The Disease Of Tribalism

If you sit back and view South Africans through an hourglass, you’ll be amazed at the kind of people we are.  Forget diverse – we are just damn right bordering on insanity. South Africans rebuke racism in all its form, size and shape.  It’s a beast that no one wants to be associated with – black, white and whatever else forms part off the rainbow.

However, what boggles my mind is how we continue to sweep a very poignant issue under the carpet, the disease of tribalism that cuts through the rift of all blacks. This is a topic most people shy away from.  It gets tempers boiling. Try bringing the subject amongst your cross-cultural family and friends at party, chances are somebody will storm out! This is not a whinging report; we are just  lifting the lid on a taboo subject that South Africa has ignored for too long.

I first became aware of this dreadful disease when I went to high school. As a Venda boy who had only been exposed to other cultures via TV dramas like Bophelo ke Semphego, Deliwe and Matswakabele – I was naïve, well rather not prepared to what awaited me. My parents who had noble intentions to ensure that I get the best education enrolled me at a technical high school in Lebowakgomo, which is predominantly a Sepedi speaking community.  I was staying in the school’s boarding and needless to say, I become synonymous with names like lekwapa and others that are too derogative to write as part of this report. The one famously used was Venda boy, which I objected to but was always told that I was ashamed of being Venda, that I refute daily – it was the context on which the word was used that gored me to shreds.

It was then in high school that I became aware of something more sinister than racism, that it was another black child making another black child feel inferior. But when it’s all said and done, I had the best time of my life in high school and made some ling long friends, funny enough ke Bapedi and I wouldn’t  trade them for a dollar on the New York Stock Exchange. But this report is not about me, it’s about a subject matter that is bigger than all of us.

A friend of mine who worked at a municipality that will remain nameless for the sake of this report once told me that before the Polokwane conference, which forever changed the face of politics in this country – his municipal manager said to him that a Zulu man will never run this country, only Xhosas are smart enough to run the country. I wish I could dial up the manager’s number and find out if he still has a job.

The true extent at which tribalism as infuriated through our country came into full force during the elections,  some supporters of the current president  were being denied access to Union Building becomes he was Zulu.  Who can forget the black T-shirt that almost became a fashion trend, if not for their bad colour – they screamed and yelled “100% ZULU BOY” with the president’s face.

When Cope came into being, the issue of tribalism reared its ugly head again – one of the founders of the political, Sam Shilowa became a subject of derogative ridicule. The former MEC of Gauteng had apparently worn red socks at an event, the issue of red socks was blown out of proportion – it suddenly became news worthy, why? – Because he happened to be a Tsonga, who has been unashamedly stereotyped as colourful and lacking taste and sophistication. For Gabriel’s sake, they are just red socks – not a manifesto. Are we going to judge people on their dress sense or on what they are capable of?

There are some cultural stereotypes that have found roots within our communities,  Xhosa women are said to be gold diggers – a statement that once got a now jobless DJ suspend,  Tswana people are too materialistic – you see where I am going with this, I am sure you have heard similar or even worse stereotypes.  My own father had reservations about my brother marrying his wife, who happens to be Zulu – to him, she couldn’t be trusted – needless to say, she has turned out to be the rock that binds the family together. I for one once said to a dear friend of mine, she can’t be Xhosa, because if she was – I wouldn’t be her friend. In retrospective this just exposed my own prejudices, which I was not even aware of.   I have always thought of myself as liberal.

The Xenophobic attacks that once flooded Alexandra was just a sign of how things can quickly get out of control. I will not dwell on the reasons of the xenophobic attacks; our largely biased media did an intensive coverage on that. What shocked me was how ordinary South Africans were attacked for not looking South African enough. We have all heard stories of South Africans who are have been detained at Lindela for looking un-South Africa, what is the south look shap-shap?

Prince Mashile, a respected political analyst once wrote a very thought provoking article about the X-factor. The article was posted on an online site and I was surprised at the opinions that were expressed by those   reading it, others were for it, some were against it or just plain defensive. This is not the time to be blaming each other and dwelling on stereotypes – this is the time to find solution because ignoring the subject does not make it go away. The last thing I want is to see what happened in Rwanda happen in our beautiful country.

I think we need to break this barrier that imprisoned our parents and those who came before them. Even though the issues of tribalism is the aftermath of  Apartheid’s homeland division system , whose sole purpose was to keep  us apart so that we don’t know each other, fear each and hate each other – we can’t continue to blame it for our woes, we need to bring it out and address the issue.

“Men hate each other because they fear each other, they fear each other because they don’t know each other, they don’t know each other because they are separated from each other. And only by keeping the channels of communication can we know each other.”

Reverend Martin Luther King Jnr said these words n 1957, how ironic that they are still relevant even in 2009. I hope that this will open a platform of dialogue and we can debate and talk about this issue, South Africa is a land built on communication.

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