Ethnic division a no-no for SA

Throughout its history – but particularly during the ’60s and ’70s, as Africa threw off the yoke of colonialism – the ANC has opposed tribalism and, in reality, out of all the liberation movements on the continent, ethnic mobilisation has been almost nonexistent in its ranks.

No one ethnic group has been able to take control of the ANC and the prospect of a tribal civil war has always seemed ludicrous in SA. That was until the riots of July last year.

In an especially forthright way at the SA Human Rights Commission hearings yesterday, President Cyril Ramaphosa dealt with the growing elephant of tribalism in the ANC room.

Ramaphosa said the unrest had a definite aspect of ethnic mobilisation. The violence and looting began in Jacob Zuma’s heartland of KwaZulu-Natal and was, according to Ramaphosa, a coordinated “insurrection”, aimed at unseating his government.

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Ramaphosa pointed out there were many tribal slogans uttered or daubed around KZN during the unrest, the most crude of which was one calling on him to “go back to Venda”…

If the instigators hoped to use widespread poverty and anger to spark a national revolt, they badly misjudged popular sentiment.

In many areas, people mobilised against troublemakers, sending the clear message that ordinary South Africans are not prepared to sacrifice our hard-won democracy – no matter how imperfect and fragile it might be – to the political ambitions of a clique of greedy politicians centred in a particular part of the country and loyal to a particular leader.

The negative response from the vast majority to the uprising included strong criticism from within the Zulu nation.

Many of us know the dangers of ethnic division which has led to civil wars and genocide across Africa.
This must never be allowed to happen in SA