[DEBATE] : (Fwd) Percy Ngonyama chimes in on Suresh Roberts

[Patrick Bond]

Fit to Govern: the Native Intelligence of Thabo Mbeki [Review]
 
by: Percy Ngonyama

 

On the Broederbond-style decision of the bureaucrats at the South 
African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) not to broadcast what has become 
popularly known as "the film the SABC does not want you to see"- Mbeki 
Unauthorised! , International Federation of Journalists General 
Secretary, Aidan White commented in May 2006, "The public have been 
denied the opportunity to see an independent and professional portrait 
of their president and denied the opportunity to make up their own 
minds." A year later, the public broadcaster continues its 'hide and 
seek'; and is never short of excuses why the documentary cannot be aired.

 

In the backdrop of such methods of censorship, reminiscent of the 
apartheid-era; and well orchestrated manoeuvres to prevent; and limit 
independent public discourse and analysis on the personality and 
policies of the country's Head of State, the debate that has been 
elicited by Ronald Suresh Roberts' much-talked about Fit to Govern: the 
Native Intelligence of Thabo Mbeki, which he describes as a "Book about 
President Thabo Mbeki and his intellectual traditions", should be 
applauded. Much like William Mervin Gumede's 2005 Thabo Mbeki and the 
Battle for the Soul of the ANC , and Patrick Bond's Talk Left Walk 
Right: South Africa's Frustrated Global Reforms (2004),  the book, in 
spite of the avowedly pro-government stance, has helped fuel the 
extremely essential   public, media and scholarly discussion on 'South 
Africa's number one citizen', his government's  policies and presidency 
in general.

 

However, there are some serious shortcomings with the book. While 
Roberts insists that his book amounts to a genuine portrayal of the 
often 'misunderstood' Mbeki, in addition to the many deliberate 
omissions and silences, it is largely premised on the widespread fallacy 
that Mbeki is an 'anti-imperial' 'Africanist' victim of the white owned 
'illiberal' press and white supremacists that, annoyingly, continue in 
the age old racist tradition to question the 'native's ability' to 
govern, and perform other tasks of authority. This, and the shrewd, in 
the context of South Africa's recent history of institutionalised 
racism, Mugabe-style tactic, very adored by Mbeki and his many hangers 
on and sycophants in the government and at Luthuli House, of dismissing 
critics of the government and of Mbeki as 'racist', or as agents of 
imperialists/neo-colonialists, are the author's main points of departure.

 

Furthermore, the failure to fully comprehend the contradictory and 
hypocritical nature of Mbeki has robbed the author of the opportunity to 
understand some of the main reasons Mbeki appears to be 'enigmatic', a 
charge Roberts vehemently refutes. "Mbeki is no 'Enigma.' People who 
call him that are using mysticism to evade important debates." Roberts 
tries very hard to deny that   Mbeki is an Aids denialist/dissident, and 
that his 'silent diplomacy'  on Zimbabwe has been ineffective.  "Thabo 
Mbeki", he contests, "is not now, nor has he ever been, an AIDS 
dissident." This is strange for Mbeki has been quoted   as saying 
"Personally, I don't know anybody who has died of Aids", consequently 
denying knowing Parks Mankahlana, and Nelson Mandela and Mangosuthu 
Buthelezi, whose children died as a result of the pandemic. He has also 
been quoted as questioning if it makes sense to assume that a 'virus can 
cause a syndrome.' It is such extraordinary statements that have made 
him popular the world-over for all the wrong reasons.  

 

Roberts protests that, amongst other things, Mbeki's 'anti racism' 
messages are often misinterpreted as 'obsession with race.' However, the 
evidence, provided in the form of speeches and writings to corroborate 
this claim, proves the contrary: a president highly obsessed with race. 
There are quite a few other similar instances in the book where Roberts, 
unwittingly, provides one with the ammunition with which to "kick his 
Mbeki's ass licking ass." Mbeki's tactic of 'hiding behind the shield of 
racism', through the shrewd use of   sensitive terms, such as 'Nigger' 
and 'Kaffir' in his writings, a method Roberts also employs, to 
demonstrate the extent of 'the scourge of racism within our society', 
is, as in the case of psychopathic Mugabe, solely intended to divert 
people's attention from the real issues affecting this country, and the 
sad reality that Mbeki's   African National Congress (ANC) has sold out 
by adopting neo-liberalism, which, ironically has impacted negatively on 
the lives of  poor black people. It is mainly for such reasons that 
Roberts' latest contribution towards 'pro-Mbeki' propaganda, 
characterised by his vast ignorance of what James Petras calls the 'The 
Imperial System: Hierarchy, Networks and Clients', and South Africa and 
Mbeki's collusion in this system, to the detriment of the natives of the 
world, formulated with full cooperation of the presidency, should be 
countered with the same amount of zeal and enthusiasm as that expressed 
by its proponents. Attempting to deny that South Africa is a neo-liberal 
state amounts to the worst kind of denialism. Rather let us debate some 
of the 'justifications' provided for the neo-liberal 'development' path 
the ANC has taken.

