Posted on by michellebeeslaar

Heritage Month: History, Culture and Social Cohesion

How does knowing South Africa’s history contribute to celebrating our diverse culture and reinvigorate our vision of social cohesion?

South Africa celebrates Heritage Month annually in September, culminating on the 24th. The month, in the aftermath of Apartheid, is intended to provide an opportunity to create awareness of the diversity of the people in South Africa in terms of amongst other attributes – race, religion, tribes and ethnicities. Awareness firstly, but secondly and perhaps the most important since the advent of democracy in 1994: social cohesion.

Heritage month cannot be commemorated or celebrated in the absence of understanding the tumultuous history of the country. In what we may term our “modern” beginning, the San and Khoekhoen provide rich historical evidence for their hunter-gatherer and pastoralist lives as far back as 2000 years.

The first European settlement was commercial, through the Dutch East India Company or VOC which was the world’s first corporate conglomerate, initially intended for trade with India, but it soon became apparent that there were more opportunities for expansion and in 1652, South Africa was settled starting in the Cape. The settlement was intended as a docking station for ships but soon morphed into a colony. It’s worth noting that the Portuguese did land in South Africa in 1497 as part of Vasco da Gama’s voyage of “discovery”, but unlike the tales of myth; he and his company did not discover South Africa or settle in it at that time. The British Empire, who by now, had used its vast and strong naval fleet to become a major colonial power, moved to settle South Africa, to ensure the Dutch did not lay claim to the wide potential of resources, arriving initially in what is now known as Nelson Mandela Bay, in 1820.

Throughout the 1800s, European colonialists moved to occupy the country and divide  into four provinces: the Cape and Natal controlled by the British with Free State and Transvaal under the administration of the Dutch. The British moved quickly to extend its area into the northern part of the Cape as diamonds were discovered there from 1867. Later, the gold and gems discovered in the Free State and Transvaal led to bitter competition over mineral resources, resulting in the brutal Anglo-Boer War from 1899 to 1902.

Often glossed over is the slave history of the Cape Colony for over 200 years until 1834 when slavery was banned. Slaves were commodities that were sold and had their occupation and lives determined. The majority of slaves bought and sold within South Africa were from Angola, Guinea, India, Indonesia, Madagascar, Malaysia and Mauritius. From this infusion between the San, Khoekhoen, African tribes who had settled south, the colonialists and the slaves, emanated the language of Afrikaans, which particularly amalgamated Dutch with Malay. Added, religions such as Islam and Hinduism were brought to our shores alongside a variety of Christian missionary denominations. Augmenting, the slave culture mingled with the European colonials to create a race now known as Coloureds who were mixes of the races. They developed a culture of their own in how they used Afrikaans, traditional food, music, dance and cultural observances. Likewise, the British, Dutch, Huguenots who sought sanctuary from France, Indians, Khoekhoen and San each came and in time adapted their language, food and cultural practices, reinforcing their religious beliefs in the process.

This is the colonial history and it’s often unfortunate that  Black tribes, other than the San and Khoekhoen, find too large gaps in our history between this period to the 1900s.  Colonial apologists are fond of using the “empty land myth”, which attempts to argue that other than what they term the Khoi-San, the European colonialists and Black tribes arrived in South Africa at a relatively similar time and had equal claim to “undiscovered” land.  The closer truth is that Bantu tribes started moving and settling south around 500AD. Within this broad categorization were our Zulu ancestors. The Xhosas in turn formed part of the Nguni tribes, who also moved south and were thriving settled prior to the Dutch arrival in 1652. Likewise, by 1500, the Sotho and Tshwane had established solid chiefdoms. It is therefore a false narrative that Black Africans were not settled and had claimed South Africa as their home alongside the San and Khoekhoen, significantly before the Dutch, British, French Huguenot and also Portuguese i.e. European settlement.

Fast forward to 1900 and the White European population began to stamp its authority in terms of language, religion and creating a spatial planning that used a Black manual labour force, including freed slaves to extrapolate resources to be used and refined by the colonial powers to build the wealth and military might of their empires. From this period legislation was put in place to reinforce the practice. The African National Congress was established in 1912 to attempt to push back this minority rule. South Africa was granted independence from the British Empire and became a republic in 1961. Apartheid was legislated and the United Nations had declared it a crime against humanity in 1966. The indignity and impoverishment accompanied by harsh inequality of Blacks continued until a negotiated settlement that led to the first democratic elections in 1994, which the ANC won and within 2 years in 1996 a constitutional democracy was formalized with the adoption of the Constitution and Bill of Rights.

We could evaluate 26 years of ANC majority rule in South Africa, but that isn’t the point. The point is to use September to delve deeper into our history from 2000 years ago and fill in the blank spaces or add the details that may even surprise you. If we acknowledge that history is based on fact, not around the fire stories and we broaden our knowledge beyond our echo chamber, we move from commemorating Heritage Month to celebrating it.

Gift your neighbour or colleague a bowl of your traditional food.  Add a little note of its history. Eat the samosa, bunny chow or Gatsby. Think about how braai meat with pap and sous binds so many of us together. Look into learning, sharing information and understanding (before judging) on practices like circumcision, wearing a bindhi, Mosque call to prayer, why orthodox Jews won’t work on a Saturday, lobola, polygamy, why no visitors are allowed after the birth of a child in some cultures and how religions vary significantly in death and burial practices.

