It’s raining this morning, not for the first time in the last three months, but in a more determined, ominous fashion than before. Even though most of the days are still sunny and warm, summer is definitely over here. I've actually been cold a few times in the evenings now, which was an unfamiliar and welcome sensation. Capetonians are starting to bundle up and even grouse a bit about the wind and the cool. For me, heading home (in a few weeks now) to springtime will make it easier not to miss this climate.So, where have I been for almost two weeks? Well, the secondary schools have all been on a two-week Easter break, and, even though I still had UCT class and soccer commitments, this was a perfect time to host Kristina, my first and only visitor. (Everyone else I know seems to be waiting to come down here for the World Cup; go figure.) We rented a car and did some touring around the Cape Peninsula before heading into the Cederberg mountains for the long weekend. The towns in the mountain foothills were small and agricultural (Ceres, home of the juice, and Citrusdal, for example), and the setting was perfect to meet our goals: some hiking (we carefully selected hikes with swimming potential!), some relaxed meals, and some visits to the Atlantic coast. We also went to see Athol Fugard's latest play, which he is directing as the inaugural production at a new theatre named in his honor. The two-actor production was intense and provocative; it addressed the complexity and brutality of apartheid both in its time and in its legacies - and it did not provide any easy answers or happy endings.
The Malema and Terre'Blanche stories have made an obvious point of dramatic comparison, and there is a strong sense that racial tension is reaching a dangerous point. This means that the ruling ANC government has a new and urgent item on its already full agenda, and expectations are high that it act to calm the situation. In a call for President Zuma to “show decisive leadership” and “rein in users of hate speech,” an editorial in Tuesday’s Cape Times reported on the tension: “FF+ (Freedom Front Plus) leader Pieter Mulder did not exaggerate when he said “the dream of national reconciliation and nation-building is at risk. The interracial atmosphere is brittle and potentially explosive. As [a University of the Orange Free State professor] noted last week, before the murder of Terre’Blanche, South Africa is in a dangerous state, on a ‘precipice’ regarding race relations. Has the ANC lost sight entirely of the Freedom Charter and their reconciliatory heritage which under Nelson Mandela’s leadership looked to be a happy and peaceful future for all in South Africa?” Despite its alarming tone, the commentator, Gerald Shaw, is the author of a book called “Believe in Miracles, South Africa from Malan to Mandela and the Mbeki Era.” (Link to the Cape Times website for more information and related articles.)
To add more calming perspective, the newspaper editor’s piece on the same page makes a case for not equating this year’s events with those of “Easter 1993, when a rightwinger shot dead SACP (South African Communist Party) leader Chris Hani and South Africa seemed to teeter on the edge of civil war.” The editorial does a succinct and cogent job of condemning both the murder of Terre’Blanche (along with a blanket condemnation of any and all murder) and any “foolish or conceited politician who dares to play with the threat of violence.” This is a clear reference to Malema, whose ilk the piece goes on to denounce as “tawdry populists.” Meanwhile, Malema finds himself besieged with scrutiny and criticism, even from within his own party's notoriously loyal leadership cadre. He just returned from a visit to Zimbabwe, where he managed to attract even more negative attention by getting provoked into a profane tirade by a BBC journalist at a press conference yesterday, and was on the radio today to explain himself.
Although he can sound reasonable and thoughtful at times (and he does make some valid and convincing arguments), overall he seems disingenuous about reconciliation and dangerous in his revolutionary fervor.The Cape Times editorial offered an important analysis of the current controversy: “Making Malema into a bogeyman is a convenient way to avoid the difficult question: why exactly is it that this rather unimpressive political leader can garner the support he clearly enjoys in some places? Is it perhaps that he offers an outlet for some of the frustration and disappointment of those who feel left out of the celebrated political ‘miracle’ to which Terre’Blanche was so hostile? Whatever one thinks of Malema, the question demands attention.” Indeed. What to do for the impoverished, disaffected, and increasingly discontented is the big question and challenge for South Africa - and perhaps the world. Clearly a topic worth returning to on another day.
(Here's a link to an interesting opinion piece that comments on the issue and specifically responds to the Cape Times editorial.)
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