Black Consciousness in the Postapartheid Era

Tafira, Hashi Kenneth

doi:10.1057/978-1-137-58650-6_4

Hashi Kenneth Tafira⁴

Part of the book series: African Histories and Modernities ((AHAM))

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Abstract

From 2007 onwards, there has been a resurgence of BC in Azania, mainly purveyed by township youth in the form of Blackwash, a BC youth movement. It is more intriguing that older BC formations like AZAPO and their ideological kindred PAC and the Socialist Party of Azania (SOPA) have been carrying on the black radical tradition. Why is there a need for movements like Blackwash? Indeed, many commentators have written off BC as irrelevant politically and culturally, and as having dearth in social ideology mainly because of the triumphalism of the ANC’s non-racialism and the poor parliamentary showing of AZAPO and PAC in the post-1994 elections. For example, in the 1999 elections, AZAPO got 17,436 votes (0.18 %), while in 2004 it garnered 0.1 % of the vote. SOPA, in the 1999 elections, got 5780 votes (0.06 %) where it contested three provinces: Free State, Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal (KZN).

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Notes

1.
Conversation with Sadique Variava, 14 October 2011.
2.
Halisi, C.R.D. 1999. Black Political Thought in the Making of South African Democracy. Bloomington: Indiana University Press.
3.
Ibid.
4.
Mignolo, Walter D. 2000. Local Histories/Global Designs. Coloniality, Subaltern Knowledges and Border Thinking. Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press; Ndlovu-Gatsheni, Sabelo J. 2009. Africa for Africans or Africa for Natives Only? New Nationalism and Nativism in Zimbabwe and South Africa. Africa Spectrum 44 (1) pp. 61–78.
5.
Ndlovu-Gatsheni, op cit.; Parry, Benita. 1994. Resistance Theory/Theorising Resistance Two Cheers for Nativism. In Francis Barker, Peter Hulme and Margaret Iversen, eds. Colonial Discourse/Postcolonial Theory. Manchester: Manchester University Press; Appiah, Kwame Anthony. 1992. In My Father’s House: Africa in the Philosophy of Culture. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
6.
Mignolo, op cit.; Ndlovu-Gatsheni, op cit.
7.
Kunnie, Julian. 2000. Is Apartheid Really Dead? Pan-Africanist Working Class Critical Perspectives. Colorado: Westview Press.
8.
Ibid.: x.
9.
Ibid.
10.
Halisi, op cit.
11.
Adam, Heribert and Moodley, Kogila. 1993. The Negotiated Revolution. Society and Politics in Post-Apartheid South Africa. Johannesburg: Jonathan Ball Publishers.
12.
Ibid.:104.
13.
Zeleza, Paul Tiyambe. 2003. Rethinking Africa’s Globalisation. The Intellectual Challenges. Volume 1. Trenton: Africa World Press, Inc., p vi.
14.
Nyerere, Julius Kambarage. 1968. Freedom and Socialism. Uhuru na Ujamaa. Selection from Writings and Speeches 1965–1967. Nairobi: Oxford University Press.
15.
Bogues, Anthony. 2011. CLR James, Pan-Africanism and the Black Radical Tradition. Critical Arts Volume 25 Number 4.
16.
Nabudere, Dani Wadada. 2000. Globalisation, the African Post-colonial State, Post-Traditionalism, and the New World Order. In Dani Wadada Nabudere, ed. Globalisation and the Post-colonial State. Harare: AAPS Books.
17.
Ibid.:13.
18.
Ibid.:14.
19.
Ibid.:41.
20.
Ibid.:53.
21.
Mignolo, op cit.
22.
Bogues, op cit.; Robinson, Cedric J. 1983. Black Marxism. The Making of the Black Radical Tradition. London: Zed Press.
23.
Rodney, Walter. 1981. The Africa Revolution. A Talk at the University of Michigan March 31 1972. Urgent Tasks 12 pp. 5–13.
24.
Robinson, op cit.:452.
25.
Ibid.
26.
Ibid.:444.
27.
Dyson, Michael Eric. 1995. Making Malcolm. The Myth and Meaning of Malcolm X. New York: Oxford University Press.
