Composer of Lion King theme song, Lebo M, on a YouTube podcast One54 Africa said that ‘there is no way on earth’ a Zimbabwean Shona, who lived in KwaZulu Natal for three or five years can know or understand Zulu. This is in reference to Zimbabwean comedian Learnmore Jonasi whom he sued for USD 27 million dollars for desecrating his song in a previous show on the same channel. Though later, while transcribing his private texts to the Learnmore, he asks him to consider respecting his ‘Zulu ancestors’. The Nigerian American hosts then ask him about the mass protests and violence that has been taking place in South Africa and why immigrant intolerance is being meted out against Africans alone. He shouts as he jumps out of his seat, [Those are] are ‘our white people!’. He adds soon after that Black South Africans were better off in the pre-1994 apartheid government.
As to being ‘their white people’, I think it’s about time. It’s been 374 years since the first Dutch ship arrived on the South African coast. If a true ‘rainbow nation’ is finally emerging out of that historical mash up, the objective behind the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of 1995 would have been achieved. However, it is highly unlikely that the ‘white’ people- the Afrikaans and British people who have lived in Africa for generations consider the African people of South Africa, ‘their black people’.
There was no South Africa for all pre-1994. The black South Africans themselves were considered immigrants when they crossed into white territory. The Promotion of Black Self Government Act of 1959 made Bantustans, the designated territories of black people and black people coming into areas like Johannesburg to work in the life draining mines, were supposed to carry a pass and were assigned to hostels to live as migrant labour. Urban areas and white designated areas became accessible after 1994. South Africa as we know [knew] it was not built for all South Africans. It is almost unthinkable that 32 years after the ‘Born Free’ generation broke out, that a black South African would declare apartheid a better time.
The effects of apartheid, the psycho-social issues have been clear but some are just becoming more evident. The broken homestead and the great economic divide between white and blacks have led to high crime rates but unspoken or unknown to many is a system of violence between Africans themselves and of South African men against women. As of 2010 -2014, public statistics showed that at least one in six South African women had been raped. That meant that at least 1 in 6 South African men or more might have been a violator. A nurse I visited, from a Ugandan immigrant family living in Rustenburg, Pretoria had noted with fear the many cases of gender based violence her hospital was receiving at the time. Sources from South African literature also documented persisting practices like Ukutwala and myths surrounding HIV/AIDS as underlying factors towards violence against women. It was not just black South Africa though, a quick run through of the cases we studied in our criminal law curriculum partially explained the ghost of deep national trauma haunted the air long after Mandela walked out of prison.
@amk
When I reported the theft of my phone to police one morning in Hatfield, Pretoria, the first question they asked was if there had been violence. After I said no, they stopped writing the statement and told me to report to MTN. It was well known that there were places, even in the most highly structured places like Cape Town where it was unreasonable to walk after sundown. Even tourist hives like Signal Hill were hotspots for armed robberies and sexual assault. Every population where the men have been beaten down has the same symptoms; a monster for a monster -as in American slave history- households absent of men, women carrying the sole financial responsibility, in South Africa’s case at the time, many babies were brought up by gogos, while their young mothers are away in urban areas fighting for a degree, a Masters and a PhD. The disillusioned dislocated boys and men inebriated by drugs and alcohol become the menace of their society.
Even when the BEE, Black Economic Empowerment program, an affirmative action tool among other controls, was created to shift the scales to balance, by placing money in the hands of black people, this did not help. Young black men with handouts suddenly became rich. You could tell who the BEEs were. Everyone whispered BEE when they passed in hot flashy cars with intolerably loud music. They did not need University, the Zimbabweans did.
