Readily recall my glittery young eyes as mom and I stood waiting for the taxi that was gonna connect us to another taxi as we were heading to town… Heading to town back then was a big deal for us, you had to look the part and dress up. don’t know why that was the case but looking back now it all makes sense. Town was mostly filled with white people who actually stayed there, and us being ‘visitors’ we always wanted to look good and sort of look the part as if we stayed there. We wanted to fit in so bad… Why??
Why dress up like you are not from here, why go through the trouble of putting up a picture perfect appearance like it is going to be a once off thing. When I was still young growing up in rural Limpopo, going to town was in itself an occasion to dress up for, the aim was to fit in and to look like I was also a town boy when I got there. And guess what when I got to town I always found a lot of people who also dressed up for the occasion and the town people which is really just a nice word for white people would walk into the store wearing their morning shoes, shorts and that I just woke-up face. They did not have to put an effort in dressing up to look like they belonged on that Land of ours.
This is exactly the same thing that Is happening in South Africa right now, although at a much larger scale and faster pace. We are more concerned about how we look than anything else. From wanting to look wealthy to putting on a global show to pretend there is racial cohesion and peace, to masking parliament and not showing protest at 19:30. When your news bulletin won’t be displaying the burning schools the burning issues won’t get resolved. Maybe this is a way of government to say we tired of putting on a show too (their show has always been to look good, look effective and serving its people), let me break it down. Have you noticed that no one just wakes-up and decide to strike, the government always takes forever to respond and when the protests make it to the news bulletin suddenly they are effective and an inquiry is launched. So now because no one will know and surely won’t care chances are no protester will be heard (I am not condoning violent strikes but honest broadcasting).
Every time an honest white man comes through and reminds us of the actual reality that most of them actually are racist we all act surprised (*except me, I ain’t buying non of this BS and the BS apologies like this is not stuff they plot on and talk about on a daily) suddenly it strikes us that no single white man ever apologized for apartheid or colonization. We remember every white man irrespective of economical conditions directly benefit/benefited from the legacy of apartheid but we can’t say that now can we? We have to look like civilized Africans and continue with the show. We can’t afford to look different. The funny part is no matter how hard we try reality is difficult to ignore.
So let me take this timeout to discuss my honest plot that will alleviate me of all this acts that have been holding the real me back. Say it with me black child: I SHALL REFRAIN FROM ‘DRESSING UP’ AND PRETENDING THAT I DO NOT SEE WHAT IS GOING ON, I SHALL REFRAIN FROM TOLERATING WHITE IGNORANCE AND THEIR LACK OF EMPATHY. THIS IS OUR LAND AND I SHALL BEHAVE LIKE I AM A PART OF THIS LAND AS MUCH AS ITS A PART OF ME.
We as a majority community need to start thinking strategically, instead of trying to fit in to the system created by the same people who oppressed and colonized us, why not refuse to be a perfect candidate of the system? Why not get your education and expand yourself far beyond an office job? Look I myself have an office job but my dreams extent way beyond that, I will however mention that working in corporate helps equip one with relevant people and business skills that will help when you finally decide to step outside of someone’s objective phase and start chasing your own. The unemployment rate is crazy high, this calls for us to start creating our own businesses and stop begging on the front-porch of the white-man run businesses. Lets try to do away with this compulsion we have to always try and qualify ourselves to white people. Be comfortable with your inner self, value your history and your tradition… If only we started looking within we would then start seeing that the other side has nothing constructive planned for us.
Article By Dimo Wa Moraswi Sekele & Kagiso Maloma