 

Methodologically, the book's credibility is put under the spot light.  
In the narrative, Roberts repeatedly quotes Mbeki to back up claims that 
are made about the very Mbeki. To emphasise the presumed 'anti 
imperialist', 'pro poor', nature of Mbeki, mainly his 'words', in the 
form of speeches and writings, including his weekly online letters, and 
not his 'actions', are used as proof. Mainly because Mbeki 'words' are 
continuously refuted by his 'actions', as a result, the narrative is 
also as contradictory and smacks of hypocrisy as its   subject matter. 
The abundant corporate funding, including a significant grant from ABSA 
Bank, does not only remain a huge controversy, but also raises some 
serious questions. ABSA bank is now part of Barclays Group. Barclays 
Bank's financial gains from injustices, widely gone unpunished, that 
have befallen the natives of Africa, from slavery to apartheid, are well 
documented. Together with other multinational corporations, the bank is 
currently facing a law suite in the United States Court of Appeal by the 
'native' victims of apartheid. Not only does the self styled 'native 
mouthpiece' see nothing wrong with this, but he also omits from the 
narrative that the neo-liberal government of Thabo Mbeki, the supposed 
'Native' 'spokesperson', is thwarting these justified attempts at long 
denied justice on grounds that they are detrimental to foreign 
investment.   This signals a U-turn from the ANC's statement made in 
1989 following foreign banks' rescue of the apartheid regime during the 
'debt moratorium crisis' of the 1980s. "When the time comes", said the 
ANC in a statement in the Cape Times, "the South African people will not 
be unmindful of the role of banks in making profit out of the misery of 
our people."   It is due to such abrupt departures from statements made 
during the struggle, that most progressive people now see the ANC as 
having 'sold out', a charge strongly denied by our denialist rulers.  

 

Yes, such clear collaboration with imperial forces does not only smack 
of 'compradorist' behaviour, much despised by critics of 'nationalist' 
petty bourgeois politicians,   including Frantz Fanon, but also acts to 
dispute Roberts' claims that Mbeki is 'anti imperialist.' Strangely, 
Roberts, whether ignorantly or intentionally with the aim to further 
confuse the unsuspecting public, describes Mbeki as Fanonist in his 
orientation; and selectively uses Fanon's 'anti colonial/anti 
imperialist' writings to support his claims. However, the reality is 
that further reading of Fanon vividly reveals his strong views and 
dislike of the bourgeoisie and the comprador bourgeoisie whom he, 
correctly, identifies as the enemy of the peasants and other 
marginalised groups.

 

"In spite of his frequently honest conduct", says Fanon of the likes of 
Mbeki in The Wretched of the Earth: The Pitfalls of National 
Consciousness , "the leader as seen objectively is the fierce defender 
of these interests, today combined, of the national bourgeoisie and the 
ex-colonial companies." "During the struggle for liberation", Fanon 
continues, "the leader awakened the people and promised them a forward 
march, heroic and unmitigated. Today, he uses every means to put them to 
sleep, and three or four times a year asks them to remember the colonial 
period and to look back on the long way they have come since then." This 
is precisely what has characterised Mbeki's presidency. During 'national 
events' the public is forever reminded of life during apartheid and 
colonialism. Those who complain of the ongoing injustice in the 'new 
South Africa' are quickly dismissed as apartheid sympathisers. To a very 
large extent, Roberts book also seeks to perpetuate this new 'defence 
mechanism.'    

 

Making William Gumede's book, described by Roberts as "an assault upon 
Mbeki", more interesting was that, unlike Fit to Govern ; it dared 
expose Mbeki's paranoia, manipulative attitude, and the embarrassing 
'unknown' side of South Africa's Commander-in-Chief, some of the things 
that the bosses at the SABC, with the approval of the presidency, want 
to conceal from the public, particularly, in the months leading up to 
the ANC's national conference in Limpopo where Mbeki is expected to 
contest the position of president. While labelling Gumede an 
'unpatriotic' "national embarrassment", Roberts conveniently ignores to 
deal with the 'controversial' circumstances, beautifully analysed by 
Gumede, surrounding "Mbeki's Path to Power."

