Liberation from the liberator

by Njabulo Ndebele, City Press

Two weeks ago, “Comrades” Essop Pahad and Ronnie Kasrils disagreed publicly on how members of the African National Congress should vote in next Wednesday’s election. This moment had long been coming.

The posture of the ANC as a united organisation with robust internal discussion of issues was yet again in question. The disagreement, spilling into the public domain will have a progressively corrosive effect on the ANC’s dominance of South African politics.

One fundamental reason for such corrosion is that South Africa today is no longer what it was in 1994. The ANC has restated this fact to good electioneering effect: “South Africa is today a better place to live in than it was in 1994.” These two statements can go with a third one: all South Africans are no longer who they were in 1994. We have changed.

Onwards with Integrity

Njabulo Ndebele

by Njabulo Ndebele, City Press

Quest for an honest society necessitates an honest struggle for it. You are the way you struggle

Amílcar Cabral, the great African revolutionary who led Guinea-Bissau and Cape Verde’s struggle against Portuguese colonialism, combined a strong ­intellect with a deep passion for his country and its people.

Although his admirers are probably aware of the saying “tell no lies . . . claim no easy victories”, they might not be aware of the full context from which it is extracted.

“Hide nothing from the masses of our people,” begins the full quote. “Tell no lies. Expose lies whenever they are told. Mask no difficulties, mistakes, failures. Claim no easy ­victories.”

Preventing the truth

Njabulo Ndebele

by Njabulo Ndebele, City Press

While the buildings at Nkandla cry out for an explanation, government seems content to gloss over the evidence

Nkandla is carving its place in our history as a major test of a people’s character. Few things in recent times will test the capacity of the people of South Africa to honour the truth. Public and private institutions all face the test.

The highest tree of the land, the president of the republic and head of state, is at the centre of it all. Will he, his government and the Parliament his party numerically dominates give the truth a place of honour? Or will they honour the lie?

Truth, honesty and trust have ­become the most radical values in South Africa; lying, dishonesty and distrust, their reactionary opposites.

Liberation betrayed by bloodshed

by Njabulo S. Ndebele, City Press

On the evening of Thursday, August 16, in Johannesburg, I returned to my hotel for a well-deserved rest. 

I would turn on the TV, watch the news and then settle back to enjoy yet another episode of Isidingo. 

But the evening I imagined was not to be. As the TV flickered to life, a newsreader introduced a breaking news item, and I knew immediately what was being replayed before me. 

Police officers opened fire, and dust rose as people in the line of fire collapsed. 

The Emperor is naked

by Njabulo Ndebele, City Press

A reincarnated Hans Christian Andersen may have painted The Spear for those denying the testimony of their eyes

‘The Emperor’s New Clothes” is one of the most enduring tales by Hans Christian Andersen. It tells the story of a fashion-obsessed Emperor who has no time to govern his country, care for his people and show leadership. 

With a coat to show off “for every hour of the day”, he spends all his time and money on clothes.

A meditation on corruption

by Njabulo S Ndebele, City Press

Jackie Selebi is now in jail. Found guilty of engaging in illegal financial transactions for personal gain, otherwise known as corruption, he is serving a 15-year jail sentence. Many will feel “justice has been done”. A highly credentialed “big fish” of the new dispensation has finally been put behind bars.

Who will be next among high-profile candidates who feature prominently under a cloud of suspicion in the national news? Who among them will be the next to fall from grace?

The English Language & Social Change in South Africa

by Njabulo Ndebele, 1986

Click here to download this speech in pdf.

Towards the Socio-Political Development of the Black Community in South Africa

by Njabulo Ndebele, Creativity & Development (SASO), 1973

Click here to download this article in pdf.

Of pretence and protest

Njabulu Ndebele, 2009, Mail & Guardian

At the end of his recent Mail & Guardian article, “In the rainbow nation, colour and class still count”, David Smith recalls “a cynic whispering” in his ear that’s not easy to forget: “The whites are pretending it didn’t happen; the blacks are pretending to forgive.” As I thought further about this, I concluded that, in the light of the interracial events Smith recalls in his article, there may in fact be a positive value to pretence.