I shook hands with the Superintendent and boarded my taxi. I spent that night in Bulawayo at the YMCA, 9th Avenue. I slept deeply; I was mentally exhausted and spiritually devastated. I only had one consolation, a hope, however remote. I hoped that when the ANC came into power in South Africa, we would not do the things Ron Peters had said we would do. We would learn from the experiences of other African countries, maybe Ghana and Nigeria, and avoid coups d’etat and civil wars.
In 2007 at Polokwane, we had full-blown power struggle between those who supported Thabo Mbeki and Zuma’s supporters. Mbeki lost the fight and his admirers broke away to form Cope. The politics of individuals had started in the ANC. The ANC will be going to Maungaung in December to choose new leaders. Again, it is not about which government policy will be best for South Africa; foreign policy, economic, educational, or social policy. It is about Jacob Zuma, Kgalema Motlhante; it is about Fikile Mbalula or Gwede Mantashe. Secret meetings are reported to be happening, to plot the downfall of this politician and the rise of the other one.
Why is it not about which leaders will best implement the Freedom Charter, the pivotal document? Is the contest over who will implement the Charter better? If it was about that, the struggle then would be over who can sort out the poverty, landlessness, unemployment, crime and education for the impoverished black masses. How then do we choose who the best leader would be if we do not even know who will implement which policies, and which policies are better than others? We go to Mangaung to wage a power struggle, period. President Zuma himself has admitted that ‘in the broad church the ANC is,’ there are those who now seek only power, wealth and success as individuals, not the nation. In Zimbabwe the fight between President Robert Mugabe and Morgan Tsvangirai has paralysed the country. The people of Zimbabwe, a highly-educated nation, are starving and work as garden and kitchen help in South Africa.
What the white man told me in Bulawayo in 1980 is happening right in front of my eyes. We have political power and are fighting over it, instead of consolidating it. We have an economy that is owned and controlled by them, and we are fighting over the crumbs falling from the white man’s ‘dining table’. The power struggle that raged among ANC leaders in the Western Cape cost the ANC that province, and the opposition is winning other municipalities where the ANC is squabbling instead of delivering. Is it too much to understand that the more we fight among ourselves the weaker we become, and the stronger the opposition becomes?
Thula Bopela writes in his personal capacity, and the story he has told is true; he experienced alone and thus is ultimately responsible for the ideas in the article
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This post was last modified on August 7, 2020 8:08 am
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what vthe zim wite man told me
The core issue is this: when we abandon our own governance and cultural systems in favor of borrowed colonial models, we inherit problems that don’t serve Africa’s needs. Europe’s system - now struggling with economic crises, proxy wars, and foreign pressure-are hardly perfect. Why should we assume they’ll work for us?
Zimbabwe’s history shows this tension. Western-backed opposition, sanctions, and imposed economic models disrupted self-determination. Yet, African resilience persists - whether in land reforms, wartime victories and a little further north, Capt. Koki (She flies Boeing 777s) and Chege wa Gachamba who flew his home-made plane in Karatina in the early 60’s.aviation feats.
Agriculture is another example: Africans mastered soil and farming long before Europe was a recognizable society. Why must we follow European methods instead of adapting our own?
The solution isn’t blind imitation but sovereignty—in politics, economics, and culture. BRICS offers an alternative financial model, and our history proves we thrive when we think for ourselves.
There are many other holes that can be blown in this white man’s arguments which are based on moral solitude and sour grapes. We just don’t have time to get into them
Our quest is this - How can Africa build systems rooted in its own wisdom, not colonial leftovers? The future belongs to those who define it—not those chasing validation from abroad.