Biko: Lessons from the other side

A black body sjamboked, tossed around, chained to a window frame and  spat upon while apartheid police officers enjoyed brandy. A defenseless yet defiant body was driven naked at the back of a police van 1000 km from Port Elizabeth to Pretoria. The subject of this black body shaming was Stephen "Steve" Bantu Biko, the father of Black Consciousness Movement of Azania.

Though this organic black intellectual died 39 years ago, his name still finds fond resonance with many a black folk. There's a plethora of valuable lessons still to be learnt from Steve Biko even beyond the grave. In Biko's loving memory,

I have opted not to eulogise him, but retrospectively contextualise his philosophy and shed light  on his student activism vis-a-vis current black man's imbroglios and #FeesMustFall wave that has seen South Africa go up in smoke. I will attempt to imagine how Biko would have engaged a black nation pertaining to economic marginalisation and academic exclusion.

Biko's greatest forte was organising students across the country. He's accredited for grooming proteges like Onkgopotse Tiro, Tsietsi Mashinini and Khotso Seatlholo. He realised from as early as the 60's that unlocking a young black mind from intellectual captivity was a potent catalyst for liberation of oppressed black nation. Though restricted to King Williams town, the former medical student was able to plant a "revolutionary seed"  that blossomed in 1976 student uprising.

Biko would have applauded #RhodesMustFall movement for taking the bull by its horns in refusal to kowtow to white-settler supremacy. Juxtaposed to current #FeesMustFall, he would advise students to apply presence of mind in identifying their common enemy and, not target centres meant for their cognitive development.

As a prolific author of his times, Biko would condemn setting study material on fire and wanton vandalism as recently witnessed at his alma mater, UZN. He would encourage students to develop their own study-funding models while intensifying their struggle for free-education.

If Biko was alive, he would denounce conspicuous absence of ANCYL president Collen Maine during #FeesMustFall protests. He would caution Maine to be hands-on in relation to struggles of young people, close leadership lacuna within youth ranks and maintain constant dialogue with young people via modern online publications and social media.His advice would be for Maine to prioritise youth and student struggles and refrain from being a micro-managed lackey for powerful individuals who harbour corrupt tendencies.

The acclaimed author of "I write what I like" would be exasperated with class fragmentation of a black nation. He would frown at proliferation of black bourgeoisie who have accrued luxuries through BEE and the ballot of the black poor. Biko would aptly call this bunch "White souls in black skin."

He would expect us to be vigilant against capitalist onslaught on our identity as a black nation like he famously said "The greatest weapon in the hands of the oppressor is the mind of the oppressed. So as a prelude, whites must be made to realise that they are only human - not superior. Same with blacks, they must be made to realise that they are also human - not inferior." He would lash out at those black leaders who drive around in tinted state-sponsored vehicles hiding away fro the very people who voted them into power.

The ardent follower of Frantz Fanon would have conferred accolades to young Zulaikha Patel for keeping her Afro at Eurocentric Pretoria High School for Girls. He would have spurred her not to apply European standards to measure her black beauty nor trade her blackness for anything European. If he was still in our midst, Biko would scold Kwaito star Mshoza for bleaching her black skin white. He would remind Mshoza "Black is beautiful."

His peers described him as "The authentic voice of the people, not afraid to say openly what othe blacks think but, are frightened to say." I define him as a metaphorical expression of black resistance against apartheid - an unrelenting black intellectual whose time had come. He would expect us to re-calibrate the consciousness of our blackness while being appreciative of other races that co-exist with us.

Absence of nascent black economy coupled with exploitative anti-black labour regulations, would be an affront to his emancipatory philosophy. He wouldn't want black consciousness to be restricted to academic corridors  only but, permeate to slums, informal settlements and rural areas where raw black poverty is the order of the day. He would question why the country still bears the name South Africa which came about as a result of 1909 British Act of Parliament. He would caution, Black man you are on your own.

SA trapped in quagmire of Zumacracy

Corridors of Turfloop University reverberated with ululation when it was announced that Jacob Zuma had won the race to become ANC president in December 2007. The sound of liberation songs ricocheted from one wall to the other. There he was in a brown leather jacket with a giggle that would later haunt South Africa. The same giggle that has made mockery of constitutional democracy.

I don't have luxury of time to chronicle all of President Jacob Zuma's misdemeanours as South Africa's Head of State. Let me however highlight a few that replaced our hard-earned constitutional democracy with Nkandla made concoction of Zumacracy.

First he stood in Parliament looking condescendingly at DA MP Lindiwe Mazibuko telling her he had obtained a loan from Wesbank to upgrade his homestead at Nkandla. Well, it later turned out that the man affectionately known as Msholozi had lied.

Lying to parliament alone, should have had Zuma removed as Head of State. Then he facilitated the landing of a private jet carrying 200 passengers at SA Airforce Waterkloof base. The jet was from India and belonged to his affluent family friend Atul Gupta. Needless to say the jet landed at national key-point area without guests being vetted.

Chief of state protocol Bruce Kholoane was made the fall-guy and was "punished" by Zuma with a high profile ambassadorial post in Amsterdam. Once again Zuma survived the chop, The rot continued full-blast while Zumacracy was eroding democracy enforcement institutions.

Then Zuma defied Public Protector's findings against him in relation to Nkandla upgrades. He unleashed a litany of cover-ups using every state apparatus at his disposal to eschew accountability. National Assembly Speaker and Ministers Nathi Nhleko and Naledi Pandor featured prominently in his arsenal.

Constitutional court affirmed Thuli Madonsela's report that Zuma and his family were "Secure in comfort" at the expense of poor South Africans. I was under illusion that constitutional democracy had finally won when Chief Justice Mogoeng Mogoeng said "The president thus failed to uphold, defend and respect the constitution." He said the president broke his oath of office.

Like any other object, I thought Zuma had succumbed to dictates of gravity. I was proven wrong. ANC MPs thwarted impeachment efforts against Zuma. Constitutional democracy was dealt a low blow and democratic accountability became a foreign jargon. Zumacracy permeated through the hearts of 233 men and women of "impeccable character."

Learned Professors and PhD graduates like Naledi Pandor, Angie Motshekga and Makhosi Khoza sold their souls to shield a giggling Grade: 4 drop-out. They wouldn't wipe the giggle off Zuma's face. As if Zuma and his acolytes had not brought South Africa enough damage - he had the gumption to interdict the release of Public Protector's report on State Capture. This is the report that contained graphic evidence of how Zuma was "siphoning public purse" through Gupta family.

Once again, Zuma survived this damning report and continued to giggle in Parliament when asked questions of national importance. This made me come to a conclusion that ANC's moral-currency had depreciated to an all time low.

The less I say about him costing South African economy R500bn by firing Finance Minister Nhlanhla Nene and replacing him with a man who couldn't run a minuscule municipality in Merafong the better. Zuma will go down history books as a suspect who faced 783 charges but, still managed to share a table with leading world presidents at G20 summits.

I woke up to a poignant reality that Zuma is beyond redemption - he is a product with defects that we can't send back to store for refund. Zuma is a costly liability that the poor masses can't afford to maintain. The only logical reason why Zuma has survived seven motions of " No Confidence" is that
Zumacracy is a deadly virus for which there is no antidote. Zuma is a run-away train without brakes and will crash into every democracy enforcement institution. Zuma's political mortality is an idea whose time has come.