 

Throughout the book, the extremely racist Cecil John Rhodes, and his 
role in the British Empire 's 'bloody' colonial project in Southern 
Africa are mentioned. To demonstrate that white stereotypes about the 
'Native's ability to govern' have a long history, Rhodes is quoted as 
saying   "There are those who wish to endow the native at once with the 
privileges it has taken the European eighteen hundred years to acquire 
[but] the natives is to be treated as a child and denied the franchise." 
That the name of Rhodes is now used alongside that of Nelson Mandela in 
what is known as 'The Mandela Rhodes Foundation' has been omitted. How 
about the fact that, in what is a perfect example of nationalist rulers 
'walking straight into the shoes of former colonisers/oppressors'; one 
of Mbeki's official residence, in Rodebosch, once belonged to Rhodes?

 

Moreover, determined to achieve the ambitious 6% annual growth rate 
between 2010 and 2014, as part of the Accelerated and Shared Growth 
Initiative of South Africa (asgiSA),   in what smacks of 
sub-imperialism, the Mbeki led government has paved the way for the 
likes of De Beers, now with a Black Economic Empowerment (BEE) element, 
a mining company founded by Rhodes on the back of the sweat and blood of 
native mineworkers, and other corporations, to export their exploitation 
of cheap 'native labour' to other parts of the continent. With Mbeki's 
own admission, it is the corporates, many of whom openly conducted 
business with the apartheid regime, to the detriment of the black 
majority, that have benefited handsomely from the past thirteen years of 
'democracy.'

 

How is this possible under a government led by a supposedly 
'anti-imperialist' intelligent native?   Is it also naïve to ask if 
Mbeki is such a 'champion' for native rights and well being, as Roberts 
wants us to believe, why is it that he saw nothing wrong with recently 
being awarded a knighthood by the British Empire, an institution whose 
well documented crimes against the natives of Africa is well documented? 
Is South Africa 's loyalty to neo-colonial institutions such as the 
British Commonwealth not a sign of endorsement of the very 
'Mother-child' relationship between colonisers and the formerly 
colonised that Roberts speak so strongly about in the chapter entitled 
'Mother country'? Once again, this amounts to the same kind of double 
standards displayed by Robert Mugabe. To many black people, he is this 
'anti-imperial' 'Africanist' who has finally managed to 'teach the white 
man a lesson'. Strangely, however, in the midst of his anti 
imperial/British rhetoric, he boasts a knighthood bestowed on him in 
1994 during his 'happier times' with the British Crown.

 

So, when Sunday Times editor Mondli Makhanya who, together with others, 
is severely vilified in 'Massa day done': Mbeki's new black critics', is 
labelled a "colonial creature" by Roberts, perhaps the question should 
be who is more deserving of this description? Whose actions between 
Mondli and Mbeki have done more to advance neo-colonialism and the 
interest of foreign capital? After all, as the old saying goes 'Actions 
speak louder than words." The continued 'dissing' of former British 
Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher is strange, given Mbeki's not so easy 
to conceal staunch belief in Thatcherite economic policies, 
characterised by the commodification of every aspect of people's life 
accompanied by austerity measures. And since Roberts admits to have read 
John Pilger's 'Apartheid Did not Die' which appears in Freedom Next 
Time, he should be aware that at the unveiling of the 'non-negotiable' 
market friendly Growth, Employment and Redistribution (Gear) 
macro-economic programme, his 'hero' defiantly declared to critics "Just 
call me a Thatcherite."

 

While Roberts disputes valid claims that Mbeki and his government's 
policies are 'pro-market', hence 'anti-poor', it does not take a Rocket 
Scientist to see that Mbeki, who, in accordance with his overall 'Talk 
left Walk Right' attitude continues claiming his government's fictional 
commitment to the Freedom Charter and the Reconstruction and Development 
Programme, has become nothing but an 'errand boy' for those who own the 
means of production. On behalf of the rich, ironically, mainly white, 
Mbeki travels the world-over, at the expense of the taxpayer, looking 
for new markets to sell the surplus produced at a huge expense to 
exploited, mainly 'native' workers. By concurring with the ANC's 
National Executive Committee Discussion document, addressed to the left 
within the Tripartite Alliance, published in Umrabulo of May 2000 that 
"The democratic state therefore represents neither the dictatorship of 
the proletariat, nor the dictatorship of the bourgeoisie", Roberts, like 
the now bourgeoisified leadership of the ANC, displays his equally 
serious misunderstanding of the current South African situation, and 
ignorance of Marxist analysis, which he purports to have a command of. 
According to Marx, a bourgeois state, such as South Africa, "being a 
system of class rule, amounts to a [permanent] dictatorship of the 
bourgeoisie."

