Blacks need white people: iLIVE

On the May 20, 2013, African Union ( AU) will be celebrating 50 years of Africa’s independence, alas albeit there would be no reason for celebration for Africa’s people as they continue to experience violent civil wars, corruption, poverty and neglect at the hands of weak leadership by African politicians.

Therefore, celebrating the independence of Africa will only be confined to the elite, the African politicians who continue to loot resources of  African nations for their respective families and friends under guise of their respective people.

I have accused many people of being white apologists, and certainly been accused as being one too. It’s supposed when a black person is being accused of being a white apologist that he/she should change stance on that issue to a radical stance to prove that he/she is not apologetic and that he/she is with his fellow African black brothers and sisters.

Well, to hell with being with my nincompoops brothers and sisters for the sake of defending Africa against former imperialists, in fact I think imperialists were even better than the leaders that we are subjected to in Africa these days.

The little glimmer of hope that was there which inspired many with the birth of African Union (AU), NEPAD and Africa Peer Review Mechanism has all but lost its spark. In fact at times one come very close to saying Africa is better off in the hands of the imperialists that in those of African leaders who are only obsessed with empty political ideology shouting and sloganeering, this inspired by the fact that imperialists at least provide the basics for Africans, jobs, food, shelter and security.

There are subtle ways African people coerce one another into changing their perceptions and views about things, being accused of being a sell-out, nostalgia or being a coconut or political insult, a liberal.

Sadly, anything that’s related to imperialism is regarded in racial terms in Africa as being white and that which is African as being from the black race, being black in this instance being any other race in Africa other than the whites.

Well in these terms, it then donned on me that blacks need white people in Africa more than anywhere else in the world. Think about it, imagine if say President of Zimbabwe Robert Mugabe was the President of the county with the most powerful army in the world, United States of America, do you think we would be spared of any wars in Africa of the world?

Maybe say if President Jacob Zuma was the Prime Minister of Britain, would he still be in office in Britain after all the accusations he has faced prior and during his tenure in office? The point is, Africans are more tolerant and understanding and apply democratic statutes to the letter, in religious terms Africans (black people) are more Christian than Christ, more catholic than the pope, in racial terms blacks are more civilised than civilisation.

On the other hand, imperialists (white people) know very well that tolerance can be tacit approval and therefore they are intolerant.

Take for instance, in US, there was a former president whom apparently got his private member sucked by a  young female intern consensually, he was howled  over coals and impeached and he nearly lost his office. I am sure by now many say, oh please, interns or even secretaries suck private members of many government politicians in Africa, who cares?

In fact, by the time one finish reading this column, there are thousands of private members of African politicians who would have been sucked dry, either by a government official, intern, secretary or fellow politician female colleague. Well, white people take exception to such behaviour and are intolerant, irrespective of consent.    

Therefore, I am sure you would thus agree with me that blacks need white people particularly in Africa. First, black politicians need white philosophers for ideological lineage, like Karl Marx so that they can continue to verbose empty rhetoric while African people continue to live in squalor.

In fact Marx is more popular in Africa than in his country of birth Germany, he’s quoted more in Africa than anywhere else in the world. His fellow countrymen and Chancellor of Germany, Angela Merkel never quoted him even once in her tenure, again another evidence that blacks are more Marxist than Marx.

Blacks need white people, I asked a fellow in Soweto last week, what he knows about rhinos, his reaction was in vernacular, “kanti yini indaba nabobhejane? Phela mfwethu ukuba ngingahlangana nobhejane ehlathini mina ngingawukhahlameza” (what’s the issue with rhinos?

My brother, mark my words if I could come across a rhino in the bush, I would kill it too.

Frankly, in many black people’s areas in Africa, you are more than likely to get the same sort of response, goes to show, blacks need white people to teach them to care for the environment.

In the Eastern Pondoland of  South Africa, there has been a tradition practiced by blacks for many years know as, “ukuthwala”, this meant a man would steal a woman of his interest  without consent of her parents, family nor herself at times.

Blacks needed white people to teach them that was an unacceptable practice and whites branded it, kidnapping, in order for black to desist continuation with the tradition. Until recently,  many black man would boast of having taken turns having sex with one woman and how she reacted differently with each man encounter, suggesting private member size difference, etc, this practice in African townships is known as “ukufolela”, (being in a queue), it took white people to teach blacks that the practice amounts to rape and is barbaric.

Goes to show blacks need white people..

Azania Matiwane is a businessman based in the Western Cape and a Chairperson and founder of a civic organisation, South African Economic Forum (SAEF) which  performs economic policy research and advocacy, writing in his personal capacity.