Opinion / Columnist
Maimane should fire Madam Zille
24 Mar 2017 at 08:49hrs | Views
The biggest rhetoric that Steve Biko fought for was for black people to fight for their own freedom and not have other people fighting for them who are not black people.
That was not to say that white people should not be part of the struggle of black people but that they should not take lead in it as they were not the paramount victims of the system. He indeed collaborated with a lot of white people during his time. It is much easier to fight with an army than to do battle by oneself.
Some people may have questioned his reasoning. Maybe he felt that white people would not go all the way for the struggle that is to say they would not die for the struggle. Counter to that point are the countless many white people who laid their lives down defending the rights of their fellow black countrymen. So that argument doesn't hold that much water.
Could it be because he thought that white people pretended to like black people in order to be heroes of the struggle and take all the accolades and glory for themselves? That one as well is countered by white people who genuinely felt empathy for black people suffering so needlessly that they sacrificed so much of their future prospects and livelihoods for the benefit of their black fellow countrymen.
What would then be so paramount in his thinking that he stood so firm on this stance that black people should fight for their own freedom? Now let us take a flight of fancy. Let us imagine that the DA won the struggle for us and that it was the party that freed black people. What kind of South Africa do you have in mind? Let us say for argument's sake that Helen Zille is the president of South Africa.
If someone like her with all the credentials of the struggle can hold those views about colonialism, how invested would she be to black people's current plights?
That was not to say that white people should not be part of the struggle of black people but that they should not take lead in it as they were not the paramount victims of the system. He indeed collaborated with a lot of white people during his time. It is much easier to fight with an army than to do battle by oneself.
Some people may have questioned his reasoning. Maybe he felt that white people would not go all the way for the struggle that is to say they would not die for the struggle. Counter to that point are the countless many white people who laid their lives down defending the rights of their fellow black countrymen. So that argument doesn't hold that much water.
Could it be because he thought that white people pretended to like black people in order to be heroes of the struggle and take all the accolades and glory for themselves? That one as well is countered by white people who genuinely felt empathy for black people suffering so needlessly that they sacrificed so much of their future prospects and livelihoods for the benefit of their black fellow countrymen.
What would then be so paramount in his thinking that he stood so firm on this stance that black people should fight for their own freedom? Now let us take a flight of fancy. Let us imagine that the DA won the struggle for us and that it was the party that freed black people. What kind of South Africa do you have in mind? Let us say for argument's sake that Helen Zille is the president of South Africa.
If someone like her with all the credentials of the struggle can hold those views about colonialism, how invested would she be to black people's current plights?
Source - Thandolwethu Mene
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