bygone era that cause profound offence to black people in our country. Indeed, there is an urgent need that there should be an informed and intelligent discourse on this issue between the different roleplayers.
The challenge to our leaders is to facilitate such discussion. Furthermore, a university is a forum where such a discourse should be taking place. The episode relating to Rhodes’ statue at UCT has focused on the urgent need for transformation, which should be an inclusive process and must involve all the roleplayers.
The debate should involve not merely the removal of symbols, but the issue of institutional racism and social and economic inequality that disadvantaged persons are subject to.
This cannot be achieved instantaneously but requires a process. Inciting persons to violence and unlawful and unconstitutional conduct is the very antithesis of such a process, which must by its nature be robust.
What is also required for transformation, more than anything thing else, is strong and inspired political leadership that facilitates dynamic and imaginative initiatives. Besides such action, we also need intellectually honest reflection. In this regard, the preamble to the constitution provides some guidance:
We the people of South Africa
Recognise the injustices of the past
Honour those who suffered for justice and freedom in our land
Respect those who have worked to build and develop our country
Believe that South Africa belongs to all who live in it in our diversity.
The above sentiments indicate how we as a nation and individuals should go about the process of transformation. We need to take from the past what was noble and good, and urgently redress what is wrong and unjust and causes distress and pain.
Although colonialism and imperialism were morally and politically indefensible, the British connection also brought much that has immeasurably benefited and developed this country and its people, such as, inter alia, the English language with its incomparable literature, such as plays of Shakespeare, the authorised version of the Bible and the Book of Common Prayer, a parliamentary system of government, the rule of law, the freedom of the press, a system of public administration and justice, and the Christian religion.
Among the British who came to our shores were a small minority of men and women of profound moral and spiritual courage who kept libertarian values alive, and championed the rights of people of colour and made themselves very unpopular with the white colonists and the colonial and apartheid governments – people such as Dr John Philip of the London Missionary Society; Bishop Colenso; WP Schreiner; Olive Schreiner; Emily Hobhouse; Allan Paton; Edgar Brookes; Margaret Ballinger; and Helen Suzman.
Although we should be justly proud of them, as we are of our freedom fighters, such as, inter alia, Mandela, Sisulu, Joe Slovo and Albie Sacks, it does not absolve us as economically and culturally privileged English-speaking South Africans of culpability, but should motivate whites in general, including English-speaking persons, to energetically contribute to a process of healing through political and socio-economic transformation.
We cannot change history, but we are able to make a singular difference by sharing our wealth of knowledge, and empowering and emancipating black people out of poverty and underdevelopment. This is indeed the challenge that confronts us.
We need to urgently transform our country and its institutions, without harming what is successful and meritorious in other respects in them.
UCT, UKZN and Rhodes universities, inter alia, are world-class learning and research institutions of higher learning par excellence. We need to transform them in a way that we preserve their international standing and credibility for the benefit of all our people.
South Africans, having crafted an exemplary constitution, need to promote genuine transformation by interaction and intelligent negotiation, and reject the simplistic depredations of those in the body politic who wish to cause anarchy and disorder by illegal conduct, such as vandalism, for short-term and superficial political gain in the name of transformation.
l George Devenish is Emeritus Professor of Public Law at UKZN and one of the scholars who assisted in drafting the interim constitution in 1993