A while ago Mongameli Bobani, the leader of the UDM in the Eastern Cape and coalition partner of the DA in the Nelson Mandela Bay Metropole, addressed a meeting in Port Elizabeth on the issue of statues and buildings dating from history.
We have read, with great amusement, of the complete idiot he made of himself at the meeting of the Municipal Public Accounts Committee of the Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality.
If his downright racist, subjective and incorrect statements were of more concern to us, we might have been more upset by it, but he was obviously very lost in cloud cuckoo-land, so let us try and correct it. And please don’t accuse us of making a fool of him, it is quite clear that he is managing exceptionally well on his own in that department.
The theme of Bobani’s questionable contribution was the destruction of colonial and other heritage sites. He started his bout of verbal diarrhoea by saying: “We must destroy the buildings that will bring back apartheid…”
What he actually needs to destroy is the demon that is haunting him of his irrational fear for the return of apartheid. He sees the ghost of apartheid around every corner, behind every tree stump, underneath every chair, couch and bed. Fact is, apartheid has been dead for 28 years, since FW de Klerk announced its passing on that Tuesday, 2 February, almost 30 years ago.
White South Africa destroyed apartheid as easily as it had created it. And yet, Bobani, and thousands like him, still live in the superstitious nature of dark Africa. If not, kindly explain to us how a building, a creation of sand and stone and brick and iron can be blamed for the creation of a political ideology? No building can ever bring back apartheid, but the current government consisting out of people, is doing that in reversed form with its oppressive racial labour laws, expropriation legislation and public statements condemning the presence of a white minority in this country.
Apartheid is rising its head again – ANC style. You must be scared of people, Bobani, not of ghosts and buildings.
And yet, the tradition of Africa is to destroy the visible symbolism of the inconvenient and hope the inconvenient will go away. We had rather hoped black South Africa would’ve learned that history will never change just because we demolish heritage sites, change the names of town and streets and murder and massacre elderly white people who might or might not have voted for the apartheid government. Alas not, “leaders” such as Bobani are as superstitious still as the old woman in the rural backlands of Kwazulu or Transkei who puts her bed on bricks so that the Tokoloshe cannot reach her at night to sexually inconvenience her.
The statement “…so we must destroy everything to do with apartheid and colonialism” is equally idiotic, if not more so. Imagine for a moment we start doing so: Do we then destroy Soweto, Botshabelo, Khayelitsha, Thokoza? Do we destroy every road and bridge of the infrastructure which apartheid South Africa created with the labour of poor whites after the Depression of 1933?
Do we destroy the Houses of Parliament and be governed by Ramaphosa holding an indaba / lekgotla / or council meeting under a tree? (Parliament does remind one of something like that these days, come to think of it!) Exactly what is to be left after the destruction? We’ll tell you: sweet blow-all!
Because what you have in this country this day was created by the British Colonial Empire and the governments succeeding it up unto 1994. Before 1652 you had nothing, in fact, you were not even here. If you want to destroy everything that was created, kindly destroy back to the point where the destruction mongers such as yourself are not here anymore either.
Front Nasionaal always said: Let us respect the contribution and heritage of every ethnic group in this country and strive towards living in harmony as neighbours, each group with the right to govern themselves according to the constitution. What do you expect will remain to govern if you destroy everything?
And still he carried on making a dipstick of himself in public. “Their forefathers built those statues to oppress our forefathers.” It honestly doesn’t say much favourable for his forefathers if they allowed themselves to be oppressed by a statue! But yes, the statue of Queen Victoria and the man on the horse might not be to his liking. He won’t appreciate the statue of Cecil John Rhodes or Louis Botha or Paul Kruger on Church Square. Zuma was certainly dead scared of being oppressed by the Statue of Jan van Riebeeck in Adderley Street.
We understand that. We even respect that. But then kindly understand that we feel humiliated and offended by that monstrosity of a Mandela statue outside the Union Buildings for which the statue of Genl Hertzog was removed. We feel disgusted by the statue of Shaka in KZN because he was a genocidal tyrant. If we start removing, then these will have to go as well.
Bobani ended off by: “It is a fact that their forefathers were the architects of apartheid.”
Why did they decide to adopt the policy of apartheid? What was it that made a people who came here with open minds realise that the western civilisation is incompatible with Africa and that, if they wanted to retain their custom, culture and religion and their democratic Western values, they will need to create separate development? What was it that caused those “forefathers” to say: We don’t see any other way? Maybe time to look at that question: What was black South-Africa’s part in the creation of apartheid?
Quite so, the forefathers of the European South African were the architects of apartheid. Does that give the current day black South African the right to be the architect of corruption, revenge, racism, genocide and destruction? We think not, because in destroying our history, they are also destroying our future and already preparing themselves to put the blame for that on apartheid (again!).
They might have the POWER to do so since 1994, but the RIGHT to do so, that we deny them.
Read the original article on Front Nasionaal SA
South Africa Today – South Africa News