 

Many of Mbeki's statements, from during the times of exile in the petty 
bourgeois surroundings of London, to his weekly online letters, are 
quoted to demonstrate his hatred of racism. Of particular interest is 
his March 16-23, posted on the eve of Human Rights Day on the ANC 
website, entitled 'Freedom from racism- a fundamental human rights' in 
which he shrewdly uses the exceptionally sensitive 'K' word to make his 
claims about racism being South Africa's 'number one enemy', and an 
obstacle to people accessing their human rights.   While most poor 
people might not be aware, but the main reason they are denied their 
Constitutionally guaranteed human rights is because of the hegemonic 
neo-liberal capitalist system of Mbeki's government.

 

By crying racism, are Mbeki, and his praise singers, including Roberts, 
suggesting that the hundreds of poor black students financially excluded 
from tertiary institutions, year in and year out, suffer such fate 
because of the colour of their skin? Are the many people who have had 
their water, electrify and other services terminated because of 
non-affordability victims of the scourge of the "demon" of racism that 
"permeates so much of the fabric of our society"?   Is it the evil 
spirit of racism which Mbeki feels "must be exorcised" that has seen 
more than 40 percent- using the broad definition of unemployment- very 
high compared to other medium income economies- of the country's 
economically active go without jobs?

 

Since it is doubtful that Mbeki has, personally, suffered serious racism 
in recent times, clearly, his statements on racism are intended to 
further 'divide and rule' the masses, and confuse them on their real 
enemy: the ruling class, the real enemy of the people since the 
emergence of class societies. South Africans, black and white, need to 
wake up to the new kind of 'apartheid', perpetuated by Mbeki's 
conservative economic policies, engulfing this country which, unlike in 
the past, is not based on race, but class.   Roberts' book may deny it, 
but Mbeki, by occupying a prominent position amongst the international 
ruling class,  responsible for all the suffering of the poor and wars, 
including, the Iraqi war which Roberts widely makes reference to in, 
amongst other things, arguing against alleged proponents of 'regime 
change' in Zimbabwe, is just as culpable.

 

He makes very valid assertions, through, regarding the many 
contradictions within the 'international community' on the Zimbabwe 
issue. Very true, while not condoning Mugabe's 'crimes' against 
humanity, they look like 'child's play' when compared to what Bush and 
Dick Cheney's oil war is doing to innocent Iraqis. However, it is 
grossly misleading to equate criticism of the government and Mbeki's 
so-called 'quite diplomacy' policy on Zimbabwe to calls for 'regime 
change': George Bush/Tony Blair style. A large majority has been 
insulted by statements, such as "there are no human rights abuses in 
Zimbabwe" attributed to our politicians, and collusion, at the expense 
of the taxpayer, in   Mugabe's 'election thievery' by certifying ' as 
'legitimate' and 'free and fair' elections that certainly do not qualify 
as such. It is 'pure lies' to argue, as Mugabe himself continues to, 
that all those that slam his government are either racist, imperialists, 
if white, or agents of imperialists, if black, determined to undermine a 
'native freedom fighter', simply because, it is mainly black people that 
are facing starvation and suffering in Zimbabwe. It is also very naïve 
not to realise that Mugabe's 'land reform' programme, identified, 
wrongly so, by Roberts, as what has triggered Zimbabwe's socio-economic 
woes, is an attempt to obscure people view away from the, patronage, 
corruption, nepotism, cronyism that have been the major characteristics 
of Mugabe's rule in the past twenty seven years, the root cause for most 
of the economic problems currently affecting that country north of the 
Limpopo.   

 

Endless references to the ANC's parliamentary majority, also beloved by 
the many arrogant ANC officials,   are intended to highlight that the 
masses, regardless of the many 'detractors' which include prominent 
members of the Global Justice Movement, have not lost faith in the ANC. 
"At the 2004 victory celebrations at the Sandton Convention Centre, 
Mbeki specifically pointed out that the voters had rebuffed the 
so-called 'social movements' that had styled themselves as the authentic 
voice of black mass grievance." Unsurprisingly, not mentioned in this 
quote by South Africa's 'Denialist-in-Chief' is the depressing fact that 
since the first democratic election in 1994, the number of voters, in 
real terms, has not stopped shrinking (less than 48% of the registered 
22 million voters cast their vote in the 2006 local government 
elections. Of these, less than 11 million voted ANC), and this, together 
with the many strikes, including the recent protracted public service 
sector industrial action, and service delivery protests, signal high 
levels of discontent. And by denying this, our complacent rulers are 
losing out on the opportunity to find out the root causes of this 
unhappiness. Should the ANC not be asking why the South African 
electorate is so disillusioned with the electoral process, only thirteen 
years since the first democratic election?