28.
Robinson, op cit.:451.
29.
See, for example, Bogues, op cit.
30.
Gramsci, Antonio. 1971. Selections from Prison Notebooks. Translated and edited by Quinton Hoare and Geoffrey Nowell-Smith. London: Lawrence and Wishart.
31.
Mignolo, op cit.; Said, Edward W. 1993. Culture and Imperialism. London: Vintage.
32.
Said, op cit.
33.
Magubane, Zine. 2004. Bringing the Empire Home. Race, Class and Gender in Britain and Colonial South Africa. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
34.
Dyson, op cit.
35.
West, Cornel. 1994. Race Matters. New York: Vintage Books.
36.
Dyson, op cit.
37.
Ibid.
38.
MC or Master of Ceremonies is synonymous with rap culture.
39.
Ibid.:82–3.
40.
Ibid.:85.
41.
Ibid.:87.
42.
Woods, 1978:106–7.
43.
Malcolm X, Message to the Grassroots.
44.
“Coz 1994 Changed Fokol, Black Movement Aims for Dictatorship of the Masses”. http://rnw.nl/africa/article/black-movement-aims-dictatorship-masses.
45.
Gramsci, Antonio. 1985. Selections from Cultural Writings. Edited by David Forgacs and Geoffrey Nowell-Smith. Translated by William Boelhover. London: Lawrence and Wishart.
46.
Mngxitama has constantly referred to a grassroots BC approach as “mala-mogudu BC.” Mala-mogudu (tripe) is a popular township meal associated with being black and poor. I will analyse these contestations later in the chapter.
47.
Posted on Facebook on 26 April 2012.
48.
Kom’boa, Lorenzo Ervin 2011 “Authoritarian Leftists Kill the Cop in Your Head” available at http://www.ww.org/en/history/library/Ervin/copinyourhead. Accessed 15 November 2011.
49.
Ibid.:21.
50.
Ibid.:22.
51.
Ibid.
52.
The Role of the Revolutionary Organisation” http://www.fed.org.uk. Accessed on 14 February 2012.
53.
Toyi-toyi is a popular South African protest dance.
54.
Edward Wilmot Blyden cited in Lynch, Hollis R, ed. 1971. Black Spokesman. Selected Published Writings of Edward Wilmot Blyden. London: Frank Cass and Co. Ltd.
55.
Ibid.:1667.
56.
Ibid.:168.
57.
This article appears in Inyaniso, February 1945.
58.
Nyerere, Julius Kambarage. 1968. Freedom and Socialism. Uhuru na Ujamaa. Selection from Writings and Speeches 1965–1967. Nairobi: Oxford University Press, p2.
59.
Ibid.:96; see also Arusha Declaration.
60.
Ibid.:7–8.
61.
Ibid.:14.
62.
Ibid.
63.
Ibid.:15.
64.
Ibid:16.
65.
Rodney, Walter. 1972. Tanzanian Ujamaa and Scientific Socialism. African Review 1 (4) pp. 61–70.
66.
Ibid.:63.
67.
“Understanding SASO”. Discussion Document by Steve Biko, for SASO Formation School, Pietermaritzburg, 5–7 December 1971.
68.
Report of The Black Communalism—Our Philosophy commission (n.d).
69.
Ibid.
70.
Statement of Economic Policy debated at a symposium of the BPC, 31 May 1976.
71.
Rodney, Walter. 1975. Marxism and African Liberation. Speech at Queen’s College, New York, 1975.
72.
Gwala, Mafika Pascal. 1981. Steve Bantu Biko. In Mothobi Mutloatse, ed. Reconstruction. 90 Years of Black Historical Literature. Johannesburg: Ravan Press.
73.
Ibid.:233.
74.
Ibid.:235.
75.
Some participants were putting on SNI T-shirts with name and logo.
76.
Amakipkip is a youth fashion label.
77.
I refer to the “Occupy Senate Concourse” and hunger strike by Wits students in support of 17 dismissed chefs. Others supporting the campaign were the SRC, ANCYL, YCL and SASCO.
78.
Malcolm X with Haley, Alex. 1965 (2007). The Autobiography of Malcolm X. London: Penguin Books, p382.
79.
“Understanding SASO.” Discussion Document by Steve Biko for SASO Formation School, Pietermaritzburg, 5–7 December 1971.
80.
Ramphele, Mamphela. 1991. Empowerment and Symbols of Hope: Black Consciousness and Community Development. In Barney N Pityana, Mamphele Ramphele, Malusi Mpumlwana and Lindy Wilson, eds. Bounds of Possibility. The Legacy of Steve Biko and Black Consciousness. Cape Town: Davis Philip.
