Today is Diwali, when Hindus celebrate the victorious journey of Lord Rama from exile back to his homeland.
Metaphorically speaking, the message is more powerful than the story. It is about the battle of light over darkness. As clay lamps are lit to symbolise this hope for enlightenment we can find parallels in struggles for equality.
This victory can be seen in the re-election of Barack Obama in the US where a black president has been endorsed for a second term in the most powerful Western democracy of the world.
The message is profound – an African American, despite all odds, can make it to the White House and live in it. It says that a black man can lead his nation and rise high from the bowels of slavery.
Is this not a message of hope for non-racialism and what should we in South Africa learn from it?
We seem to be falling into a rut of alienating our fellow South Africans from each other through legislation, cultural misunderstandings, insensitive behaviour and discriminatory practices.
We hide behind barriers that allow us to do whatever we please under the guise of “my culture”. We are increasingly hearing the words “it’s a white man’s’ way and we will have nothing of it and “African solutions for African problems”. “Westernisation of our people is responsible for the high divorce rate in the Indian community”.
“Our girls are getting too Western in dress, thinking and behaviour”. And so the mindless accusations pile up to rationalise a changing world of seamless borders and global influences.
Recently, President Jacob Zuma warned black intelligentsia against being too critical of his style of leadership.
He told traditional leaders to “solve African problems the African way, not the white man’s way”.
This injunction is a wily rationalisation for the defiant attitude that he adopts against a critical judiciary. If we personify an inanimate justice system by labelling it racially we can defy it as we please. We can even trash our constitution and as Barney Mthombothi aptly alerts us, our president, the guardian of this supreme law of the land, has nothing but contempt for it.
The tentacles of darkness are also to be seen in the structures of government where like-minded people are appointed to positions of power at the president’s whims. They do not upstage him because of their mediocrity, loyalty and desire to please and take orders.
Perhaps on account of this Jeremy Gauntlett will never be appointed to the Bench under Zuma’s reign.
How can one justify the fact that Gauntlett – who is regarded by his peers and the general legal fraternity as one of the sharpest legal minds in the country, if not internationally – can be overlooked four times while we appoint less impressive substitutes who are no doubt competent but not necessarily exceptional.
We are told that Gauntlett is arrogant and over critical and that his personality is more of a crucial factor than his intellect and knowledge of the law.
This trend towards appointing mediocrity is a levelling factor that has a deleterious effect on all levels in our country from education to health services, ultimately affecting all aspects of service delivery.
In our battle for enlightenment we need to understand that poverty and distress are universal challenges. This is why it is of grave concern to learn that proposed amendments to black economic empowerment policies will penalise charities whose beneficiaries are not 100 percent black.
It is a sad indictment on non-racialism. The proposals state that firms could lose BEE points if they donate to charities that do not have 100 percent black beneficiaries. How can we turn away a child because of his race?
This is against the very notion of ubuntu that the ANC government fought for alongside all hues of comrades. This is an aberration of justice that will require social workers and community and religious organisations to re-examine their belief systems and question their values towards humanity.
In We are the Poors , Ashwin Desai deracialises poverty in his study of Chatsworth, an apartheid township, thus: “Race and class, the old chestnuts still loom large… oblivious to the ruling post-apartheid political faction.”
How can we justify this neo apartheid ruling which says if funders support an organisation that is not 100 percent black, it will be penalised on its BEE scorecard. If this legislation comes into being then sadly we will be travelling back into darkness and no amount of clay lamps can light our way forward. As Hindus celebrate Diwali may they keep alight the lamp of hope for all of us.
l Devi Rajab is a psychologist
