FIDEL HADEBE | We can't afford to extend apartheid's hurt onto ourselves

Anyone who disputes or doubts the damage caused by apartheid and colonialism in black communities is a denialist not worthy of any attention from any thinking human being. Apartheid and its colonialism twin disfigured the black community, tearing it apart through the migrant labour system and entrenched a stubborn mindset of violence, especially in the mind of a black man.

Nearly 30 years into democracy, we continue to see this culture of violence and destruction pushing against any development in black communities.

Apartheid is gone, and those responsible for it are focusing on developing their own communities and they care less about what happens in our own communities. The task has fallen on a black man to deal with the aftermath and rebuild his community and this demands of us to unlearn, re-learn and teach. We cannot be agents of continued destruction of our own communities unless if we see no real difference between ourselves and those who hurt us.   

I watched in disbelief as the SABC was covering a story in Mbombela involving taxi drivers as they were striking against a bus company operating in that area and demanding that the bus company must operate according to the taxi drivers’ conditions including which hours to operate. As the SABC reporter was doing a live-crossing to the studio in Johannesburg, a group of taxi drivers was standing next to the reporter, showing little respect for what he was doing; and one of the drivers had a weapon that he kept showing off and licking right as the reporting continued.

On the second day of the "protest", the SABC reporter interviewed a few stranded commuters who were trying to hitch-hike to the city so that they could be at work. A young black lady shared her fears of being robbed, raped or killed as it is the fate that awaits female hitch-hikers.

As I pointed out above, apartheid introduced black men to violence, but we cannot as black men continue to use this shield and act as if we have no agency to distinguish right from wrong.

Where do we start in this journey of rediscovery and self-correction? The answer to this question lies in how we want others and our children to perceive us. We have to deal with this image of a black man being a thoughtless, blood-thirsty individual always out to inflict harm on others.

The second answer to the question lies in what nations or societies do after conflict, which in my view is about rebuilding and the role of men in this regard. Black men were on the forefront of wars against colonialism and apartheid. There was the armed Struggle carried out by the military wings of various political formations, self defence units and many other structures that waged the internal war against the apartheid state and its machinery. All of this did not leave the black man unscathed and we are continuing to see the devastating effects of that war situation nearly 30 years after the end of the conflict.

The post-war effects and its ruinous effect on the black society cannot be allowed to continue forever; as black men we have a historical, moral and social duty to ensure that this does not happen. The right to participate in the election of a democratic government gives us a corresponding duty or responsibility to work with that government in addressing social and economic challenges facing society. Contemporary challenges of GBV and violent service-delivery protests and the concomitant damage to community assets such as infrastructure require us to be champions in working against such destruction.

Let’s put a stop to this self-destruction. Apartheid hurt us but we cannot continue reproducing the hurt in our communities. It’s in our hands to build our communities. We cannot outsource this task.     

Hadebe is a change communication advisor and certified life coach