Listening to the silent majority

[43]

I asked Nimrod Mkele whether he felt that whites in South Africa were worried that the black population would increase over the next decade to 40 million. ‘They were petrified in Zimbabwe. They are now petrified in Namibia,’ he replied. ‘But blacks in Zimbabwe, and possibly Namibia, opted for freedom and got a one-party Marxist rule instead,’ I said. ‘What do South African blacks want? Marxism and one-party rule, or a

[p. 52]

capitalist-oriented free market system, as Mangosothu Buthelezi says he supports?’

Mkele: ‘Here you pinpoint a problem. Let me tell you, most South African blacks do not see eye to eye with Buthelezi. We make a distinction, and this is important for you to note, between blacks working within the system and therefore collaborating, and those outside official structures.^28. I myself work here, in my company “Mkele Personnel”, inside the system, because, after all, the system exists. Collaborating with the white-dominated government means in short doing things that one should not be doing. Everyone has a free choice, whether to take part in the political structures or refuse to do so. John Mavuso, the Reverend Alan Hendrickse, Gatsha Buthelezi and others all operate from within. That's where we make a distinction. These guys are actually collaborating. In fact, Gatsha is making use of the system imposed by Pretoria to advance the interests of his Inkatha organisation. He forces through this political organisation the people in Natal into line. That is the reason that fighting between the Zulus themselves is taking place. It is a purely political matter. Buthelezi is manouvering within the Bantustan-system that we reject and don't want. In the meantime, Gatsha has built up a limited power-base because he's hoping that when eventually a federal system will be created, he will be able to get into the centre of power via his Inkatha.’

I told Nimrod Mkele, a trained psychologist, that I had asked Buthelezi for a meeting in connection with this report on conversations with black South Africans, but that he had declined, since I had included John Mavuso of the TPA in my program. ‘Mavuso is a respectable man, who is negotiating blacks to freedom and neither is he killing anyone,’ I said. ‘No, no,’ replied Mkele, ‘Inkatha is killing people. I do not understand Gatsha's decision either, because Buthelezi and Inkatha are doing exactly the same thing as John Mavuso. Buthelezi creates problems for himself. His organisation is committed to the Zulus only, therefore he has painted himself into a political corner. And, mind you, certain sections of the Zulus don't agree with this set-up at all. By the way,

28. As with Willie Ramoshaba and others, we see here again the division between Group I and Group II. I believe the Government should make an all-out effort to improve relations with Group II and at least listen to them carefully, since they aren't allowed to be directly involved in decision-making

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we call Buthelezi sometimes “Gatsha Savimbi”.^29. We are fully aware of what he is doing in Natal. In fact, he's doing there what Savimbi is doing in Angola. He could be a Savimbi. Yes, sir. He painted himself into a corner, and, if some day he cannot get out of that corner, and fails to reach the political center - because, after all, that is what a future Great Indaba is all about - then he is liable to try to assure that he can get what he wants within the region of Natal by force.’

I wondered whether Mkele expected civil strife among blacks in a post-apartheid South Africa. ‘Not here,’ he replied. ‘Definitely not. Take the Witwatersrand region. You find here a complete mixture of blacks. They live in peace. There is no fighting. It's okay here. Blacks live harmoniously together. It was the Nats who introduced ethnic grouping to South Africa. I doubt, that when blacks take over this country, you will see tribal warfare as witnessed in newly-born nations elsewhere in Africa. If ever a situation were to arise in which tribal clashes did occur, they would purely be clashes of a political nature, as I pointed out earlier in regard to Inkatha. But I can't even see that happening.’

29. Jonas Savimbi is the leader of UNITA, the movement in Angola opposed to the Marxist government