Listening to the silent majority

[56]

Getting back to South African reality, I mentioned to John Mavuso, member of the Transvaal Provincial Administration, that dividing black patriots into Groups I and II, (i.e. blacks advocating co-operation and passive resistence, and blacks not always in favour of violence, but still placing themselves as much as possible outside the system) continued to worry me in regard to the ultimate goal, liberation. ‘When people talk about working within the system, as we do here in the TPA,’ he said, ‘I always wonder whether we are talking about the same thing. Let's take a closer look at political autonomy as obtained by homeland governments. The autonomous government in Ulundi, Natal, was designed by Pretoria in order to grant political autonomy to blacks. From now on, the people of these regions were to take charge of their day-to-day lives. Now, for anybody to say to me that it is wrong for black people to participate in a political system, which blacks basically disapprove of, sounds to me as an extreme contradiction in terms. Why should it be all right for Chief Buthelezi to participate in the KwaZulu government and why should our attitude, to be involved in the same governing process in urban areas, be an incorrect attitude? As a matter of fact, blacks who live in the so-called urban areas have no direct participation in the political process; that's to say, they have no direct access to regional or national governmental levels. Then, why should it be considered inopportune for blacks in urban areas to be involved in governing processes? And, at the same time, it is supposedly accepted for people such as Chief Buthelezi to participate? If it was prudent for Zulu leaders in Natal to be involved in political structures, structures that were designed by Pretoria, in order to accommodate the aspirations of blacks in homelands, then why should it be an embarrassment for us to follow the same policy in the Transvaal? After all, this entire process was designed to lead to distinct multiracial political structures, to be gradually developed right at the top at national levels.’

[p. 71]

‘Furthermore,’ said Mavuso, ‘we in the tpa are concerned with general affairs. We are not confined to dealing with blacks only. We are responsible for multiple problems, from dealing with pensions of the aged to the building of roads and hospitals.’ I wanted to be sure he also decided on matters concerning whites in Transvaal. ‘Precisely,’ Mavuso replied, ‘we deal with everybody. We are concerned with the general administration of the lives of all people. And we are not exclusively dealing with matters concerning only black people, as they are doing in the homelands like KwaZulu, Lebowa, KaNgwane and so on.’ John was clearly incensed about criticism of his role in government. ‘In fact,’ he said, ‘if people are serious about a future multi-racial South Africa - and please note I am not using the term non-racial South Africa, but am speaking of a multi-racial future society advisedly - they should be encouraging the kind of participation that we give presently to the tpa.’

I reminded him that emotions ran high against him at times, and that Spence Reiss mentioned in Newsweek, that ‘an ak-47 bullet of the anc’ was waiting for him.^42. ‘That was merely a naughty remark by an American journalist to pep up his story,’ he replied.

42. Newsweek, January 9, 1989