 

It is such denialism that has characterised the government's response to 
the HIV/AIDS and unemployment time bombs facing this country. There 
seems to be an absurd believe that by denying the problem, it will go 
away. Unfortunately, as we have seen with HIV and unemployment, this 
only stands to compound the crisis. Strangely, in Fit to Govern, while 
describing all those that have called for the roll out of the 
life-prolonging Anti drugs (ARVs) as 'Aids drug fundamentalists', 
including the entire Treatment Action Campaign (TAC), Zachie Achmat and 
Edwin Cameroon, who are in cohort with pharmaceutical companies, 
Roberts, desperately attempts to dispute claims that Mbeki has 
questioned the link between HIV and Aids. If one considers that the TAC 
has mainly demanded the import of cheap generic versions of Aids drugs, 
allegations, also supported by 'multi vitamin' proponent Dr. Mathius 
Rath, that the   TAC is nothing but a 'front' for the likes of 
GlaxoSmithKline, are hence nonsensical. And, in view of the TAC's 
valuable contribution to the struggle for affordable HIV/AIDS treatment, 
these spurious allegations should be treated with the contempt they deserve.

 

While Roberts, personally, is a very nice person with a remarkable sense 
of humour, Fit to Govern   is seriously flawed, theoretically, 
methodologically and otherwise. Mbeki is no 'victim' of the 
'imperialist' press, on the contrary the corporate owned media is in 
full agreement, with Mbeki's pro business/anti poor neo-liberal project. 
Massive expenditure of public funds in multi-billion dollar mega 
projects has been sanctioned by the media as good for the 'booming' 
economy. Only an extremely ignorant persons or a liar would deny that 
Mbeki, one of the ruling class' most trusted 'lieutenants', and the 
media, ruling class property, share a common agenda: preserving the 
current unjust status quo. As sad as it is, but it would be 
understandable if the 'pro Mbeki' Roberts's intentions are to mislead. 
It would be very worrying if his conclusions were made out of ignorance. 
The intellectual bankruptcy of some of the people in Mbeki's cabinet 
acts to corroborate Gumede valid assertions, denied by Roberts, of 
technocratic Mbeki's preference for sycophantic 'Yes-Men and Yes-Women.'

 

In the Preface, he mentions the unrestricted access he had to very 
senior people in the presidency, but, bizarrely, in the narrative, he 
hardly makes use of what they think of the 'Chief'. Instead, mostly, 
Mbeki's own writings and statements are used to back up what is stated 
about him. In view of this, and the many other flaws, it would be 
justifiable to assume that the entire project was rushed through as a 
desperate attempt to 'polish' Mbeki's image in the months leading up to 
the national conference in December, where he is expected to stand for 
the position of president?   And, yes, as Patrick Bond pointed out to 
Roberts at a recent Durban launch of the latter's book hosted by the 
University of KwaZulu-Natal's Graduate School of Business, "Mbeki 
deserves better, and Suresh can do better." Certainly, he has not done 
his 'homework' and should, for the next edition, seriously consider 
interviewing social movements activists and other left (outside the 
alliance) critics of Mbeki.

 

On a positive departure note, though, the much-awaited Gumede's second 
edition of Thabo Mbeki and the Battle for the Soul of the ANC is coming 
out in September this year. Like the first edition, and Roberts' book, 
it should be expected to generate just as vigorous a debate. Indeed, in 
spite of covert operations by the likes of the kowtowing management of 
the SABC, deepening and broadening the debate around the president and 
his policies is extremely critical.

 

***Ngonyama is a full time post-graduate student with the Department of 
Historical and Internet Studies at the University of KwaZulu-Natal 
(UKZN) and a Durban based activist. As respondents, together with 
academic activist, Patrick Bond, Ngonyama recently participated in a 
public discussion of Fit to Govern hosted by the UKZN's Graduate School 
of Business, with the author Ronald Suresh Roberts and former 
presidential spokesperson Bheki Khumalo as discussants.