This is my column which was published in the Black Business Quarterly (BBQ) magazine: http://www.bbqonline.co.za/articles/column/422-voices-in-the-wilderness
We need to start listening to divergent views on all matters of national interest, contends BBQ’s guest columnist
Columnist Eric Miyeni caused quite a stir on social network platform, Twitter, and various talk radio stations after his column, titled “Haffajee does it for white masters”, was published in the tabloid newspaper, the Sowetan. In his article, he berated City Press editor Ferial Haffajee, after her newspaper did a front-page exposé of the finances of ANC Youth League (ANCYL) president, Julius Malema.
Miyeni wrote of Haffajee: “Who the devil is she, anyway, if not a black snake in the grass, deployed by white capital to sow discord among blacks?”
These are the sentiments of an evidently angry man.The ANCYL later endorsed Miyeni’s views in a statement, declaring: “Miyeni should continue to be an honest, fearless activist who speaks his mind and not fall into the trap of those who blindly support interests of apartheid beneficiaries.”
On first analysing what Miyeni and the ANCYL (read: Julius Malema) say, one would conclude they are racist black men who go against the ideals of the new South Africa – or the Rainbow Nation, as Archbishop Desmond Tutu fondly calls it.These men are not racist, but are expressing (not always in the best way) their anger toward a South African system which, after 17 years of democracy, is still seen to favour and protect white South Africans. “White privilege” is the term used to describe this phenomenon.
We need to start listening to their views
Author and columnist Max du Preez responded to Miyeni’s scathing article, and likened him to Malema by saying: “Is Eric Miyeni trying to be Malema’s Mini-me?A view of this nature suggests that Miyeni’s view only exists because Malema’s does.
One needs to sit down and realise that the views of Miyeni echo those of Malema, only because there is a burgeoning group that is growing ever more gatvol with the status quo of “white privilege”.We need to start listening to their views.While middle-class South Africa labels these two young men and their ilk as radicals, controversial and racist, their grievances still remain – and we need to start having a conversation about these uncomfortable truths.
The views of Miyeni and Malema did not fall from heaven like manna. Their anger is a symptom of something bigger than their loaded statements. They are suffering from symptoms of a social disease, which society refuses to look at and talk about.As young as they were during apartheid, Miyeni and Malema grew up in an era when white people controlled the economy, a time during which black people where branded criminals.
Fast-forward to 2011 and black people only appear on the front pages of newspapers when implicated in some sort of scandal or crime, while white people continue to control the majority of the economy – this is from where Miyeni and Malema derive their anger.However, the two gentlemen have allowed their anger to get the better of them, instead of channelling it into well thought-out arguments that can be debated among the chattering class.
Poet Dylan Thomas once wrote a poem titled, “Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night”, in which he conveys a powerful message of keeping a fighting spirit in spite of the circumstances.While, as South Africans, we should never condone defamatory statements, we should admire the fact that Miyeni and Malema have refused to go gentle into that good night, in the face of a divided society in which white South Africans continue to control the economic levers and black people have to continue proving themselves in the workplace, in the political arena as well as in sport.
Miyeni and Malema want black people to appear on the front of Sunday newspapers for excelling in their areas of expertise. Miyeni and Malema want Sunday papers not only to expose corruption in politics and state apparatus (which is predominantly black), but for the very same newspapers to expose corruption that happens in the private sector (predominantly white). They feel there are different sets of standards for black people and white people respectively.Renowned Tweeter and columnist Khaya Dlanga, in his weekly column, commented on the Miyeni saga thus: “It’s hard being black. I understand where Eric is coming from. It’s not something that people who are not of colour can understand. This is not to say that white people are unable to empathise.”
The sentiments of Miyeni resonate, even if slightly, with most black people. We can no longer afford to ignore the calls of controversial black writers and politicians. Controversial people make reasoned statements and reasoned people make controversial statements.Are we waiting for former president Thabo Mbeki or Democratic Alliance spokesperson Lindiwe Mazibuko, or 702’s Redi Thlabi, to say that we can no longer continue on this path, before we heed the call to start talking about the giant elephant in the room?
We need to start listening to their views.In our response – as South Africans – to Miyeni and Malema, we need to cease showering them with insults, as that perpetuates the cycle of arguments fuelled by emotion; we should rather engage in sound and reasoned arguments. Debate on transformation in the private sector and the mainstream media’s modus operandi are national issues that need to be discussed for South Africa to move forward.
As mentioned earlier, Miyeni and Malema are showing symptoms of a society that has allowed the status quo to continue for far too long. We, as South Africans, can remedy these symptoms by having brave conversations about what is so wrong with our 17-year-old democracy.Love them or hate them, they have begun the debate; this despite Professor Anton Harber, of the Journalism and Media Studies Programme at Wits University, saying that Miyeni and Malema stifle debate.We have not stopped debating; we have, in fact, started as a result of Miyeni and Malema.
