The Audacity of White South Africans

South Africa, the so-called rainbow nation went through what disillussioned white people termed “Black Monday” a few days ago. This was a public protest in which the white people who were involved claimed that they were protesting in response to the farm murders that are happening in our country. Many of them claim that there is a white genocide in the country, the audacity. This effectively means that the white people who are convicted of this ideal believe that in South Africa, there is a coordinated, intentional and premeditated murder of specifically white farmers across the country. The holders of privilege today took the position of the vulnerable, the predator took the position of the prey[1], the oppressor cried oppression and the orchestrators of brutality for decades in this country, today took the position of fearing for their lives; the audacity.

Firstly let me put one point across, the murder of any person should be strongly condemned. However, any context consists of many narratives, some are hidden and some are intentionally not heard or ignored; these narratives belong to those in the margins of society, the poor. There is also a dominant narrative, this narrative normally belongs to those who are at the center, the ones who enjoy the fruits the given context has to offer. This dominant narrative looks down upon and finds the oppressed narratives to not be important and thus with it’s louder voice tramples and speaks over them. Black Monday is succintly a dominant narrative that is told by those who occupy the centre, those who enjoy the wealth of this country. This narrative prioritizes the killing of especially white farmers, giving priority to white bodies.[2] For decades black bodies have been murdered, cheapened and taken to be less than human. Black people are still at the end of many murders in this country, but their death is not important enough to take to the streets, as Itumeleng Mosala would say ‘black blood is cheap’.

Before I expound on these oppressed narratives, there is a fallacy that I also wish to dispel. There has been a narrative that black people can be racist, or at least have a racist attitude towards white people. This, in my opinion can only be explained by a lack of understanding of the term[3]. The operative terms when defining racism is racial superiority. It is the belief that members of a certain race are born with abilities and characteristics that are specific to them and this therefore inherently makes them a superior race. In our history, there is only one race that is guilty of this. Black hate for the white race is a response to their racism, but this response cannot be classified as racism. We have black folk who still struggle with an inferiority complex as a result of apartheid. We therefore do not believe in the inherent superiority of the black race, and thus by definition cannot have racially discriminative posture towards the white race.

Let us now get back to the different narratives. It is imperative that oppressed narratives be listened to in order to create a complete picture of what happens in these farms where ‘white genocide takes place’. Farms have and continue to be the places where one of the most violent manifestations of racism takes place. We all know this, and we choose to ignore it. It is one of the places where black workers are stripped off their dignity, but continue to work because they need to feed their families. Many oppressed stories came out in the previous week that can help us understand the retaliation[4] of black people in these farms. Johannes Baadjies, a farmworker was beaten to a pulp in Lutzville by his white employer[5]. As if this was not enough humiliation, the white employer offerred Johannes R400 to not tell the truth behind his bruised body and consequently not open a case[6]. A story also broke out concerning Tebogo Ndlovu, a young boy who was shot and killed by a white farmer, and in an attempt to hide or get rid of the body, it was fed to crocodiles. The crime that he committed for this gruesome murder is that he stole ten oranges. I came across this story on social media, and not on any published media platform. We have had white farmers who have ‘mistakenly’ killed black people because they thought they were monkey’s. In this Black Monday march, we had white people carrying the apartheid flag, which is a slap in the face of every person of colour in this country. There are many examples of these oppressed narratives that by definition are oppressed by the dominant narratives.

For how long were black people supposed to be mistreated in these farms? For how long were they supposed to lose their dignity? What is supposed to happen when people are tired of being beaten up? When they are tired of being killed and humiliated? What is suppossed to happen when white people publicly put up signs saying “No Boer No Pap”? Is black blood so cheap that when it spills life goes on but when white blood spills white people call for a national day of mourning and call it Black Monday? The audacity! By definition and historically, Black Monday refers  to specific Mondays where horrific events have transpired. It has therefore been used to designate massacres, military battles and also stock market crashes. Therefore “black” constitues the pain and suffering that is a result of these tragedies. We have come to accept the fallacy that our skin colour is a metaphor for evil, for pain, suffering and mourning. The white marchers used this generalization that we have internalized to march for white lives and calling it Black Monday. The evil here that causes the loss of white lives is the colour Black, the audacity!

As I conclude my opinion piece, the truth here is that black people experience a variety of different forms of violence in this country on a daily basis. Black people still need to contend with structural violence that manifests itself in poverty, inequality and unemployment which makes most of them spectators in the economic and political framework of the country. Black people are landless and are excluded from real economic opportunities. All of this violence that manifests in such a variety of forms might be too much to handle for many people. Afri forum and all those involved only concern themselves with the lives of the privileged and rich minority of this country who are directly and historically responsible for the situation the black nation finds itself in today, the audacity! It seems privilege is not something they are willing to give up anytime soon. They even had to march for it, reconciliation is nothing but wraith talk.

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[1] Metaphoical language

[2] Which is really not something new

[3] The Oxford dictionary defines racism as a “belief in the superiority of a particular race”

[4] If it can be classified as this

[5] No article mentions the white farmers name

[6] Article can be found here: https://www.iol.co.za/news/crime-courts/farmworker-offered-r400-to-drop-assault-case-2091771