@amk
Other actions that the South African post-apartheid government took was to ring fence professions. Teachers, nurses and doctors from the rest of Africa were no longer being recruited en masse. Foreigners- mainly other Africans were not allowed to do medicine as of 2010. Lawyers also could not recruited by an law firm unless they had permanent residence. There remained professionals like accountants who were still needed by the country and once that gap had been filled, a cap may have been introduced. Apart from this, a move which led to large emigration by white South Africans is the employment affirmative action policy which created a hiring hierarchy- starting with Black Women first, Black Men and ending with a White man no matter the performance on the interview or the academic qualifications. Also, every white majority company was required to sell some shares to a black person and/or employ at least one black person. This led to the advent of the token unqualified black guy in the back who was presented in case of government inspection.
The issue of Zimbabweans
Nigerians were best known for fraud in previously white suburban areas like Sunnyside, Pretoria, where they carried out apparently, many illegal dealings. In Hatfield. Pretoria they were known for illegal foreign exchange of money. Banks like ABSA and Standard Bank had rigorous checks, declarations and forms to sign when it came to exchanging foreign money plus a percentage deducted as a service charge. To avoid the process and the charges which were hefty on a student pocket, we were directed to the Nigerian backdoor foreign exchange. They literally hid in the back of Arab shops and only came out when they were certain that you were not part of the authorities. Their rates were low. A quick thousand Rands in exchange for dollars from their stash of cash and you were in and out in a breath.
@amk
The Zimbabwean issue though was different. Some did odd jobs in fields like construction but many others got in through Higher Education. My experience with the Zimbabweans I met was that they were highly intellectual people, clearly a useless, unwanted and dangerous trait in every African government. Zimbabwe had failed them. They only needed the the right architecture to climb.
When High School ended at the notoriously disruptive age of 17, some South African boys battled with the decision to earn money and get quick access to designer shoes and clothes or go through years of intense academic study with the prize only at the end. Zimbabweans, like all other immigrants around the world studied and worked like their life depended on it, because it did. As of 2010- 2014, the University of Pretoria still had, as of 2010 -2014 a 60% white, 40% black quota system of enrolment. This was an improvement from the pre-1994 policy where no blacks were allowed.
Africa
During my years in South Africa, Africa to the South African meant anywhere outside South Africa. South Africans constantly referred to the rest of Africa, as ‘Africa’ but never considered themselves part of it. They did not know or care about their Geography beyond their own homeland and the big cities. Just like Black Americans, Black South Africans were very insular and concerned mainly about their ‘own issues’. We had spent years learning about the History and Geography of the Africa, specifically, South Africa [and some West Africa] but they, could not tell or care where East Africa was. Many of them had colourism ingrained in them. A person was only beautiful if they were light-skinned. The term ‘yellowbone’, though it was supposed to sound slightly disparaging was steeped in envy.
The ‘Africa’ in South Africa was probably an emphasis by the Dutch and British to distinguish their piece of gold and diamond from sub-Saharan Africa. The Africans already existing inside the South of the Continent though, referred to it constantly as Mzansi. The word ‘Africa’ in South Africa held absolutely no connection to the rest of Africa. They inwardly believed that they were different, separate and ultimately better off than [other]Africans. That is what ‘their whites’ had told them.
Africa was already a severely divided continent even before Europe ‘discovered’ it. The Divide and Rule policy though very effective in oppression of majorities, must have been easier to implement because of the already existing infighting and disunity of Africans. A lack of concerted effort, determined focus and dedication towards a better or rehabilitated future is a stagnating factor of the entire continent. In California, on 4th July 2026, in commemoration of America’s 250th Independence Day, a time capsule was laid down seven feet in the ground with articles from our world to be opened in two hundred years. Nations think in terms of generations, we think about right now. We have betrayed our own selves. Who needs enemies when we have an Africa like ours? I wonder how long it will take South Africans to realise that the problem of South Africa may not be Africa, but a rather common African problem.
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I think Learnmore Jonasi’s joke on the Lion King theme song may have gone too far. The song is amazing musically and has been iconically African for many years. He seemed to make nonsense of it.
Why are so many talk shows on a video platform referred to as podcasts? I thought a podcast format is audio only.
PurplePretoria 