We do not condone it when they assume a defamatory tone, but we can begin to find the message hidden in their oftentimes rude and emotional utterances – finding the diamond in the proverbial rough.
We need to start listening to their views.
These are the sentiments of an evidently angry man.The ANCYL later endorsed Miyeni’s views in a statement, declaring: “Miyeni should continue to be an honest, fearless activist who speaks his mind and not fall into the trap of those who blindly support interests of apartheid beneficiaries.”
On first analysing what Miyeni and the ANCYL (read: Julius Malema) say, one would conclude they are racist black men who go against the ideals of the new South Africa – or the Rainbow Nation, as Archbishop Desmond Tutu fondly calls it.These men are not racist, but are expressing (not always in the best way) their anger toward a South African system which, after 17 years of democracy, is still seen to favour and protect white South Africans. “White privilege” is the term used to describe this phenomenon.
We need to start listening to their views
Author and columnist Max du Preez responded to Miyeni’s scathing article, and likened him to Malema by saying: “Is Eric Miyeni trying to be Malema’s Mini-me?A view of this nature suggests that Miyeni’s view only exists because Malema’s does.
One needs to sit down and realise that the views of Miyeni echo those of Malema, only because there is a burgeoning group that is growing ever more gatvol with the status quo of “white privilege”.We need to start listening to their views.While middle-class South Africa labels these two young men and their ilk as radicals, controversial and racist, their grievances still remain – and we need to start having a conversation about these uncomfortable truths.
The views of Miyeni and Malema did not fall from heaven like manna. Their anger is a symptom of something bigger than their loaded statements. They are suffering from symptoms of a social disease, which society refuses to look at and talk about.As young as they were during apartheid, Miyeni and Malema grew up in an era when white people controlled the economy, a time during which black people where branded criminals.
Fast-forward to 2011 and black people only appear on the front pages of newspapers when implicated in some sort of scandal or crime, while white people continue to control the majority of the economy – this is from where Miyeni and Malema derive their anger.However, the two gentlemen have allowed their anger to get the better of them, instead of channelling it into well thought-out arguments that can be debated among the chattering class.
Poet Dylan Thomas once wrote a poem titled, “Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night”, in which he conveys a powerful message of keeping a fighting spirit in spite of the circumstances.While, as South Africans, we should never condone defamatory statements, we should admire the fact that Miyeni and Malema have refused to go gentle into that good night, in the face of a divided society in which white South Africans continue to control the economic levers and black people have to continue proving themselves in the workplace, in the political arena as well as in sport.
Miyeni and Malema want black people to appear on the front of Sunday newspapers for excelling in their areas of expertise. Miyeni and Malema want Sunday papers not only to expose corruption in politics and state apparatus (which is predominantly black), but for the very same newspapers to expose corruption that happens in the private sector (predominantly white). They feel there are different sets of standards for black people and white people respectively.Renowned Tweeter and columnist Khaya Dlanga, in his weekly column, commented on the Miyeni saga thus: “It’s hard being black. I understand where Eric is coming from. It’s not something that people who are not of colour can understand. This is not to say that white people are unable to empathise.”
The sentiments of Miyeni resonate, even if slightly, with most black people. We can no longer afford to ignore the calls of controversial black writers and politicians. Controversial people make reasoned statements and reasoned people make controversial statements.Are we waiting for former president Thabo Mbeki or Democratic Alliance spokesperson Lindiwe Mazibuko, or 702’s Redi Thlabi, to say that we can no longer continue on this path, before we heed the call to start talking about the giant elephant in the room?
We need to start listening to their views.In our response – as South Africans – to Miyeni and Malema, we need to cease showering them with insults, as that perpetuates the cycle of arguments fuelled by emotion; we should rather engage in sound and reasoned arguments. Debate on transformation in the private sector and the mainstream media’s modus operandi are national issues that need to be discussed for South Africa to move forward.
As mentioned earlier, Miyeni and Malema are showing symptoms of a society that has allowed the status quo to continue for far too long. We, as South Africans, can remedy these symptoms by having brave conversations about what is so wrong with our 17-year-old democracy.Love them or hate them, they have begun the debate; this despite Professor Anton Harber, of the Journalism and Media Studies Programme at Wits University, saying that Miyeni and Malema stifle debate.We have not stopped debating; we have, in fact, started as a result of Miyeni and Malema.
We do not condone it when they assume a defamatory tone, but we can begin to find the message hidden in their oftentimes rude and emotional utterances – finding the diamond in the proverbial rough.
We need to start listening to their views.
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