“To bastardise the words of Charles Dickens, the past week was the best of weeks, it was the worst of weeks; it was seven days of tragedy, it was seven days of jest; it was a week of grace, it was a week of tactlessness. All in all, it was a week that even surprised South Africans who thought they’d seen it all.”
As columnist Khaya Dlanga points out above, the last couple of weeks have been unbelievably eventful, so full of bizarre twists and turns that many of us have been left feeling more than a little bewildered. We are caught betwixt and between, not quite sure whether we should laugh or cry! Dlanga goes onto point out that in true South African style, some of the public racial confrontations like that of the AWB's Andre Visagie during the now infamous e.tv interview, and between Julius Malema and the BBC reporter at “revolution house” have sparked phrases and sayings that have rapidly become entrenched as true ‘South African-isms’.
During the tense confrontation that occurred during Mr. Visagie’s dummy spit, came a moment when the news-reader stood protectively in front of the black female guest (who had so annoyed the ‘Oom’), and repeatedly told Visagie, “Don’t touch me on my studio, don’t touch me on my studio.” To which Mr Visagie creatively replied, “I will touch you on your studio.”
Dlanga points out that just as South Africans believed we had “reached our quota of the ridiculous for the week – enter Julius Malema.” Exit Andre Visagie stage right, enter Julius Malema stage right. We would not have been surprised if they had somehow become entangled together in the same door as they did so, a la Laurel and Hardy.
During Malema’s tirade against the MDC’s attempts at revolutionising Zimbabwe from the comforts of Sandton, a BBC reporter had the temerity to point out that Comrade Malema, “agent” for the poor, also lived in Sandton. This sparked yet another public temper tantrum, one where Malema introduced one more classic South African-ism – “Don’t come out here, with that white tendency.” With that white tendency! A phrase which has already grown all sorts of arms and legs in cyber-space, and looks set to form part of our vocabulary for years to come.
Laugh we must and laugh we should! Yet, in a week that has left many South Africans feeling more than a little disillusioned, we must not forget the other side of our present confusion. When we don’t know whether to laugh or cry, it is normally because the situation is actually ridiculously sad. Can people like Visagie and Malema safely be considered dinosaurs of the past, spouting their racial polemics where they are not actually wanted, or are they prototypes of what is to come? Is this last week an accurate indication of where our rainbow country will eventually unravel to?
Personally, I think that particular question is yet to be decided. It is entirely in the hands of normal South Africans, like you and me. Yes, this last week has been full of human ugliness so bizarre that it seems farcical. Laugh we should, but let’s not laugh it off. There are serious issues at stake here and we need to overcome them. I am convinced that racial hatred is most deeply perpetuated when we allow our leaders (for sadly that is what Visagie and Malema are) to entrench them within us.
This is why it is in our hands. Imagine what can happen when we average South Africans decide to go about our normal days in a way that absolutely refuses to disseminate the kind of racial polarisation we are seeing at top levels. For those of us who live with faith in God, we should allow our beliefs to steer us through these muggy times, reminding us of the power that lies in hope and love, and reminding us that by acting lovingly, considerately and kindly even in small, everyday ways, we can actively turn back some of the angry hatred that is so prevalent.
Laugh we must and cry if we must, but let us never forget that the future of our country is yet to be decided, and that it can be shaped for good and ill not just by the Malema’s and Visagie’s, but also by our own hands.
(All quotes from columnist Khaya Dlanga in News24.com. This column has been written by the editor of CruxMobi, Gareth Killeen).