Listening to the silent majority

[p. 18]

[14]

Mayor Matilda Mothlaping of Kwa Thema made the following points. ‘In my understanding,’ she said, ‘there cannot be a consensus as long as we are faced with this fragmented mentality among blacks. Who is going to be our leader? He must be a person who represents all blacks of South Africa at the forthcoming Great Indaba. As long as we are utterly divided, and go on criticizing each other's varying opinions on how to reach our common goal, there will be no unity.’ Mentioning the Desmond Tutu crusades for sanctions, she replied, ‘If those preachers could only be like Mahatma Gandhi, who overturned a continent of hundreds of millions of people through passive resistance, we would now be climbing our mountain indeed together. Here, in Kwa Thema, are people who are in need of everything. These churchmen are not addressing that. They are addressing a boycott and sanctions against the very poor. But what happens in the meantime with the person that has no food in his stomach? Will that fellow think reasonably, the way you would wish him to think? We blacks need to face our problems together, and we are in need of relating to the present government.’

I mentioned that the blacks in Group II often refer to town councils and town councillors as ‘puppets’ of Pretoria. ‘It's a pity,’ she said, ‘that such criticism exists. Of course, it's a myth that the majority of blacks do not like town councillors. I don't believe that at all. Town councillors are voted in by the people themselves. We represent them. But, there will always be individuals, who for purely personal reasons, don't like certain other people.’ I asked mayor Matilda Mothlaping how she felt about those blacks who used methods of intimidation, and even political assassination. ‘Yes,’ she replied, ‘some think that that is the answer to apartheid. When you think differently, these people accuse you of co-operating with the apartheid system. But, we town councillors are actually rendering a service to the community. If we weren't here, who would see that elections were held in the first place? Who would look after the construction of houses? Who would administer Kwa Thema? We councillors are doing these jobs. First of all, we are serving the poorest income groups. We do what we possibly can to help relieve their suffering. We represent them in arguing over their interests with the government. Why should Gatsha Buthelezi criticize John Mavuso for carrying out his duties on behalf of the people that fall under

[p. 19]

the Transvaal Provincial Administration? Isn't Chief Buthelezi doing exactly the same thing? He is talking to the white government all the time. Gatsha represents a specific group of us - the Zulus. Why would he prefer not to be in the same book of interviews with John Mavuso?’

When I asked the mayor of Kwa Thema what she felt would be the outcome of a ‘one man, one vote’ election in South Africa, she replied, ‘Chaos’. Some will interpret this reply as clear proof that Matilda Mothlaping is, in fact, a puppet of the government. In reality, of course, the mayor was simply stating a fact and was facing reality. In short, she was being honest, a rare commodity these days in politics anywhere.