WeeklySA_AdminMARGINALISED: Struggle stalwart S’mangaliso Mkhatshwa warns against relegation of indigenous knowledge…
By S’mangaliso Mkhatshwa
South Africans have a rare sense of theatre, or should we say, an extraordinary ability to fudge reality.
Look at it in this way: the Nationalist government, architects of the apartheid system, would relocate black people from their places of birth and literally dump them in a God-forsaken bush.
And guess what? They would give the stinking slum a beautiful name, such as Khaya-Mnandi (nice, peaceful and prosperous home). As an example, Khaya-Mnandi is a settlement less than three kilometers away from downtown Stellenbosch, an oasis of comfort and material prosperity.
In the spirit of reconciliation, the new democratic government that came into existence in 1994 when the ANC took over the government reigns, renamed Sharpeville Day to Human Rights Day. As though that were not enough, the new government castrated the militancy of June 16 into a harmless Youth Day.
Culture and braai
Not to reopen the wounds of the women’s march to the citadel of the apartheid headquarters of Union Buildings in 1956, we watered it down to Women’s Day. To crown our sense of theatre, some entrepreneurs have even tried to rename Heritage Day “Braai Day”, with the connivance of the late Archbishop Desmond Tutu.
The significance of culture and heritage is diluted into nothing more than frying a piece of meat. Some leaders have been biting their tongues trying to justify the aberration. For me this is symptomatic of the confusion that still pervades dialogue on culture, tradition, and heritage.
Three decades into our democracy, we have not broken the colonial cultural yoke and stranglehold.
While our Constitution recognises 12 official languages, English dominance continues unabated. The new black bourgeoisie, and even the underpaid working class consider it a badge of honour to have their children educated in private schools, elite former Model C schools, and Ivy league universities.
Self-hate
Our parliamentary culture is a replica of Westminster or Yankee houses of representatives and senate. Public broadcaster SABC condones the bastardisation of indigenous languages. Mzansi fo sho is a typical example of this aberration. Unlike in other countries, the public broadcaster allows its presenters to confuse viewers by their European fashion sense and hairstyles except on Heritage Day. On this day, they suddenly display their stunningly beautiful selves.
Visit any public or private libraries and research institutions, you might as well be in Europe or America. In most instances, finding a book in any African language, would be an exception rather than a rule.
This tells a sad long story of self-hate.
If you are hungry, you would be lucky to find a decent African eatery or restaurant. Without exception, they are owned by French, Italians, Greek, Brazilians, Indians, Americans, Mexicans, British, Portuguese, Chinese, Germans and a sprinkling of Pakistanis.
Tourist amusement
Whenever we celebrate Heritage and Africa month, there is always a jarring disjuncture between leaders and ordinary citizens. While speaking glowingly about our culture and heritage, the leaders, the way they dress, present themselves as the new bourgeoisie, warts and all.
It cannot be right that our culture is reduced to amusing tourists through dance and stick fighting on this important cultural day. We can do more.
It is scandalous that in 2025 we, as a nation, have not sufficiently highlighted our rich heritage to include the latest discoveries by paleontologists, biologists, and scientists about South Africa’s contribution to world culture.
Unless we do so, our people will always believe in the superiority of white culture. We seldom teach our youth that the first evidence of human life consciousness, or oldest evidence of microbial life, was discovered in Barberton, in Mpumalanga
It would send a powerful message, next time, if African presidents, bishops, ministers, and judges, presented themselves in indigenous costumes and delivered keynote speeches in one of the indigenous languages with or without the assistance of translators.
African names
Come to think of it. The whites have been in South Africa for more than 365 years, and yet they seldom, if ever, give their children African names.
I am unaware of Jabulani Verwoerd, Nomhle Smith, or Sibusiso de Klerk. But the opposite is the order of the day: the Jane Nkosis; the Cecilia Zumas; the Patrick Langas; and the Petunia Zikalalas.
Worse still, some black people bear European surnames. For example, Sizakele Botha, Mluleki George, David Schoeman, among others.
Indigenous science continues to be relegated to the level of superstition or sorcery. It is understandable that it takes time and conscious effort by governments and the people to create a culture or legacy.
Cultural hegemony
Having been victims of racism and cultural domination for so long, it will require coordinated effort and policy shift to undo the damage colonialism imposed on us, and to create a new South African culture to bear the stamp of the majority.
But numerical dominance will not by itself give birth to a national cultural consciousness. The minorities, especially whites and Asiatic people, still control the economy, dominate knowledge production, and enjoy quality education.
Because of these factors, they will continue to dictate the nation’s cultural hegemony for generations to come until we have a decisive leadership which will vigorously pursue the African agenda of decolonisation.
The late Steve Bantu Biko and his contemporaries must be agonising over the systematic negation of everything the Black Consciousness philosophy stood for.
We have been transformed into an amorphous cultural identity completely dominated by Anglo-Saxon cultural standards and norms.
While many nations went to war to preserve their heritage, we seem to have meekly succumbed to foreign cultural dictatorship.
Biko, Oliver Tambo, and Chris Hani, must be turning in their graves when they see so many so-called “yellow bones”, black diamonds, and black English ladies and gentlemen. young and old.
The fact that children of our local bourgeoisie know more about European/American history than great ancient African civilisations, should be a cause for huge embarrassment.
Unfortunately, one cannot expect future generations to think and behave any different from their parents. It would take a conscious and decisive interaction to reverse the damage in favour of African renaissance.
Americanism
Heritage month should re-energise us, with the support of the Department of Sports, Arts and Culture, to do an introspection about our genesis, our history, and our contribution to world history, and where Africa is headed in the context of the global environment.
It would be unfair to blame the white people for promoting European or American cultural dominance. We the indigenous folks are co-conspirators to our own dehumanisation. No former colonialist compels us to despise our indigenous languages.
We proudly enrol our children in Eurocentric education institutions. This aberration will not change fundamentally as long our erstwhile colonial masters control the economy and the instruments of knowledge production.
I have often argued that the role of the department of sports, arts, and culture, the world over is to become the expression of the soul of the nation.
Many nations wage war to preserve their culture, language and history. They understand that language is a cognitive tool of understanding and learning oneself, environment, and history. It is a weapon for self-preservation as well as to enrich world civilisation. It Is not useful to boast of twelve official languages when over 80% of our educators, black and white, can neither speak nor teach indigenous languages.
The whole education system is biased in favour of colonial systems of teaching. The people should appoint another Zondo Commission to expose how the systems at all levels favour the neo-colonial agenda.
• Fr S’mangaliso Mkhatshwa is a Catholic priest, chairperson of the Moral Regeneration Movement, and former deputy education minister
