By Kameel Premhid
Amichand Rajbansi was a divisive figure that was hated and loved by
many people. Whilst I do not consider my dislike for the man’s
politics to be so strong so as to classify it as hate, my dislike for
his politics does not limit my ability to empathise with his family,
his party and his supporters at what must be a difficult time. Death,
despite its inevitability, is a sad thing.
However, the death of Mr Rajbansi and the empathy/sympathy it invokes
must not be allowed to blur an honest and frank discussion about his
contribution to South African politics, especially in the democratic
era. It would be unfitting of such a fighting man to shirk from the
truth: something I am led to believe he always strove to achieve.
The truth, or rather (in the adapted thinking of Albie Sachs in his
latest book) my experiential truth, is that the death of Rajbansi
raises some important questions for South African Indians. It is my
firm belief that the answer that is given will determine not only the
South African Indian community’s future, but will also play a
significant role in answering questions of race that affect South
Africa generally.
Rajbansi’s politics were highly divisive. Whilst I’m sure his followers
will justify his collusion with the Apartheid state as a necessary
evil to guarantee some form of basic service for South African
Indians, the cost of such a tactic can never be under-played. In doing
what he did (namely in setting up a political party that participated
in the Apartheid-created and Indian-only limited-parliamentary system), he created a degree of internal and international legitimacy for the
Apartheid state and its warped ideas of separate development. In so
doing, he allowed the Apartheid state the opportunity to paint the
struggle as being out-of-touch with the needs of South Africans and
allowed the NP to show how normalcy could be achieved in a
pseudo-democratic state in which white people illegally, unfairly and
unjustifiably retained their superiority.
Not only am I sure that this weakened the moral case of the struggle
to those who were abroad and possibly ignorant of the facts, I am sure
that it created a degree of acceptance amongst older South African
Indians who in my experience still see the Apartheid government as
having been better for them than the current one. The fact that people
may hold that opinion is saddening and regrettable: not only at the
level that it robs them of their own self-actualization but that it
does so at the cost of others’ ability to do so.
Probably more devastatingly, his collusion fractured collective
non-white opposition to Apartheid. The result of which is that many
black people, especially political opportunists like Julius Malema and
Fikile Mbalula, wrongfully still believe to this day that Indian
people did not suffer under Apartheid or that if they did, it was to a
lesser extent than the black majority and are thus worthy of less
protection than other previously disadvantaged groups and are thus
somehow less part of our new democracy. Whilst I do not contend that
black people did not suffer the most (in number and probably in
severity), I do contend that his collusion to some extent created the
mistaken belief that these kids of attacks are acceptable.
Despite such a belief being wrong, it isn’t difficult to see how it
can be reached: why should we black South Africans give anything to
the “Indians” whose rights we were fighting for as well, but who chose
to accept the Apartheid state? It takes a mature political theorist
and someone of absolute commitment to justice to say that such a thing
does not require reparation, merely commitment to a non-racial future.
That political class, especially in today’s ANC is lacking and
Rajbansi’s politics allow them to make their case all the more easily.
As a libertarian, in this instance I would argue that such an attempt
to advance South African Indian self-interest was wrong as it came at
too great a cost.
For Rajbansi’s conduct post-Apartheid was no more dubious. He actively
played to people’s fears that as a minority, they would never be
looked after and that the only way in which “Indians” could protect
themselves was to band together and sell themselves to the highest
bidder. This amoral exploitation of people’s (irrational) fears (which
he helped create by propping up and being part of an NP government
that said the very same) undoubtedly increased the “us” and “them”
type discourse that was and is used in our democracy today by not only
the Minority Front, but by the likes of the ANC and the Freedom Front + too.
Thus in 2004, Rajbansi even shattered his own voters’ hopes and
expectations when he did the unthinkable and joined the ANC in a
coalition to wrest control of KZN from the IFP. Whilst possibly
beneficial to him, he was given a seat in the Cabinet, the people of
KZN experienced no remarkable service delivery that he claimed would
be the result of his political crosstitution. If anything, it made
many within the ANC rank and file regret the need for such a party
(and by extension the people he claimed to represent) and allowed them
to dump him with much relish and haste (and I would say along with
their commitment to non-racialism too) when he was not needed in 2009.