This September 2020, though the COVID_19 pandemic and subsequent lockdown has taken a heavy toll on many, we have an opportunity to take time to learn at least one small period in our history and from that, reach out a hand to say ‘tell & show me more and don’t forget the foods’. Life is for the living and we live in an incredibly diverse country with a complex history but also through openness of mind, heart and active citizenry, the ability to create a state of social cohesion, a state where socioeconomic equality is a norm, not a clash of culture or classes.

Posted on by michellebeeslaar

The Pandemic and the South African Public Service: An opportunity to eat or to feed?

On the 25 June 2020, the National School of Government hosted a webinar with Professor Stan Sangweni, the former Chairperson of the Public Service Commission.  The theme of the discussion between several hundred members of the public service, sector consultants and those pursuing further studies in politics and public administration was ‘Pandemics and their impact on public service performance: How to build the envisioned capable state? 

For those who know our Apartheid history and legacy of the African Nation Congress (ANC), Prof Sangweni started on a key point within the Freedom Charter, adopted in 1955 by what is now the first democratic governing party, the ANC, for the past twenty-six years – ‘We the people shall govern’. In other words, all matters of governance in South Africa needs to emanate from this basic, inalienable right. Sadly, individuals and communities have ceded their power to politicians and in doing so have weakened the chain of accountability and transparency. The people have abdicated this right and the government have normalized it. 

Twenty-six years into democracy and on the back of institutionalized colonial and Apartheid systems that have been challenging to dismantle; South Africa is rated as the most inequitable country in the world. An assessment of the state of the nation cannot exclude the state of the public sector who is empowered by the constitution to be the service delivery hand of government. According to a 2019 Stats SA  report, the South African population is 58,78 million. The public sector, specifically employed to create a developmental state that builds enabling conditions for all of those residing in South Africa, consists of 2,108,125 public servants across the three tiers (local, provincial and national), costing the country the largest portion of its budget – 34%. Effectively a third of what South Africa spends on is not actual services, infrastructure, capital investment into rural and secondary industry, let alone education – just on employees, not resources. 

1994 delivered political freedom to the majority of South Africans, who lived under minority-rule Apartheid which, created spatial planning whose impacts are still felt harshly today in transport, housing, probability of class mobility, access to quality education and base physiological needs. The political freedom has not been sufficiently accompanied by economic emancipation. Socioeconomic conditions in South Africa from substance abuse to gender based violence to continued homelessness and food insecurity remain a pandemic in themselves – a pandemic of poverty, inequality and unemployment. 

The COVID_19 pandemic has forced us from the comfort and loyalties, making many South Africans question the calibre of politicians across political parties, our system of governance, the role and reform of the public sector. Politically significant is that the pandemic has added vocal voices to “we cannot defend the indefensible”, especially after the harrowing years of blatant state capture. Citizens simply have no stomach or tolerance for the public servant vultures who now openly eat from the coronavirus carcasses.

The almost daily revelations of corruption, which at its core means people are not accessing proper food, shelter, healthcare or education in a country with the 5th highest number of cases, resulted in the President stating in his national address on 23 June 2020 that ‘More so than at any other time, corruption puts our lives at risk’. These are apt words, but the populace want action – criminal justice. 

There is a point whether by the hands of the constitutional judgement on electoral reform or the structural adjustment changes that will accompany the soon to be inevitable International Monetary Fund and World Bank bailout loans beyond COVID_19 relief, as well as conditions from other bilateral arrangements, if not by sheer force of population anger, that public sector reform will come. It’s the only path to spend more of our GDP on service and developmental tools instead of employees. We no longer have the luxury of spending R34 of every GDP R100 on a public sector wage bill. 

Reform is not a simple 123. It is going to take time, which is something citizens tired of talk don’t want to hear. We are not simply building a public service that is fit for purpose; we are changing the hearts and minds of South Africans, through civic education, of what our constitution determines and demands our public sector should be. There is good and bad news. 

The bad news is that a professional and exceptional public service will not become a reality without immediate and decisive political will. The Executive response to the revelations of corruption in the awarding of critical, life-saving Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) tenders will be telling in whether a momentum of this political will can be sufficiently built. I argue here, without the delving into detail, that the starting point is a Cabinet reshuffle that supports President Ramaphosa in the accountability, transparency and professionalism he seeks. Added, the criminal justice system must reorganized to prioritize these cases, to regain public with more harsh sentencing serving as a deterrent for further state resource exploitation. 

The good news is that the answers don’t need more commission or consultants. The Freedom Charter, on which our constitution is based makes it clear that the people should govern through an appointed Executive, based on free and fair elections, accompanied by a professional and apolitical public service. Specifically Chapter 10 spells out the purpose of government reiterating in Section 18 that the public service is a career of choice. The Bill of Rights, notably Section 27 sets out the basic needs that must be met. When coupled with the National Development Plan, notably Chapter 13 on the public sector, there is a step by step guide for public servants to deliver what is legally required and beyond. 

Our constitution is a blueprint for elected servant leaders, professional public servants – a map to Eldorado, not fabled city, but how to realistically overcome inequality, poverty and unemployment. For me, the biggest stumbling block is not the ruling party or the government, but the absence of an active citizenry that holds elected office bearers and appointed public servants accountable and insists on horizontal governance that partners citizens with government, thereby creating a transparency that the founders of the constitution missed in their oversight of instilling mechanisms for dealing with state corruption or extended capture. The pandemic offers South Africans an opportunity to hold those who “eat” state resources to account in order to reform our public sector to “feed” our country based on our constitution and NDP. We the people, can and must govern.