Fwd: Sweep colonial cobwebs from your identity
Funani ka Ntontela
From: Mandla Hanise <mandla...@gmail.com>
Date: Tue, Aug 17, 2010 at 10:25 AM
Subject: Fwd: Sweep colonial cobwebs from your identity
To: Malibongwe Ndyebi <Malibong...@capetown.gov.za>, Masikane Mapena <map...@vwsa.co.za>, "Dick, Lungile" <dic...@vwsa.co.za>, Lungile Phillips <bha...@yahoo.com>, Funani ka Ntontela <funanika...@gmail.com>, Sthembiso Bell <Sthembi...@gepf.co.za>, Michael Vuyani Dayile <MDa...@sars.gov.za>, Sibongile Dondashe <sibon...@raf.co.za>, Sibongile Dondashe <sibongile....@gmail.com>, Mbulelo Ntlabati <Mbulelo....@uct.ac.za>
From: <webm...@timeslive.co.za>
Date: Tue, Aug 17, 2010 at 9:13 AM
Subject: Sweep colonial cobwebs from your identity
To: mandla...@gmail.com
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Sweep colonial cobwebs from your identity
Mosibudi Mangena: Minds shackled by traditions of the former oppressor cannot serve Africa as it needs to be served, writes Mosibudi Mangena
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Aug 14, 2010 3:03 PM | By Mosibudi MangenaMosibudi Mangena: Minds shackled by traditions of the former oppressor cannot serve Africa as it needs to be served, writes Mosibudi Mangena
Although we freed ourselves from colonial rule many decades ago, in some cases after waging bitter struggles with heavy casualties, the unfortunate reality is that we are indeed still psychologically oppressed, and that struggle for the liberation of the mind is a thousand times harder to wage than the anti-colonial one.
The educated element in our society constitutes the most important agents of colonial mentality in Africa. This group models itself after the former colonial masters in almost everything it does. In fact, the temptation is strong to imagine that the African intelligentsia fought for freedom in order just to take the place of the colonialists over the masses without changing the essence of what the latter did to the colonised.
The mode of government of the former colonial power, its institutions and traditions are replicated almost exactly by the liberated country, the only difference being the replacement of Caucasian faces with Negroid ones. Naturally, there would be a new flag and a new national anthem to suggest the birth of a new and proud nation.
The language of debate in parliament and of doing state business must be colonial, and the fact that the majority of the people understand neither the language nor the colonial way of conducting government business does not matter. This means that the vast majority of the masses do not understand what is being said and done in their name. There is nothing as disempowering as not understanding what is going on. The only participation of the ordinary people is reduced to voting during elections.
The languages of the colonisers, namely, English, French and Portuguese, are a mark of success, class, civilisation and a vehicle to access resources. In order to get an education, you must first master the language of your coloniser. The language of your coloniser is the medium for the conduct of politics, commerce, industry and public administration. The dissemination of vital information and the work of the news media are conducted in the colonial language.
The educated group imbibes the history, culture and mannerisms of their colonisers and tries hard to imitate the lifestyle of their idols. The way they dress, the food they eat and the manner of tackling the edibles, the music they play and the books they read, must all be as near as possible to what the coloniser would approve. The more you can quote Shakespeare and Yeats the better, and it is more profound to know British flowers called daffodils than any indigenous African ones.
It is certainly not wrong to be knowledgeable, to understand the culture and languages of others in the world, but when this is restricted to just the former colonial power and is done to the detriment of your own people and country, then there is a problem.
As the saying goes, development is an act of the people themselves, and no people have ever developed on the basis of a foreign language. If we accept this, then we have to accept that the African people are in deep trouble with regard to development.
If you were to be parachuted blindfolded into a hotel room in South Africa and switch the television on, you would not imagine your hotel room is in a country where about 90% of the citizens are African and speak their own languages. These people are not visible on their own television, unless it is news time or time for one of the few local dramas.
This is not normal. Visit other countries, such as China or Indonesia, where these things are presented in their own accessible languages, space, taste, image, idiom and style. This is not an idle matter. It has an enormous impact in terms of inclusion of the citizens in the general discourse in the country and empowerment to participate in the affairs of their society.
An educated elite that is socially, culturally and economically disconnected from its society is a disaster. Such an elite is incapable of an organic bond with the people for the collective and wholesome development of society. This might be part of the inhibiting factors in the socioeconomic advancement of our continent.
Huge doses of Black Consciousness are required on our continent to cure this wholly undesirable state of mind. It is a philosophy that at once strengthens your anchor in your country and society as it removes all cobwebs about your authentic identity. As it gives you a true sense of the self, situating you in your society and its culture, it infuses a sense of confidence within you and firmly entrenches you in your people in a genuine and unpretentious manner. You stop running from yourself and your people.
We desperately need this new African educated person who would unreservedly work for his or her people without looking over his or her shoulder for approval from elsewhere. Such a person would be in a position to design an education system that would genuinely resonate with the ethos of the people it is supposed to serve. That person would help in engineering an economy that would benefit the majority of its citizens before anyone else.
Nonracialism is an ideal that does not exist anywhere in the world, but it is preached mainly by the extremely weak Africans. It is nevertheless an ideal worth striving for. But it would never be realised for as long as it is being pursued by weak people who cannot do better than begging.
With a continent as rich in natural resources as Africa is, we should not be beggars. We should be having a socially and economically more comfortable society than we have presently. But for that to happen, our levels of consciousness would need to improve tremendously.
- Mangena is the president of Azanian People's Organisation and former minister of science and technology
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