The divisive tactics again proved to have come at too high a price. For
whilst the playground bully needs you to do his spying, he will be
your friend, but the moment the bully doesn’t need you any longer, you
are in just the same position to him as everyone else: fair game!
But now that he is gone and his party — which was more of a cult of
personality than a serious political party that took policy
formulation and representation seriously — faces a questionable
future, the question is obvious (to the remainder of the MF): will you
continue to play race against race in an effort to maximise your own
political capital or will you embrace South Africans (including South
African Indians) as being that: South African?
The answer is simple.
We must be allowed to celebrate our heritage, to revel in our
ancestry, to sing our forefathers praises and to appreciate all which
makes us uniquely who we are. To argue otherwise would be ridiculous.
What we cannot allow, is for any person or party, despite their
historical or individual merits, to dupe us into believing that we are
unique by virtue of our race and that somehow our race determines our
future prospects. The responsibility of the MF’s new leadership is to
seek to defend the ideals of democracy as encapsulated by our
Constitution for all not some, to speak for the many not the few, and
work with those that seek to advance justice not perpetuate injustice.
As difficult as the temptation may be to sell-out and do otherwise for
personal political gain, the reward of making sure that South Africa
is better for all its people will surely be greater.
We are all South African and we all have a claim to this democracy.
This country will only start working when everyone realises that.
Mr Kameel, thank you for your argument. I want to understand what you mean in this one part:
“What we cannot allow, is for any person or party, despite their
historical or individual merits, to dupe us into believing that we are
unique by virtue of our race and that somehow our race determines our
future prospects.”
Do you mean that it doesn’t matter if you are born black or white or Indian? I am writting an essay on race in South Africa and I think it does matter.
Of course it matters. To deny it matters is stupid. What I am opposed to and hope others are opposed to as well is the use of race (or in other countries: gender, culture, religion, etc) as a marker of common experience and trajectory. It is divisive, irresponsible and unjustifiable in a liberal society (like SA should be) where worth and value are determined by being human, and not a particular shade of human. Sensitivity to past injustice is undoubtedly essential, but that redress must be balanced carefully against destroying a collectively inclusive future
Thank you! I am still a bit confused …………. what I want to write about is this individual and group thing (trajectory?). I see you agree that there is racial groups and they do have their shared interests, because white people tend to be much richer and black people tend to be poorer and indians are in the middle. I also read in one article that jobs and education are also very much white dominated. How can the black people defend themselves if they don’t group up against white people is what i want to know? white people have all the economic power right now, because of apartheid. To make the country a fairer one then maybe this is an okay thing, if the blacks and the indians can group up and defend themselves?
There’s an error in your thinking – in fact, it’s exactly the mistake that Kameel is trying to warn against.
You say, for instance, that the economy is dominated by white people. That’s not quite correct. The economy is dominated by rich people, *most* of whom happen to be white. The difference between the two statements might not seem all that important at first glance, but if you think about it, my version does not ignore the significant number of working class white people who have absolutely zero control over the economy.
There are a lot of white people in South Africa experiencing financial hardship too, especially since the recession of 2008. Don’t think for a moment that these people are not equally pissed off at the rich fat cats taking too much for themselves. These people could be your allies in the struggle for a more equitable economy, but right now, people who speak of an “economic war against white people” are causing these potential allies to stay quietly on the sidelines out of fear of being typecast as something they are not.
The
(Oops… Posted too soon)
The fact is… Whenever you say that white people are like this or Indian people are like that, or black people are so… Then you’re making a generalisation, and you’re probably speaking a lie – or not telling the whole truth, at least. Because we are not all the same, based simply on our skin colour.
This very basic realisation is at the core of a non-racial society… But as South Africans, we are still very far from getting this important fact right in our thinking.