Media mogul and actor Shona Ferguson has called out his black brothers and sisters for not holding each other accountable.
In a 15-minute video posted on his Instagram page he shared many positives about being black in South Africa, but made sure he let people know that they should also be held accountable for bringing other black people down.
In the caption he wrote: “YOU ARE WORTHY! Black brothers and sisters! You are worthy and deserving of love, happiness and success”.
Ferguson said he usually doesn’t do these kinds of posts, but felt compelled to address his brothers and sisters.
“I felt the need to speak to my brothers and sisters. Guys now is our time as black people to prove to ourselves that we are worthy of happiness, we are worthy of success, we are worthy of wealth, in that all the dreams we have is up to us to go out there and push to achieve the things we want to achieve,” he said.
Ferguson said the one thing that concerns him is that black people never hold each other accountable.
“It’s become so easy for us to blame someone else for something, but I’ve noticed that we don’t hold each other accountable.
“We allow certain things to happen within ourselves and our circles that we shouldn't. We never call each other out when we brutally and blatantly go out of our way to pull down and destroy another successful black person.”
He went on to say that it has become so normal to trash any black person who push and drive themselves to get out of their circumstances. And mentioned that “'The harder you work as a black man, the harder it gets”.
He said: “There is a saying, ”it’s lonely at the top“ - it shouldn’t be. I feel there is so much room at the top for every single big person, but it starts with us, accountability,” he said.
Ferguson’s fans praised the media mogul and added their voices to the post.
Vusi Thembekwayo said: “This is simple facts. I have looooong said, ’the enemy of black is black’.
“The truth is that ’black people’ do not have a collective agenda for their advancement.
“We have collective agenda for short-term politics, destructive communal habits and this PhD nonsense.
“But we do not have a collective agenda for our advancement.
“We see the the success of one as a reflection of the failure of many, rather than a sign of hope. Now, the knives are pointed at you.
“But stand your truth brother. We stand with you“.
While Siyabonga Shibe said: “I am so happy that you addressed this. You are stating facts on this ’pull a black man/sister syndrome’.
“We need to pride ourselves and be proud of the next fellow black person not to constantly look for the wrongs nor create the wrongs about that person to satisfy our pathetic selfish pride 🔥🔥🔥”.
And Nonto_b said: “Black people react faster to noise than they do to the truth 😢😢😢 sooo much truth in this.
“Funny enough, black people know these things but we choose ignorance and again making fun out of serious issues we need to be tackling head on within ourselves and black people... Aggh man😢”.