Listening to the silent majority

[24]

I went back to 27-year-old Jabulani Patose. ‘You have to understand,’ he said, ‘that town councils were initiated as political platforms for us blacks. It would make no sense not to make use of them even if they are not the answer to our aspirations. What we actually can do at this stage is turn them into educational institutions. By that, I mean we involve our people as much as we can in the work of these local institutions. We show them and let them understand how townships are being run. We demonstrate to them [what is] the importance of what we are doing. How, for instance, do we accumulate revenues? How do we allocate money for services to be rendered to the community? Who pays for what? This will help us. And, we should not be in a hurry. We have to take our time. Bit by bit, step by step. And only when we are absolutely sure that we can run everything on our own, should we take over. This does not mean that we would have to cast away those who have been teaching us, those who have been trying to build us. Because, to tell you the truth, we cannot expect the government to do everything in a short span of time. I am not saying that the Pretoria administration is doing all it should be doing. Far from it. The government has its shortcomings. But we have to sit down with them if we don't want South Africa to go down the drain. We should work together in harmony and in mutual respect. The seed of love should be steadily growing on both sides, guiding everything we do. We must not forget the Almighty God.’

‘You are talking about reducing distrust and lingering suspicion be-

[p. 30]

tween blacks and whites,’ I said. ‘This is a universal problem,’ interjected Jabulani. ‘It exists between East and West; you name it. Mistrust seems to be a basic ingredient raging everwhere in the world community. I believe that each individual, black or white, has a responsibility towards the community as a whole. First of all, I, as an individual, must examine myself. What causes distrust and fear? When I mention fear, I speak of lack of trust. That mentality is being brought forward by people, who would not want to have anything to do with whites after liberation. For them, it is a matter of turning the entire country over into the hands of blacks. That is the “settle-the-scores” mentality of radicals and revolutionaries. This attitude actually amounts to oppression in reverse. Apartheid in reverse, if you want. We have got to reach a point in race relations by which we agree to disagree on certain matters. We have to come to a point at which we will reach a reasonable compromise.’

Then, Jabulani touched upon what he called ‘Godless leadership’ that was leading to rampant corruption in every black local institution. I countered that abysmally corrupt officials were to be found in all religiously-oriented government systems in the world, be they Christian or Marxist, or even in the Vatican itself. ‘Whether democratically-elected or dictatorially-appointed, people everywhere suffer from defunct thinking processes that lead to corrupt behaviour at all levels of society,’ I said. ‘Yes,’ replied Jabulani, ‘but the fact is that wherever there is a local black authority in South Africa, you will find corruption or attempted corruption. And, what you should also keep in mind is that these corruptors are the same people that tell us that we blacks must fight apartheid and white exploitation and oppression. Yet that same man, while he poses as a genuine freedom-fighter, is sleeping with every woman he can lay his hands on in the black community, effectively being an oppressor of his own wife and children. You eventually are faced with the crucial question: What kind of leadership do we South African blacks really have?’