On the 24th of September last year I was involved in a heated radio debate on SAFM with the black activist and outspoken artist, Ntsiki Mazwai, after her allegations that White South Africans hijacked Heritage Day for their own celebrations and now call it “Braai Day”.
This is, of course, utter nonsense – there never was a National Heritage Day before 1994, it is still officially called National Heritage Day (not Braai Day) and as far as I know the purpose of the day is for all cultures and customs in the country to celebrate THEIR OWN heritage, not for everybody to celebrate the Black South African culture and customs. Besides, a remarkable number of white South Africans are so poor these days, I doubt they can afford anything to braai (barbeque) today.
It seems Ntsiki learned a few insights in the year gone by. In her latest open letter to Black South Africans she actually says a few things which make sense. I quote:
“Dear Black people….
So let me get this right….. u wear white people’s hair; you bleach your skin; you wear suits; take your kids to white schools; you don’t know your languages, customs and traditions; you swopped iizangoma for Christianity; u prefer white neighbourhoods and look down on places where there are many blacks; you laugh at blacks who don’t know English and call them backwards; u even replaced your pan African anthem with one they killed you with; you don’t know your own history but know Europe’s history; You hail EVERYTHING which is not African and then you have the nerve to say ‘it does not make me unAfrican?????” WTF *_*
The truth is, if you are ashamed of what you are and what you look like……you’ll NEVER be at the top of the food chain. It means you NEED to be led.
So black people…..who are you?
You are so busy behaving white, Do you even remember who you are?” (Unquote)
I have to admit that I am not particularly involved in the Black struggle for identity. I am more concerned with the white loss of it.
The renowned Harvard academic, professor Samuel Huntington, published a book in 1996 titled “The clash of civilizations” in which he predicted that Black South African students will lead a huge movement for “Africanization” – but that this Africanization will be only political and cultural, not economical and academic.
We witness that every day. The political unrest on our University Campuses, the demands by the ANC Youth League for the removal of Heritage sites, the outspoken and challenging tone of political oratory by young black political leaders is evidence of this prediction now coming true. Not only is the demand for the “African democracy” (which, according to Zuma, does not make allowance for corruption as a crime, that is apparently a Western concept) – but also for the advancement of the African culture and custom. The last two elements of a nations existence, the economy and the education, alas remains in the darkness of tribal Africa.
My concern is: To what extent do we take part in this Africanization? Too often do I hear friends and colleagues say: “I am African.”
You are not. You cannot be African and then have Western customs, values and beliefs. The Afrikaner/Boer people is a Western Nation living in Africa, and that is our uniqueness. If we allow ourselves to become Africans by adopting African values and customs above our own, we are indeed only black people with white skins – for the moment at least. Pretty soon we will not be white anymore.
We do not believe in primal religions, we do not worship ancestors, we do not recognise the authority of traditional tribal leaders…and if we do, then we are the creators of our own identity crisis. The question arose this morning in a conversation : What was taken from us and what is left to celebrate on this Heritage Day?
Well, we have quite enough to celebrate for the moment. In my humble opinion the question should rather be: What did we give away? What are we still sacrificing? How much will we still leave behind of who we are in favour of becoming what we are not? In fact, the question boils down to this: Let us admit our own part in what has happened to us as a nation and let us take responsibility for what we can do to save of what is left to us. That is the true spirit of Heritage Day.
Daniël Lötter
FNSA Information
South Africa Today – South Africa News
