Listening to the silent majority

[135]

Let me end this report by returning to a conversation with my friend Jabulani Patose in Boipatong. To me, Patose and his kind, not the anc, are the wave of the future. ‘I am interested in helping to build a better South Africa, not only for me and my children, but for everyone. I

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cannot run away from this country as some plan to do. I have nowhere else to go. I might visit Holland but I cannot stay there. I have to come back here. Nor am I interested in staying anywhere else. I might some day study in America, but I have to come back and serve my community.’

He continued, ‘At this point, we still need to go back to the drawing board of the National Forum for Black Leaders. As it is now, it meets a lot of dissension and dissatisfaction. In its present form the nfbl is useless. Is the National Forum going to be comprised of Black Town Councils only? Because our records are actually showing that 83 per cent of those who serve on town councils are semi-literate.^125. Then, you can easily imagine what kind of leadership we are going to have. Should those people negotiate on our behalf in the nfbl? Because when you relate this fact to the Lekoa city developments, some of these semiliterates were actually voted into office there as well. Some of the town councillors had not even a legal address or permanent residence. Therefore, we support the idea of a referendum for every political constituency in the country; and in a federal way, as in America. The Orange Free State should have its own representatives. The Transvaal should have its own respresentatives. Natal should have its own representatives and so forth. Not ignoring the homelands, either. Those leaders are guys we praise. They must be there also, of course.’

‘When we come to the National Forum, we must bury our differences. The problem we will have are the representation of the udf, azapo and all the radical organisations, who will argue that they cannot share the platform with collaborators. What do these people expect? I am prepared to talk to compatriots, even if they are, in some people's eyes, collaborators. We have got to talk to everybody at this stage of our history. One cannot say, ‘I don't talk for such and such personal reasons. We must get the wheels rolling. That is how I see that blacks must approach the National Forum and the negotiations, that lie ahead.’

‘How conscious are young people of what actually goes on at the top?’ I asked.

‘We are having problems. I am organizing these weekends for youths in camps, as I told you before. Now, I want to take young people from

125. Willie Ramoshaba was right all along, on this score

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ages 17 to 28. When I can get at least 50 or 100, I take them on a weekend, discuss everything with them and they show that they are very much aware of what's going on. I discuss political matters all the time in the shebeens in townships or in taverns. We talk about everything, and they make statements that sometimes shock me profoundly. For instance, I asked one guy the other day, how he felt about disinvestment. He replied, “Man, I only agree with disinvestment, because so and so is in the forefront of the boycott, and you know, if I should openly criticize that man, I know my life would be in danger. It's intimidation that makes me agree with disinvestment.” He clearly set forth to me all his reasons why he was actually totally opposed to sanctions from abroad. I said to him “Brother, you have got to stand up, firmly and die for the truth. You better come out and criticise this very thing.” If all of us were to fear criticising our great black leaders, we would all be talking nonsense for the whole day. The problem for us is, that while the anc the udf, Tutu and all the others who are supporting disinvestment, are heavily financed from overseas, whereas we have no money to organize properly even one single weekend for interested youths. cosatu can organise rallies any time. Money is being turned over to them from foreign unions, and even from certain foreign embassies in this country. They are receiving handouts from so-called labour attachés to stir up trouble. There are blacks in this country preaching socialism, but if you ask them what socialism stands for, they don't even know. The blacks speak of sharing wealth. So you ask them whose wealth should we share? They can't even tell you. If you look at the South African economy and you were to share the whole wealth of this country, everyone would be left with two cents in his pocket. That kind of loose talk promotes laziness in people.’

‘I don't like being in a position of leadership, but most unfortunately, I always find myself in leadership positions. I want to build a strong group of young people, young moderates, who will move out, hold rallies; and for that, we need money. There must be people or organisations who want to pay money to get us started. The black moderate group is big in South Africa, but they are still afraid to come out for reasons you will understand. At college I told American students “You Americans always think that you do understand our problems. But that is a lie. As a matter of fact, you are causing us the problems we are having now. And that's how it really is”.’

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Patose, ‘It's funny how South African moderates lose chance after chance. I was telling John Gogotya of fida why we were sitting by idly when Tutu and company travel the world and are succeeding in convincing the American government that punitive measures against South Africa are a necessity, that we fail to demonstrate to Washington that Tutu, Boesak, Chikane and Beyers Naudé are not the sole black voices on these matters in South Africa. fida; for example, should also ask for an appointment with George Bush at the White House, and Gogotya should ask him, “What did you tell them, because they don't want to tell us?” And then he could set forth to the American President our views. Straightforward and to the point. The fida would come home and be able to say to the people, that in Washington we said “No” to disinvestment. Listen to some of these people who are advocating disinvestment. They were unable to manage “Shareworld”, so they could hardly be expected to manage South Africa's mining industries. The country would simply collapse. cosatu is shouting for disinvestment, but when Mobil Oil wanted to go, they said, “No, gentlemen, you can't just move out like this. Wait.” Because now, they are going to lose thousands of jobs again. They advocate disinvestment. They say, no matter if jobs are lost, we will suffer if necessary. That's what Desmond Tutu claims from his palace in Bishopscourt. But what really happens is that unemployed and hungry people are liable to turn into renegades, terrorists and communists. Not because of apartheid this time, not at all, but because they are simply too lazy to think. And failing to use their brains, or develop them, causes death.’

Jabulani Patose wanted to raise one more question. He said, ‘Before going to Holland, I like to be briefed on what Shell is doing in South Africa. The only Shell project I know is “The Shell Road to Fame”, where they promote young artists who can sing, dance and make music. It runs in black townships and is sponsored by Shell. I understand that Shell petrol stations are being burned in Holland. I do not understand that attitude. I am proud that Shell has the guts to stay in South Africa.’

‘Why isn't Mobil sold to black interests?’ I asked. ‘There are no trained blacks who could run the Mobil show,’ replied Jabu. ‘When Mobil announced it was going to disinvest, not a single black man came forward wanting to buy. No-one. Foreign companies can so easily disinvest and leave, but some day, we will have to build them up again, and under what economic system? Socialism? In that case you can forget it.

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All this talk of socialism in South Africa is not serious. All this craziness proves that people are basically just too lazy to think. I believe a controlled free-market system, where people are able to sell what they want or buy what they want is the most appropriate for South Africa. There should be laws and regulations, but there must also be free competition. Competition provides job opportunities. We have got to compete. Japan is only a small island nation, but look at what happened there, what was achieved through these ideals.’