81.
Hyden cited in Ramphele, op cit.
82.
Ramphele, op cit.
83.
These are some terms used by Mngxitama on Facebook.
84.
On 10 March 2012.
85.
Posted on Facebook on 12 April 2012.
86.
This message was posted on Facebook on 14 May 2012.
87.
Soweto (South West Townships) is a sprawling Johannesburg ghetto.
88.
An imbizo is a Nguni word for a gathering where issues are discussed.
89.
For an in-depth analysis of Thomas Sankara’s career in Burkina Faso, see an article by Amber Murrey: “A Reflection of Sankara’s Speech, 25 Years Later.” (http://pambazuka.org/en/category/features/83074.
90.
Lenin, Vladimir Illich. 1970. Left Wing Communism, An Infantile Disorder. Peking: Foreign Languages Press.
91.
Ibid.:54.
92.
Luxembourg, Rosa. 1970 [2001]. Reform or Revolution. New York: Pathfinder.
93.
Ibid.:67.
94.
Hook, Derek. 2011. Rethinking Biko. A Black Consciousness Critique of Whiteness. African Identities 9 (1) pp. 19–32.
95.
Mngxitama has argued that SASCO/PYA have no theoretical and philosophical basis to appropriate and claim Biko because of ANC’s “anti-black” policies.
96.
Mngxitama, Andile, Alexander, Amanda and Gibson Nigel C, eds. 2008. Biko Lives! Contesting the Legacies of Steve Biko. New York: Palgrave Macmillan; Veriava, Ahmed and Naidoo, Prishani. 2008. Remembering Biko for Here and Now. In Andile Mngxitama, Amanda Alexander and Nigel Gibson, eds. Biko Lives! Contesting the Legacies Of Steve Biko. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.
97.
Mngxitama, Andile, Alexander, Amanda and Gibson Nigel C, eds. 2008, p18.
98.
Veriava and Naidoo, op cit.:248.
99.
Mngxitama, “Fanon on Blackness”, WISER, University of the Witwatersrand, May 31 2012.
100.
Ibid.:234.
101.
Ibid.
102.
Conversation with SBF’s communications officer, 02 April 2012.
103.
Roy, Arundhati. 2012. “Capitalism: A Ghost Story.” available at http://www.outlookindia.com. Accessed March 26 2012.
104.
Raiford, Leigh and Cohen, Michael. 2012. “Black History Month and the Uses of the Past” available at http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/2012/02/2012/2224952.html. Accessed on February 28 2012.
105.
Veriava and Naidoo, op cit.:248.
106.
Mngxitama posted this on Facebook.
107.
Shacks.
108.
Available at http://www.azapo.org.za.
109.
Maphai, Vincent. 1994. The Role of Black Consciousness in the Liberation Struggle. In Ian Liebenberg, Fiona Lortan, Bobby Nel and Gert van der Westhuizen, eds. The Long March: The Story of the Struggle for Liberation in South Africa. Pretoria: Haum, p130.
110.
Ibid.:133.
111.
I heard this from someone during the “Alex to Sandton —Hell to Heaven march,” 16 June 2011.
112.
Comment from one participant, SNI Durban, 24 September 2011.
113.
A post on Facebook, 18 May 2011.
114.
Posted on Facebook, 18 May 2011.
115.
Posted on Facebook, 15 February 2012.
116.
Posted on Facebook, 15 February 2012.
117.
Berki, RN. 1977. The History of Political Thought. A Short Introduction. Totowa, NJ: Rowman and Littlefield.
118.
Ibid.:38.

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University of South Africa (UNISA), Pretoria, South Africa
Hashi Kenneth Tafira

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Tafira, H.K. (2016). Black Consciousness in the Postapartheid Era. In: Black Nationalist Thought in South Africa. African Histories and Modernities. Palgrave Macmillan, New York. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-58650-6_4

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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-58650-6_4
Published: 29 May 2016
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, New York
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