Not again. Racism spewed by Penny Sparrow hasn’t even faded in our minds. We as blacks have become targets of racism because a queen became a victim of a smash and grab. Relax it isn’t Judge Jansen this time, her name is Vicky Momberg. As usual many were appalled by her racist venom she spewed on an eNCA video clip.
On the eNCA video clip Vicky Momberg refers to black people as kaffirs more than once on the scene of the alleged crime. She whinges and whines about the incompetence of native African people and refused to be helped by African police officers. To me, her calling black people kaffirs is insignificant. My problem is what you do to people you call kaffirs that is problematic. For instance; during the previous regime, those who were categorized as kaffirs were enslaved, exploited, murdered willy-nilly and deliberately oppressed economically by white settlers of European descent for the benefit of white people.
Fast forward 2016, such attitudes are still deeply ingrained in the psyche of white society. In her eyes, native Africans are still sub-humans who deserve to be run over by her car or shot at indiscriminately. Things she said on the video clip are not only consistent with the mentality of apartheid architects but her words also capture with incredible precision how white people see black people in this country. Native Africans were constantly harassed by apartheid police and had to endure despicable different forms of violence. We Africans were considered sub-humans and second class citizens and pariahs in our own land. Categorization of black people justified the abhorrent treatment visited upon us as native Africans at the time.
According to her black people are inherently incompetent good for nothing people who have a propensity to commit crime. This view of black people by a white person is nothing new to me. Her offensive words did not shock some of us. Perhaps some may ask: why I’m not horrified by this blatant act of racism? Well truth be told I have been around the block enough to not have high expectations of white people in terms of how they perceive black people. I really don’t care how white people see me and I also refuse to indulge in the futile exercise of separating good whites from the bad ones. The fact of the matter is; I would not see the world as I see it now if the world had not awoken me to see how it sees me. The mistake we often make whenever we encounter overt racism is we usually think it is just an isolated incident of one individual white person rather than a well entrenched problem in a white society as a whole.
White people and political elites in particular often dismiss crime as an activity that lazy black people indulge in because we have nothing better to do, this analysis is not only lazy thinking but it is ahistorical and apolitical. In context of South African history, racism is a product of two vile processes which are colonialism and apartheid. The two phenomenons mentioned above created a socio-economic order that we see to this day, with whites on top of the economic ladder and black people below. Yes few black people have joined the super wealthy but largely the majority leaves in labor reserves referred to as townships where they are characterized by high levels of unemployment and poverty. Black people leave their homes at the break of dawn commuting to different plantations to slave in white organizations, where they get paid almost next to nothing. I don’t expect Vick Momberg or any white person to understand these issues because the colonialism and apartheid wealth they enjoy cushions them against these harsh realities faced by the majority of people in this country.
Her righteous indignation and insults that she directed at the black population as a group are a direct result of unearned, undeserved privileges made possible by two wicked processes I touched on earlier.
The word kaffir was created to validate a particular socio-economic order. It is this socio-economic order birthed by colonialism and apartheid that creates a fertile ground for black people to commit crime. It is unfortunate that some people would choose life of crime as a way out of poverty. Crime is never analyzed by the likes of Momberg at its socio-political and economic implications; that crime is a product of people wanting to have a decent life in a capitalist society that continues to reject them. Vicky Momberg and all other white people in South Africa are beneficiaries of a criminal enterprise of epic proportions called apartheid. The land beneath our feet and natural resources contained was distributed disproportionally among the South African society with white people as the minority benefiting heavily over black people as a majority.
Vicky Momberg’s rage should not be directed at us black people, but should be directed at the system that continues to shower her with stolen wealth created through blood and sweat and at the backs of black people while denying others their rights to humanity and dignity. It is in this context that I find her rage of racism misguided. We are all victims of crime in this country, me and a friend were smashed and grabbed in Durban and we lost our personal documents. As I write this I am still sorting out a fraudulent account that was opened in one of the retails shops in my name. Nobody deserves crime. Black people would always be prone to committing crime in a country where society is constructed in such a way that for natives Africans privilege continues to be a far fetched goal. Momberg please don’t tell us you are not racist because you have black friends!!
Article By Khulekani Ntjana
About the writer: I am pamphleteer, Aspiring writer.I am anti white supremacy, anti debauchery and anti philistinism. I strongly believe we should always read even if we are not placed within the four walls of class rooms. Humanities graduate who just got along at varsity.
