Listening to the silent majority

[44]

On March 19, 1989, a crowd of otherwise cheerful people, including women and children, had been watching the public burning of Gabriel Mturu Mazibuko in Soweto. I therefore asked former Soweto mayor, Nelson Botile, why one gained the impression that blacks were at times engaged in mindless killings of fellow blacks, including practising the notorious ‘necklace’ murders in the townships, on fellow residents with whose thinking they disagree. ‘My friend,’ said Botile, ‘it is indeed embarrassing to see pictures in the press of the public killing of Mr Mazibuko. It is indeed barbaric, true. But, this does not happen because blacks are supposedly backward. It is not in our nature to behave this way. South African blacks happen to go these days through a period of extraordinary frustrations. Remember, hunger causes a variety of problems. And, why did I mention hunger? Food nourishes the body. Vitamins increase your strength. When the body becomes undernourished, it weakens a person. That is why poor and often under-

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nourished people run amok, attack others and sometimes even burn them. Poverty and hunger caused a crazy mob to burn Mr Mazibuko. That incident had nothing to do with radicalism. It was mere mob violence and madness. If this man did commit crimes, which I do accept he committed, people should nevertheless never take the law into their own hands. Their impaired thinking led them to burn this man. Blacks were born a soft people. When whites came uninvited to their shores, initially blacks accepted them as fellow human beings. But, blacks did not know at the time, that they were to be robbed and kidnapped, in order to work as slaves on far-away continents. Originally, blacks accepted the white man in good faith, thinking that perhaps they did have another colour of skin, but welcomed them and accepted them.’

I wondered what Nelson Botile had been doing since he was no longer mayor of Soweto. ‘I assist in negotiations with the Government to bring blacks into government. Mr FW de Klerk seems to me to be a moderate Afrikaner. He is young and he thinks progressively. I have met him during our meetings. I concluded from his words, that he really wants us to live in peace together. He now needs our support. We are aware that the Nationalist Party has to reckon with a white minority opposed to all reforms. We need to show Mr de Klerk that we are prepared to negotiate. He can then inform his constituents that blacks are no longer fighting in the streets, but will sit down with all parties concerned to shape together a new, modern South Africa.’

I suggested that a large number of blacks considered this attitude treason. ‘These people might call some of us collaborators,’ Nelson replied, ‘but nevertheless we are also fighting for the liberation of the black man. But we fight a different type of struggle. South African blacks can be compared to a football team. Each player occupies a different position. Some play at the left. Some play at the right. But the common aim is to score a goal and win the match. Therefore, as some do, to speak of the betrayal of the great cause makes no sense. Nobody is betraying anybody. Shouting insults at each other, or using violence, will get us nowhere.’